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wings
Take a tip from Hollywood:
Read the times
I am told that an edited version of the movie, "The Passion of Christ," is being released this month - just in time for the Easter season, when many people turn their attention toward the church. Hollywood knows how to capture our attention and certainly knows how to read the times.
In fact, in response to the people who didn't see the original film because they believed it was too violent, this newer release is more "family friendly." Hollywood wants to market and sell their product, and so they invest time and energy in interpreting the times in which we live.
There was a day when the church knew how to read and interpret the times. We had a unique ability to forecast a vision for the future by reading the signs of the times. However, it now appears that we are either the last to know what's going on, or we ignore it. Peter the Apostle, in Acts Chapter 10, finally read the times after a visit to Cornelius' home, and in so doing, opened the Gospel to the Gentiles. Paul read in his dream that it was time to carry the Gospel message into Asia. Paul knew the Good News needed to be heard and shared in Rome, Spain, and Great Britain.
Centuries later, when the church began to use the Gutenberg press to make the Bible available to laypersons, we were reading the times. Robert Raikes and others realized that children who worked all week long needed time for Christian education, and so Sunday school was created to meet that need.
As many arrived in the New World and began to travel beyond the east coast, the Methodist Episcopal Church recognized a need to be where the people were, and so the circuit riders came into existence. At the end of the Civil War - when a newly freed black population sought ways to integrate into the mainstream of the United States - it was the church that responded with the establishment of the Freedman's Society and other movements.
The mass migration of persons to work in large northern cities inspired the church to respond with literacy programs; temporary lodging; legal services; and new schools, hospitals and other institutions to minister to the needs of these new city dwellers. Time and time again, the church was prepared to read the signs and move in prophetic ways.
Today, there are new challenges. I believe that we can once again read the signs of the times and cast a vision for our future - allowing us to move in prophetic ways and "boldly go where no one has gone before." We believe in our product, the Good News of Jesus Christ, and we believe that Jesus should be shared with people in our communities and around the world.
The challenge is to not allow the changing times to discourage us, but to rise to the occasion. I believe we can do that. As we approach Easter, we are reminded that not even death can defeat the cause of Christ. I am reminded that it may be "Good Friday" for you, your family, and your congregation - but remember, Sunday is coming! Always remember that early Easter Sunday morning, when the Christ they believed was defeated walked out of the tomb with all power in his hands.
Happy resurrection season.
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Bishop James Swanson
Resident Bishop
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