So, this week, Jamie Franklin presented an Irreverend special podcast in which he sought to examine what was missing from the present in respect to what would place Christianity front and centre again in respect to the people of the country. This happened on the cusp of today's events, bringing another sudden change in who is running that country and what we can expect to see in the days ahead.
A neighbour of mine was keen to discuss this when I arrived home tonight, and a couple of things quickly came to mind. First was the Bonhoeffer analysis that I quoted here recently (regarding how stupidity will often rule people's thinking until something acutely expedient comes down upon them, requiring immediate action), and second was that twinned with such mental negligence at present is a huge amount of complacency.
People may talk about change, but it takes a very real and unsettling period of discontent before there's any actual momentum to bring that about, and even then, the results are very far from certain (I could give various national, historical examples here, but just bring it down to how many times a week in your own life you expect certain things to be so, and they're simply not).
Which brings me back to Jamie's podcast.
He is most certainly seeking to say something in respect to what he identifies as 'missing' from the present (C S Lewis made the same case in a fascinating piece on magic being Science's orphaned nephew, and Eric Mataxas has made similar allusions on how the world isn't actually listening to actual contemporary science when it comes to the existence of God), but I still find myself facing a very troubling question here, again related to my recent piece on the failure of the church during the recent crisis.
Here it is -
Surely, at least some of the Christian church here and elsewhere understands and believes a large measure of what Jamie addresses - that without the enchantment of the faith, we really have very little to say to others or ourselves - would you say that is true?
In which case, why did we fail so miserably as a whole during that crisis?
Where was the church?
Where was the message that causes us to overcome the world with the bountiful splendour of God leading us above and beyond what so easily besets the nations?
Where was that lustre which, in so many prior ages, caused God's children to indeed be evidenced as a city upon a hill, radiant and sharp-focused on the majesty and glory of God's excellence in super-abundant grace?
Take a listen to what Jamie has to say, and consider for yourself the matter at hand.
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