I said at the end of our church family's worship service yesterday that the temptation is to always search for and latch onto what is new. In these days especially, it seems easier and better and certainly more enculturated to take what's new and call it better or best.
The old is out. Old ways. Old morals. Old worldviews. Old mindsets. Gone.
A quick caveat: I like new stuff. I like new computers and new phones and new cars and new opportunities. I'm not anti-old. This is not that post. I'm not that person.
What I think the church will struggle with (and has struggled with...and probably is struggling with) is the old old story of the Gospel and how it is announced to today's world. I think the pursuit of relevance is both a vain and terrible goal. It's difficult to hit because it's constantly shifting and in the end it's not worth shooting at anyway. It's grasping at the wind instead of standing on the Word.
And honestly, I think the world is looking for where the church is different from them, not the touchpoints of similarity. I think they're looking for answers, for rhythms that the world-as-is can't offer.
For followers of Jesus, that all begins with the message of the Gospel, that Jesus came and died for sinners and was resurrected by the power of God and will return one day to claim His bride. For that matter, it doesn't just begin with it but continues with it and ends with it as well.
It's an old old story. But it's one worth telling. And it just might be the most sensible and attractive thing you say to someone today. Ironically, the more it sounds of out-of-touch, the more relevant it might be to the world.
But that's just me thinking thoughts...
