We live in a strange time.  I’m not complaining about it mind you, there are plenty of things in our day and age that I love.  Whether it’s our ability to travel to the other side of the world with relative ease or the fact that on my phone I’m able to check email, surf the net and use GPS (never mind actually making calls).  We are a brilliant people, shrinking the world, increasing our ability to communicate and tackling all sorts of the world’s problems with things like medical advancements.

I wonder sometimes to myself if that is part of our problem.  Now, don’t misunderstand me here - I’m not looking to become Amish (I think I can say that without offending anyone since the Amish probably don’t read internet blogs that much…) and turn my back on all that we have accomplished as a people - because let’s be honest, for all the horror we’ve done as a species, we’ve also done a lot of remarkable and incredible things.  But as our ingenuity grows and we continue to accomplish more and more, I wonder if we have become overly arrogant as a people group?  I was reading the story of the Tower of Babel today (Genesis 11:1-9) and was struck by how quickly people get full of themselves - “Let us make a name for ourselves” - we tend to always think we know best it seems.

Now I’m not overly concerned about us building a tower into the heavens, and I’m not looking to stop progress around us.  But as I’ve been thinking about this human tendency, I’ve thought a lot about how this seeps into the church and into Christian thinking.

We’re a part of a generation (I’ll throw myself in here too even though I’m pretty old) that is quick to dismiss where we come from.  Especially over this last decade - as Christians we’ve been quick to point out all of the flaws and shortcomings of the churches we grew up in, and the Christian way of life we were born into.  And some of it is justifiable, but some of it is just because we’re arrogant.  Of course WE know better - THEY missed the point and did things wrong.  Surely WE must know how to interpret Scripture better than THOSE who came before us, and WE most certainly know how to develop a better church model.  I wonder if we’re not essentially saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves”?

Two thoughts have come out of this for me:  first, let’s not be so worried about what we want or how we desire to be seen - in short, let us make a name for Him long before we try to make a name for ourselves.  We can think what we want about the church of the last hundred years, but God was at work in it, accomplishing His will.

And secondly, I get that we need to make changes as time goes on and cultures shift.  What works in downtown Chicago isn’t going to work in rural Manitoba.  We will need to adapt at times.  God may be calling us to plant a new church (in my own life I can see evidence that God may be opening doors in that direction, so this is directed at me as much as anyone) or start a new ministry or whatever.   If that’s the case, then get at it.  But as we continue in being a generation who discovers fresh expressions of what it looks like to live out the call of Jesus in our lives, couldn’t we also be a generation who models grace as we do it?  Instead of constantly tearing down where we came from, why not affirm the good?  Why not point to what God has done, not just in the last few decades but throughout the course of human history?  Because here’s the thing:  in 15 years some fresh college grad is going to want to start a new kind of church because of the blind spots and shortcomings in how we do things.  And some of it will be legitimate and some of it will simply be preference - but when that day comes, I’m pretty sure we’re going to hope he does it with some grace.  I say we begin showing the next generation what that looks like now.

I believe we live in an exciting time that God is doing some incredible things in.  I’m excited to see the church pick up and embrace the kingdom value in numerous areas of social justice.  I’m energized by a generation’s desire to be missional in building relationships with people outside the church walls.  My earnest prayer is that as we continue to pursue Jesus in these ways, that we wouldn’t be out to make a name for ourselves, or to get so caught up in what we are doing that we dismiss all that came before us and forget that it is only through Him and for Him that we accomplish anything.

Reg