Darkness

I just finished re-listening to a Leonard Sweet presentation delivered in 2003 at the M3 Conference sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene. Sweet struck a few chords with me in his presentation. I attended that conference, so I can provide a little background for you on the audience.

It was the "Missions in the Third Millenium" (M3) conference, and focused heavily on the USA and Canada as mission fields. The attendees were primarily older, pastors and spouses, which will help you understand some of the illustrations he uses.

The illustration that struck me the most was about Christians being called to be light in darkness. He made a few points about the darkness that are worth reviewing. First, there is always darkness. Second, we do not get to choose our time or our darkness. Third, we are called to go into the darkness, not let it come to us.

Ours is a dark time. There is great evil in the world. In this country, Christ is persona non grata to many people because of the way the Christian church has behaved in the past. Every religion imaginable is here. Pornography is delivered into homes with or without invitation. In many ways our society has become extremely licentous and highly sexualized. This is our darkness.

Previous generations faced the darkness of communism and facism. Others faced plagues and pestilence. But this is our time.

So, how do we show our light in the darkness? First, we need to get out of our church buildings and stop using them as refuges from the world. They need to be used as refuges for the world, not from the world. And that requires us to go into the world. For too long the church, especially the evangelical churches, have written off parts of society and made little effort to redeem God's creation.

Second, we need to understand our darkness. Ours is an age where religious pluralism and tolerance are the norm. Christianity is not the norm in many places, and we need to accept that and move on. We may wish we were fighting the darkness of the antebellum era, but we are not. And our message and methods need to reflect the battle we are in, not the battles of the past.

Third, Matthew 28:19 is pretty clear. As Sweet points out, the only verbs there are GO and MAKE disciples. Not sit and pray, not sit and wait for them to find us, not hope and wring our hands. We have to go into the darkness.

How many of you have ever been in absolute darkness? The introduction of light to eyes accustomed to deep darkness is blinding at first. But it is also attractional. Our eyes gravitate to the light. And it compels us to draw closer. We are that light. We know where the darkness is. Now let's go.

Signs of the Apocalypse

It's official. The end is near. Don't buy any green bananas. The world is about to end.

How do I know this, you ask?

It's simple if you read the signs.

First, read this story. It seems that if you are short and commit felonies against children in Nebraska, you get probation. The lack of height is sufficient reason to avoid a jail sentence in that great state. I thought it was crazy when Debra Lafave got 3 years of house arrest for molesting a young boy. But she is pretty, and pretty people can't be sent to jail. Now short people can't go either. I guess only regular schlubs go to jail for molesting kids.

Second, as of May 26, 2006 the Detroit Tigers have the best record in baseball. I can't even begin to describe how ridiculous this sounds to a long-suffering fan. You had to be there for the last 13 years. You just had to be there.

Third, Pat Robertson has leg-pressed 2000 pounds, or so he says. You know my love for the goofy stuff that comes out of Pat's mouth. This one is a doozy. This ranks up with Chia-head Kim Jung-Il, who has made a series of similarly preposterous claims over the years. It seems that both of them have left reality and have entered another plane of existence. Let's pray that they stop making public pronouncements.

Otherwise, the world will come to an end. Very soon.