Sometimes people read the New Testament and say things like, "I wish our faith was more like that of the disciples in the New Testament." There is an aliveness to their vision, a passion to their fellowship, and a commitment to their cause to take the message of the resurrected Jesus to as many people as possible. Much of this I suspect, has not only to do with the immediacy with which they experienced the resurrection, but also the cultural context in which the faith burst forth. In those days, Christianity was a very small minority of people living in the larger Roman influenced culture. That culture was violent, profligate, and decadent. It was far from God, it was indulgent, it was idolatrous, it was "anything goes."
In contrast, up through the 1950s in America, there was a broad embrace of the Christian faith, certainly the Judeo-Christian system of life and values. These values were present in most corners of the culture, they were received as authoritative. The vast majority of American people at least endorsed them if not lived them. Not so today.
Our culture today is much more... yep, like the Roman influenced culture in the days of the early believers about whom we read in the New Testament. We're not fully to that point yet, but we are increasingly resembling that world, and moving in that direction. The difference in the violence part, is that we try to hide our violence in today's America and we don't talk about it much. Certainly the mainstream media isn't going to talk about it - most prevalently in the form of abortion. In New York city for example, three African American children are aborted for every two allowed to be born, and among Down Syndrome children in general, 90% are aborted if diagnosed in the womb. (WSJ 7/5/11). That's a lot of hidden violence.
Since our culture appears to be moving to resemble the culture of the days of the early church, this may be our great opportunity to return to the passion and vision of the faith of those early believers. Some might lament that biblical Christianity (there are lots of non-biblical forms) appears to be moving away from its majority status. But I'm reminded that the church is rarely most vigorous and alive in times of ease, or when it has majority status. When the surrounding culture gets darker, the light of the gospel can shine brighter. The apostle Paul called the Christians in Philippi to "shine like stars in the universe." Stars only shine against a dark sky.
So as I read the headlines and move toward being distressed by what I read, the first place I go is to prayer. When I do this, I'm reminded that my real citizenship is in Heaven, my real leader is the King of Kings not the president or congress. My home country is the Kingdom of God. It seems clear to me that this was the way the early Christians lived and how they saw life. The big difference is that for them, this vision was a totally new vision of a much more hopeful life since all they had known was violence and oppression and profligacy. To us, this vision can seem a loss because some will lament that our culture used to be more virtuous. Perhaps. But it's the same vision regardless of what got us here, and this vision of living unto the real King, in the hope that only He gives, is the most optimistic vision I know for the living of a human life. It may be time for us to take up the mantel again, and shine.
