Witnesses in a different age

Christ following the resurrection sends his disciples out into a world that is familiar with the sacred and the understanding of faith in action (Lk. 24.48; Acts 3.12-20). These words and sending out apply to us in our world but we have a greater difficulty then the disciples at the time of Christ. We have to overcome a divide that is not a divide before we can witness to our faith. It is all very easy to say follow Christ, it is all very easy to promise the world, to have a simplistic understanding that has little but fundamentalist teachings to get by on. To truly witness to Christ in our lives today takes us beyond the easy into the difficult task of melding the two views into a single definable and understandable whole.

If we think about the world into which the Christ entered it was very unlike today. It could be said, as it has been by Charles Taylor, that the world of Christ and Jesus was a world that was porous to the presence of the world beyond our own selves. Whilst today we are bound and limited in our imaginary by the understanding that our minds control our outlook onto the world. This rationale outlook has barricade our senses of anything that cannot be explained that is outside of our own walls. Thus, for us a miracle such as that described in Acts is beyond our belief and must be explainable through medical or other rational explanatory means. The possibility of some other 'magic' is beyond the realm of our own understanding and therefore  cannot be true. The Christian church in one way or another has utilised and played with this understanding through the ages. Today the possibility of extravagant over the top displays to make a point are blase, theatrical and in the end demonstrate nothing about faith. We have to look with imagination to how we live in order to prove our point in faith.

We leave Christ behind on the by ways of the internet highway to avoid our faith

Too often in the world the Christian or any faith description of the world is either countered or decried by the fact that adherents do not live up to the testimony of the scriptures or an un-compromised life in Christ. Our very nature and inability to reach the ideal of our faith journey is the very thing that holds us back and gives the faith we hold dear a bad rap. We are still in the thrall of the world as the first letter of John alludes (1 Jn 2.16). We are enticed away from the life in Christ by the riches of the world especially in this seculam when everything appears to be at our finger tips. Our difficulty is in allowing our faith to dominate rather than our greed for the things of this world. In the era of porosity the way forward would have been to enter the deserts but this does not bring us any nearer to God or become more Christ like. All it does is allows us to indulge in our own worthiness. Living in the world in faith means that we renounce the things of the world but still live in the world. We reach out to those around us who are impoverished by the world and lie forgotten in the by ways and lane ways of the modern internet highways. We need to abandon our stance of feeling as if we are the good guys and move into the stance of feeling the need of those who are starved of God's love and presence.

How many of the children in the world are starved of love as a result of the need for a presence in the cyber world? How many of our young people couch surf each night as a result of neglect and our inability to see them? We are too recognised in the world for what we propose but do not do. We need to be unrecognised for the love we show and exhibit not recognised for the hypocrisy we display. Changing our outlook to encompass both the porous and the blinkered worlds will allow us to manifest Christ to those who are neglected and starved of attention.