Pastoral Ponderings—Bright Spots
“Preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other” in some version or other is a way of understanding our role in the world, variously attributed to Bible great and not so great thinkers. But the news can be so depressing! Whether from a newspaper or other news sources—yet the Gospel calls us to be “in the world but not of the world”—not really a quote from the Bible, but a paraphrase of a lot of Jesus ideas.
But Jesus ideas can be twisted—so be careful here! I just ran across a deeply thoughtful blog dealing with this “quote,” (see link below- well worth your read!) pointing out how a lot of churchy people have created a “Christian bubble culture,” as a way to protect themselves from being infected by the sin of the world. But this bubble culture effectively takes those who might think themselves Jesus people OUT of the “the world,” in directly opposite direction of what Jesus intended!
The world needs more bright spots, and as this blog pointed out, JESUS started praying for us a long time ago to protects us from “the world,” and if JESUS Himself is praying for us, we’ve got some good protection! NOT that we’re immune from temptation (but that’s another story!)—but God put us IN this world to be agents of God’s grace and change—something we can’t do from a protected bubble.
Parents often tell kids when they head out the door something like “take care/be safe.” But seeing how God sent His son out “into the world,” with what lay ahead for Jesus, I don’t think those could have been the Father’s words to Jesus—there’s no “be safe” in Jesus’ life! Maybe more along the lines of “Go forth and do Great Things”—but that’s rarely safe!
Following the light is not always a direct path, so please forgive my ramblings as I’m trying to find bright spots today. As our world and news too often shows us, things can be pretty depressing these days! We all—and everyone outside our “bubble”—need bright spots, lights in the darkness. And isn’t that what Jesus calls us to do, to “let your little light shine” while we are IN the world!
Shine on- Pastor Jim
(check out the blog mentioned above– https://medium.com/@aaronmchidester/the-bible-does-not-say-to-be-in-the-world-but-not-of-it-ca582fd0d42c )