Longing for the good old days...

How much of our time do we spend living in the past? Remember when our relationship was fun and full of life? Remember when the church was packed with people and our mission was moving forward? Remember when gas was only 86 cents. Remember when I knew my neighbors and could ask for a cup of sugar? Remember when we used to play in the dirt of the earth – use our imaginations to play instead of being plugged in a computer or video game? Remember before the twin towers were hit? Or Hurricane Katrina? Or the earthquake in Haiti?

Remember those days?

I mean what’s the future going to bring? This new generation doesn’t seem to honor God. They spend more time online than in real relationship. They don’t seem to walk through the doors of the church to worship. Violence seems to be on the rise and our morals seem to be changing…

When we speak this way, are we forgetting something?

I AM. No , not me – not you. God. I AM. Emmanuel is still working today, in this time, for the kingdom of God. As life changes do we testify with the words given to us through God? Do we make the world what it has always been? Was the past – the Kingdom of God? Are we testifying to where God isn’t or to where God is? Do we see the rubble of the Temple and continue to try to pick up the pieces and put it back the way it used to be?

Believe it or not the past wasn’t perfect either. The rubble of the Temple is a reminder that we need to rebuild. We don’t need to rebuild the Temple as we knew it. We need to build the Kingdom of God as reveled through Jesus Christ.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together (Isaiah 65: 25).

Now that is what the Church with a capital C is testifying. Let’s not get caught up in the rubble of the church. Let’s work for the kingdom today and God will not let a hair on our head parish – even if it doesn’t quite happen in the way we all imagine it will.

So together we pray, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." 7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" 8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them. 9 "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." 10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.