Preachers do not seem to mention Jesus anymore. I do not mean the prosperity fellows who are as close to being preachers as I am to being an Astro-physicist. No, I mean the real preachers, pulpiteers with an actual (sort of) church. They just don’t seem to get around to Jesus very often.
I want to remind preachers we are called Christians for a reason. In fact, we are called Christians for three very good reasons, to wit:
- We actually believe Jesus is the real Messiah of Israel, prophesied in Old Testament and realized in the New Testament;
- We assert that Jesus is the mystery of Godliness, by which we mean the revealed certainty of God-ness, mysterious because God is so far beyond human understanding God requires demonstration, not just explanation;
- We accept Jesus as the One/Ultimate mediator between God the Secure Eternal and Humankind the Imperiled Temporal.
Now that I have presumed to tell preachers we should remember Jesus in practice more than theory (by which I mean in July and not just December), I will presume to tell lay people to expect, nay, require, your clergy to tell the Truth about Jesus. Jesus matters. Your congregation may do wonderful social ministry and good for you. If Jesus is an after thought, it will not be a great surprise soon (now) to discover He is a non-participant in churches.
We left off preaching the consequences of sinful behavior some time ago. Little wonder we have arrived at the point where there is no meaningful mention of salvation when we produced generations who do not see they need to change their behaviors, or their nature, just the way they identify their gender.
This takes me to the Current Crisis part of this series.
Our Current Crisis in the Culture is the maddening division that marks us. The division is real enough in fact, but maddening in its superficiality. Simply put, the Current Crisis is a matter of Self-Centered Individualism, in which a person is what he/she/it/they/them simply because HSITT identify themselves so.
Radical Individualism is problematic whenever/wherever it is practiced. Again, simply put, Individualism seems (seeks?) to alter reality with a harsh blurring of lines between what is real and what is imagined.
I am sure you have noticed this already but let me presume to point it out, just the same. In all the gender bending of Pronoun Madness, do we see anyone or any group demanding to be called We or even arguing for We-Ness? Is there any outcry for the disrespect of his or that one against the need for We, for all of Us?
The Current Crisis is shallow because it keeps us focused on the least vital elements of Individuality (more on this soon, but not today), when, most assuredly, we could focus on immigration reform, the destruction of our education system, the end of the American Dream of home ownership, the wreck that is our heath-care system and the giant chasm between Haves and Have Nots in our nation.
Our return to We will be worked out by a spiritual awakening. How will this help? The Normie will realize they don’t have to fear the Tranies and the Transies will discover no one wants to hear their endless prattle.
For Christians (there are many of us) this Spiritual Awakening will be occasioned by a return to Jesus (remember Him?). The Current Crisis, not nearly so serious as the Moral Morasss of the ‘60s, but certain to gouge us more deeply because of our loss of traditional values, will come and pass. The deeper divisions will cause the greater damage and they will have to be confronted by preachers more serious than the Self-Help folks who stain our pulpits.