2nd Opinion: Christians’ song for a broken world

2nd opinion

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When Jesus stood in the valley and taught his disciples, he stood among many who were sick and lost and troubled by evil spirits. He called them “blessed.” In this large assembly, he also saw some who were rich, well-fed, happy and held in high regard. To these winners in life, he said, “Woe to you,” for hard days lay ahead. He wasn’t threatening them, as much as speaking the truth that nothing lasts. Good fortune comes and goes. Empires rise and fall.

North America had a century of unparalleled strength and prosperity, but now even we are fading, as power and prosperity shift to Asia. We thought our ascendancy would last forever. But that is always the case mid-glory. We thought we had mastered the forces of history and God had ordained our nations for eternal greatness. Not so.

When an empire and its way of life collapse, people thrash about in confusion and fear, lamenting what has been lost, wondering whom to blame, feeling betrayed, turning vengeful and setting themselves up for demagoguery.

Religions struggle, too, as their own ascendancy fades, and the seemingly eternal turns brittle and shabby. Much of Christianity’s golden era in North America ended just as our national economies got strong. People had so much else to do that they didn’t need our homespun talent shows and potluck suppers. They had more pleasing ways to explain success.

It could be that Christianity in North America will be “dust in the wind,” reduced to tourism, window dressing for politicians and a steadily aging cadre of people who remember better days.

Or it could be something better, something holier, something more in keeping with God’s desire. We will never restore the golden era and all become young again and prosperous. No, our future is something far better, and far scarier. It could be that our four decades of woe and gradual decline have prepared us to be useful in the collapses now happening around us:

• As people lose their jobs and their homes, we can assure them neediness isn’t the end of life, but the opening to God’s grace.

• As people wonder where the glory days went, we can say from our own experience that greater glory lies ahead because God is with us.

• As people turn against each other and question tolerance and openness, we can tell them hope and joy lie in opening doors even wider.

• As the rich and powerful exploit distress to amass even greater wealth and power, we can speak truth to power.

It could be that our travail has prepared us to serve, that our time of woe has given us the humility and the grit to make a difference. Because we have been broken and yet we live, we have hope to share and healing to give. We have learned to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. We have learned to dance, even as our hearts were breaking. We have learned to speak in other languages. We have found life in death.

And now we know, perhaps with a clarity and depth that we never knew before, that God is with us. We are not surviving this present wilderness by the works of our own hands, but by the grace of God.

Just hear the song we can sing to a broken world.


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Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and minister. He is the author of Just Wondering, Jesus and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is www.morningwalkmedia.com. His column is distributed by Religion News Service.

 

 


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