Talk Four: Hostile Minds
This is the transcript:
Talk Four: Hostile Minds
'It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of
hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing
before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the
other way ... '
This passage is taken,
of course, from Charles Dickens' famous book: A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens had in mind the cities of London and
Paris in the late eighteenth century. The
New Testament also describes two cities and we are all citizens of one or the
other of them. One is the city of man in
all his pride and arrogance, rebellion against God, and self-centredness; the
other is the City of God, the home of all true believers.
For Christians,
Dickens’ description, I think, applies very much to our own time also. As society becomes increasingly secular and
post-modern in its thinking, I believe that we are in a position now to see
more clearly than we have at probably any time in my own ministry what God
wants of us and what we should be doing as Christians in the world.
Not only that, but
when I think about the opportunities and resources Christians have today for
living out and sharing our faith, I am overwhelmed by the 'abundance of riches'
that has been offered to us. For
example, in the run-up to Christmas, my Church ran a campaign to encourage
people to buy a Bible and read it. I was struck by how the Bible and resources
for understanding it are available now in a way that is almost
embarrassing. God has placed a great
challenge before us, but he has provided for the task. Direction, opportunity, and resources: it is,
in that sense, the BEST of times.
In the society in
which we live, however, there is increasing cause for Christians to be
concerned. Firstly, the developed world
of which Hong Kong is a part, is getting increasingly hostile and antagonistic
towards Christians and Biblical values. This is the inevitable outcome of the
collapse of Christendom in the West.
Even at the beginning of my ministry people still spoke of how the UK
was a 'Christian' country; in America many harboured the idea that America was
'one nation under God'. And here in Hong
Kong, while we don't claim to ever have been a Christian city, the Church has
been involved in the affairs of the City.
But this is all changing as society becomes more secular and diverse and
embraces values and attitudes to which the Church historically has been
opposed.
Secondly, Christianity
at the moment is itself is facing something of an existential crisis. There are many in the Church who sincerely
want to follow the social and moral trends in wider society and, to a greater
or lesser degree, wish to change Christianity in the process. For those who think in this way, everything
is up for grabs: from the doctrine of God to our understanding of ourselves and
our identity as individuals. At the
moment, those who believe we should hold fast to the orthodox faith as
expressed in the Bible and Creeds of the Church, on the one hand, and those who
believe that our faith needs reinterpreting as a faith for today, on the other,
are co-existing in a somewhat uneasy peace.
This is unlikely to last. Opposition,
division, and confusion: it is, in this sense, the WORST of times.
And yet curiously, in
all this, rather than feeling either optimism or pessimism, I surprise myself
by feeling something else: a sense of challenge and call.
It is going to get
harder and harder, especially for orthodox Christians, to live out their faith lovingly
and faithfully in a society which is hostile to Christian values and beliefs.
This is the challenge.
But in the midst of
this challenge, I sense that God is calling us in the way he has called
Christians at similar times in the past.
Calling us to be 'faithful unto death’ certainly, but calling us to
rediscover who we are and what it means to be his Church living in the world. As Christians we are to live in and look
forward to God's time.
This is the call.
Whether these are the
best or the worst of times, or both at the same time, Christians can be sure
that the best time is yet to come.
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