Not so now. Globalization has shrunken cultural distance and opened our marketplace of ideas to a full range of perspectives and worldviews. We carry devices bearing news of all the world’ s problems and access to all the world’ s diversions. Christianity is perceived as a net negative rather than a net positive( and we bear a good deal of responsibility for that), something our culture has“ moved on” from, to the point that“ post-Christian” is now a common descriptor.
Some responses to this reversal— lamenting“ good old days,” fighting a“ culture war” aimed at“ saving civilization,” anger at“ foreign invaders” threatening to change our society, escaping to safe enclaves and more— are understandable, but misguided. Consider how God, through Jeremiah, addressed the Babylonian exiles:
Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.( Jeremiah 29:5-7, NLT)
These postures and practices aimed to bless Babylon, invest in it, pray for it. Love its people and do good. We might heart & soul
even hear echoes of the Sermon on the Mount— being salt and light, doing right, working for peace, loving neighbor and enemy, storing up treasure in heaven. Living in these Christ-like ways creates opportunity for joy to displace rage, confusion and fear; and for fruitful gospel conversation with the diverse people around us. It shouldn’ t surprise us that these are simply the universal calls God has given us on how to live; ages like this one remind us that we’ re not home yet and we’ re created for another world.
And, to be sure, walking in these ways requires us to be“ resilient disciples,” as Kinnaman says in Faith for Exiles. Resilient disciples can more capably wade upstream against cultural tides and stand as anchors of Christ-like hope, to which hopeless and hurting people caught in the downstream flow can affix themselves. Resilient discipleship means intentional investment in spiritually formative practices like Scripture study, prayer and fasting, worship and sabbath, and lowering the volume of news, distraction and other noise. It also means community and a Christimitating, open-armed posture of embracing and identifying with the‘ other’ instead of walling up against them.
In challenging times, Christ, our Rock and Redeemer, is our hope, and the bright hope we joyously introduce to others.
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