It was very moving today to stand on the Mount of Olives and read of Jesus weeping over the lack of faith of the city of Jerusalem. We read this with the background of the city in view with the temple mount Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. This city still needs faith in Jesus. We prayed for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6) We then reflected on the areas of our own cities, lives and ministries over which Jesus must still weep for lack of faith.
This evening we were stimulated by Os Guinness on the challenges of secularism. I resonated with each point. He spoke (among many things) of how the secular world leads to a corruption of faith – fragmentation (where people’s lives are less and less integrated with faith), preference (where people’s faith is more to do with personal preference rather than authority or conviction) and Syncretism (where the secular smorgasbord allows people to pick and choose their faith constructs).
He made a great observation about how people try to deal with secularism. Some stand in defiance of the secular culture around us. This leads in the end to an unhelpful fundamentalism, where faith is set up in opposition to culture. Others surrender to the culture, and allow secular culture to lead the church ultimately to apostasy and immorality. Neither of these approaches are good enough. Better is the approach of Discernment, where fully engaged with the faith once delivered, we act in discernment with the culture in which we live. This is the hardest but the most fruitful of all, preventing us from being either fundamentalist or apostate, and helping us make a Gospel difference in the world.
I have been stimulated and encouraged in faith today. Singing with our African brothers and sisters is a real treat. Being in Jerusalem and reading the scriptures (John 5 today) after having visited the sites (the Pools of Bethesda on Saturday) is something quite special.
Please pray for the conference that its outcomes honour the Lord Jesus Christ.
