[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during September 2020]
‘As long as the earth endures, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’ [Genesis 8:22 NIV]
And so a new month begins. COVID continues its rampage despite the (now forgotten) assertions that the warmer weather would reduce its severity; the return to school looms, as both an opportunity and a threat; and the decimated holiday industry is echoing the lament from ‘Chaplin’ – “Where are all the people?”
“Where are all the people?” also applies to our church congregations. I heard recently one Australian pastor describing ‘pyjama Christians’, those who tune in to watch the church show and then tune out. Just because you cannot go to the Lord’s house does not stop the Lord from coming to your house instead, and are you ready for that?
On the other hand, are we making the most of the breakdown of old, perhaps less inviting, perceptions of church? We have a new culture of thinking differently and some amazing tools available. We must ensure that advancements in technology can also bring advancements in the work that the Church worldwide has been given.
We saw last week that the apostle Peter was called to try something new. In his case, it involved spending time with people that previously he would not have considered ‘saveable’. Without compromising in any way the essentials of the Gospel, Peter was able to share the good news with his audience and, at the same time, to expand the vision of those who had travelled with him.
Do we have a big-enough vision? Or are we waiting for a return to normality and the cycle of predictable events. God reminded Noah that certain predictable events including the changing of the seasons would continue ‘as long as the earth endures’. That introduces the prospect of an eventual end to the earth and puts a time limit on predictability. Despite the expectations of many, and the preparations of a few, the old earth will pass away and be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth. A new normality will be established and the focus of the question has shifted: “Where will you be?”
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
