wake up, son.
My fingers are tired from typing out this excerpt. If you read it, read it through, otherwise you’ll be left hanging. It’s about church, a hopeful exhortation.
“The secularization of life is the result of men’s choices. They have given themselves to the pursuit of this-worldly ends. They have preferred the material to the spiritual. They have sought the heavens upon earth which they believed that their own efforts could enable them to create. They are captivated by utopias which hold out the promise of comfort and prosperity. They live by theories which blind them to the realities of human existence. They are no longer able to see the ultimate facts which encompass man’s life- the realities of death, sin, judgment, and God. This concentration of interest on the present life, which is ultimately rooted in the choice of individuals, passes into and permeates the whole texture of social life so that it becomes the climate and temper of the age, to the benumbing influence of which all, Christians as well as non-Christians, are in greater or less degree subject. There is a prevailing insensibility to spiritual issues which causes the message of the Church to fall on deaf ears.
But while the responsibility for this state of things does not lie wholly with the Church, its failures and shortcomings have contributed to the result. It has not swum with sufficient vigor against the stream. It has allowed its own life and attitudes and activities to become secularized. If it is to serve the world it must begin with an inward reformation. Its consideration of its relations to society and the State must be rooted in a deep repentance…The Churches will accomplish their purposes in proportion as they are free from illusions regarding the ability of the Church to mould the economic, political, and international life of our time. The frank acknowledgement of our own weakness and impotence will drive us back on the true and unchanging source of the strength and hope of the Church. It is in the power of God to enable the Church now and in the coming days to utter a word which will not be without effect on the life and conduct of Christians, and will not be unheard even by a secularized, indifferent, and hostile world.”
The Church and its Function in Society, ‘T Hooft & Oldham.
