A speaker at a recent leadership conference for Lutheran clergy spoke on “Proclamation in the Time of Change”. “Change” is a key word for both political parties in the 2008 Presidential elections. Fortunately the speaker did not tie his remarks to the elections.
Nor did he expound on what was meant by “the” time of change. Listeners were invited to insert how they would define “Time of Change”. From private conversations with attendees, that was not a difficult challenge. Most agreed that these were not only just times of change – they were times of significant changes. Significant, at least in part, because no area or sphere of life appears to be left “as is”!
One could legitimately posit that there has never been a time in human history that has not been a time of change.
- Politically Kingdoms rise and wane. New nations are birthed and others disappear. Systems such as Patriarchy, Monarchy, Socialism, Communism and Democracy are tried or discarded.
- Religiously Prophets and preachers reveal new and different ideas about God – and commandments and creeds and laws change to reflect those revelations.
- Culturally there is a steady movement towards greater egalitarianism and less reliance on “caste” systems. Race, gender, age, sexual identity and religious heritage are diminished insofar as being legitimate markers for and of discrimination.
- Many areas of daily living are also radically different – and increasingly so! Transportation enables us to move about more freely and over longer distances. Medical care has moved beyond the time of snake oil and witches potions to advances including organ transplantation and gene therapy. Entertainment is made available in one’s home to a degree not even imagined by our ancestors.
The speaker indicated the command, for Christians, was to still proclaim the Gospel. The challenge was to do so with the understanding that today’s “hearers” no longer live in a world even remotely similar to 1st century Jerusalem et al! Simply translating the parables and theological “isms” of that time is not enough. Rather, the task is to identify the “truth” of Jesus and Peter and Paul and Lydia and others as it may apply to life in the 21st century.
That task is not easy. It is fraught with hurdles and challenges. It is even scary. Yet, it has always been so! Paul and Peter had to wrestle with Jews and Gentiles. Early leaders had to wrestle when Christianity moved from persecution to being the “state religion”. Theologians and political leaders struggled with a religion that became an empire!
Today we must confront and work with other monotheistic [and even polytheistic] religions that claim legitimacy with God. We must wrestle with claims of modern scientific discoveries about cosmic creation, the human genome, the various factors inherent with/to sexual orientation, the role of family and marriage, etc., etc.
There is no choice as to whether or not this is a time of change. There is a choice, however, when we look on these as times for change.
It has always been scary to be a prophet or preacher or teacher. Such is the nature of our calling.
Our strength is knowing that [a] we do not do it alone and [b] even when we are wrong God sticks with us!
