Riding the Tide

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. 1 Pet 2:19-21

I had a dear sister come to me in tears the other day. She had been posting comments on Facebook about some of the recent cultural milestones we've been experiencing and suddenly found herself buried in the wrath and vitriolic condemnation of several online "friends". She was more than a little stunned by their fury and we spent several minutes poring over her postings in search of some phrase or offense that might explain such an explosion...but without success. Her words were gentle, loving and Biblical...hmmm... perhaps therein lay our clue. 

I remember napping on the beach in Vancouver BC many years ago. I was groggy from schoolwork and barely noticed the half dozen monster container ships quietly riding at anchor out in English Bay. Shooing a pesky fly I happened to see under the brim of my sun hat that the ships...all of them...no longer faced up the sound toward Vancouver but were bow on as if headed for my beach. Fascinated, I spent the next 20 minutes tracking their progress as they slowly continued to swing with the tide to end up facing the sea, each seeming ready to make a quick getaway. Now that's a lot of current.

Thinking later about my poor sister's heartbreaking "chat session", I remembered the slow motion pirouette of the Vancouver ships at anchor and wondered if a seaman aboard might have emerged from his cabin to discover in shock that his world had shifted 180 degrees. One can sympathize! Our culture seems engaged in such a turn, determined to impose its own fantasy on reality and pursue it with an angry self-righteous disdain for all who disagree. I can't help but wonder...if gay marriage, why not polygamy? If the Confederate flag, why not the Cross? If Donald Trump, then why not...oh, never mind.

I suppose we shouldn't be too shocked by this tectonic turnaround. Christianity has always been a counter-cultural presence in this world and the vast majority of our brothers and sisters in the faith routinely deal with alienation, hostility and persecution within their own cultures. Perhaps it's our turn to model Christ "from the bottom up". Now that I think on it, that actually seems to promise a better platform for our faith than a position of social superiority and cultural advantage. The Lord may actually be doing us a favor here (something about "My power perfected in your weakness..."  

2 Cor 12:9).

Historically we've never done as well in the driver's seat as we have when struggling as a marginalized minority. It has proved much simpler to be distracted in our discipleship and even "co-opted" by the "powers that be" when we have enjoyed the support of government, media, industry, academia, military and the arts. Many grievous errors over time have come from Christian efforts backed by worldly power structures. This new "Post-Christian" paradigm might just serve to strengthen our faith and multiply our outreach if history is any indication.

Don't get me wrong...I deplore the work and increased vigilance this is going to take. I've always been a big fan of comfort and plenty. But if God's Spirit is directing us on a path that will compel a more conscious awareness of our identity as believers in Christ, that is a good thing. We can expect the friction to come will leave in its wake more humility, greater care in speaking, growth in discernment and discretion as well as an increase in understanding and compassion for a world in denial. We may even find it needful to question who our "friends" really are (at least on Facebook...).

Pastor Matt