Many of us would suppose that we live in unusually disturbed times.
A leading relief organisation in America estimates that they are dealing with, on average, far more serious crises in the early part of this century than in previous decades. There appears to be a growing flame of upsets, civil wars, brutality – and downright barbarism. Not to mention North Korea: what on earth is the world going to do about that most unstable situation?
In such times, it is easy for the church to fall into one or other of two equal and opposite mistakes.
Passive church
On the one hand, the church can retreat, become passive, adopt a head-in-the-sand attitude, and generally give up on its mission to engage culture and the world with Christ. Clearly, this is not a theologically defensible position: we are the people who have been formed by the God who ‘so loved the world that he gave his only Son’.
But while it is not a theologically defensible position, it is at times like ours an emotionally attractive proposition. When it is cold outside, it feels good to stay inside. And the worst forms of monasticism – a retreat from the world rather than an attempt to be otherworldly to reach the world – develop around them pseudo-theological rationales.
Belligerent church
But at the other end of the spectrum is a naïve, blasé, brave but ultimately foolish attempt to throw yourself in at the deep end and take on all-comers. Think of the scene from Monty Python where the knight – bleeding from every orifice and with no limbs left – still looks his opponent in the eye and threatens to bite him. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and there is little wisdom in a charge of the Light Brigade, ‘into the valley of death rode the 600’, as admirable as it is from a distance.
Wise strategy
Somewhere between these two extremes – fearful hiding versus foolish fighting – lies a wise strategy in our day for the church. What would such a strategy look like? In many ways exactly what it has always looked like: a prioritisation of the power of God’s Word, a dependence on prayer, a manifestation of godly living, a loving and truthful balance in lip and life. Martin Luther, who himself lived in disturbed times, when asked how it was that he achieved all that he did, would say: ‘I did nothing. God’s Word did all.’
