The third part of my secret to involving new and younger people in the church reflects back to a subject I've spoken a lot about this year, and mentioned already in my blog. It is something so important I thought it worthy of another mention.
Worthy because my so-called apathetic generation is looking not for 'nice' or sentimental religion, rather we are looking for something radical, worth living for. We've seen the results of consumerisn all too well, and the emptiness and futility of fame and fortune. We've been burned by the promotion of shallow relationships and found a pick and mix spirituality sometimes lacking. What grabs our attention? A group of people who collectively see the world as it truly is and refuses to keep quiet, a crowd who live lives which take responsibility for themselves and others, with both gentle kindness and stormy prophetic actions take up the challenge to make the world fairer for all regardless of class, ethnicity or faith. So my third point is simply this - Do Love.
And do love well, the kind of love which screams at the policy makers and rages against the structures that keep people poor and oppressed, the kind of love that puts rotas last, and people first. The kind of love personified in Jesus - outrageous earth defying love. If the church professes that God is love then we have both the mandate and the power. And we certainly have no excuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment