A recent summary of the declining numbers of people in churches was extrapolated to predict the date of disappearance of various denominations. The author was not supporting the reliability of such predictions but putting down a marker, presenting today’s statistical analysis.
Some people use such grim predictions to laugh and remind Christians why they are wasting their time. There will be those who accept the position with resignation to a changing scene while others will respond with deep regret.
How much do we really care about what goes on around us in the world that does not affect us directly? How much do we care that the Church as we know it appears to be on a course to fade out in the next x years – or do we not care if x is greater than the length of the life that we can reasonably expect to have ahead of us.
In Ezekiel 9:1-4 the prophet pronounces judgement on idolatry. Those who have been lamenting the state of affairs would be marked with what, with hindsight may have been a mark like an X which can be seen as a cross. That mark would protect them from judgement and destruction.
New Testament predictions are less dramatic and stark, but the Second Coming is ahead and Revelation does what it says on the tin; it reveals drama to come.
If you lament the state of affairs around you, some people will call you a kill joy but if you align yourself with the Cross, the mark you bear will be lifesaving in the long run of eternity.
A Prayer
Lord, teach us, we pray, to lament the things that are profoundly wrong and are damaging to the lives of others, like abuse and disrespect. Let us rise above grumbling about the weather and the price of things to lament declining morality and care for the needs of all for dignity and purpose in life, and recognition for who they are an what they do. May we lament the decline of the Church, not bricks and mortar, but if and where it really is in decline, that of the reach of the Glorious Gospel. Amen.