I will confess I am much more jaded, and a lot more cynical than I was a decade ago. Where once I would have proudly proclaimed my affiliation as Republican, since 2008, I am happily not affiliated with any political party. Where once I would have been convinced of the necessity for an interventionist foreign policy, I am much less enthusiastic for any new adventures into the morass that George Orwell so shockingly and accurately described as “endless war.”   This election cycle is proving to be a doozy and there are some significant political adjustments afoot not only in our nation, but as Brexit demonstrates, in the world at large. No doubt 10 years from now the world will be a much different place.

Culturally our country has dramatically changed as well. The high speed internet and changes in technology have made the exchange of information, news, and media all squished together and delivered to your phone at the tap on the screen. Often what is being offered on that screen is destructive and ubiquitous offerings of the multi-billion dollar pornography industry. Our country has seen the redefining of marriage to the point that our church can no longer participate in solemnizing or adding any credibility to State recognized marriage. Never satisfied, the new agenda would appear to be to erase gender.

Yet in all of this (and I could go on but I would depress myself) God has not given us permission to withdraw, isolate ourselves, or run away. In fact, all of this points not to an opportunity for isolation but the desperation of our calling. As people run headlong off of every cliff imaginable (most of their own making) we are called to intervene, as Jude says, “save some from the fire.”   We are called to live in the tension of being in the world but not of the world, salt that preserves in a culture that is rotting, and light in a very dark place. Ultimately our citizenship is not here and the reward goes to those who persevere in the face of all of it. This calls for patient endurance, not giving up and running away.

This week at church we will talk about what we can do living in this tension.

Pastor Chris