Dead and Buried

Many pundits point to the rapid disappearance of living Christianity in much of Europe in the last 50 years as a trend that is continuing in the United States. The Church, at least in the West, is soon to be dead and buried they opine. (Christianity is growing quickly in Latin America, Africa, and China!) Barna Research published these findings about Christianity in America last year.

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.

What used to be basic, universally-known truths about Christianity are now unknown mysteries to a large and growing share of Americans--especially young adults.

2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.

3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.

When asked what matters most, teenagers prioritize education, career development, friendships, and travel. Faith is significant to them, but it takes a back seat to life accomplishments and is not necessarily perceived to affect their ability to achieve their dreams. Among adults the areas of growing importance are lifestyle comfort, success, and personal achievements. Those dimensions have risen at the expense of investment in both faith and family.

4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.

Our biblical illiteracy and lack of spiritual confidence has caused Americans to avoid making discerning choices for fear of being labeled judgmental. The result is a Church that has become tolerant of a vast array of morally and spiritually dubious behaviors and philosophies.
6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

Christianity has arguably added more value to American culture than any other religion, philosophy, ideology or community. Yet, contemporary Americans are hard pressed to identify any specific value added. -

http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/462-six-megathemes-emerge-from-2010


My own experience with the church, as a pastor for 35 years, confirms these trends. So, must we heave a sign of resignation, sing a verse of “Que Sera Sera,” and wait for the ‘inevitable?’ No!

Ancient Judah was ‘dead and buried,’ the bones of her culture and religion bleached in the sun. The Temple lay in ruins, the royal family was in captivity, the priesthood obliterated, and the best of the young enslaved in Babylon. An ancient hymn captures the gloom felt by those who remembered what once was. "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?" (Psalm 137:1-4, NIV)

Among those who mourned was Ezekiel. As he prayed, the Spirit of the Lord stirred a vision in his heart. "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:1-3, NIV) The Lord told him to preach to those bones! A fool’s errand was what it seemed, but he obeyed.

There was a rattling as bones connected and flesh appeared on them. Then the Lord told Zeke to “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” (Ezekiel 37:9, NIV) A mighty army marched off the field of dry bones that day!

The Church may be dried up, dead to all appearances. But, like Zeke, I believe that there is a new wind of the Spirit ready to blow across the land. It won’t be a little puff. It will not come from a few songs sung in sanctuaries or some tears shed in a sentimental moment. It will come like a hurricane, blowing down religious structures, tearing up our lives, and creating a place for the work of God to be built anew.

It’s a personal prophecy, too. Perhaps your spiritual experience has become ‘dry bones’ of religion. There is no power, no sharing of the Gospel, no victories over sin, no joy, no fruit. If you’re thirsty, look to the Lord earnestly. Repent and pray the promise.

Here it is: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. … Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon." (Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-7, NIV)

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Sweet Wind

There's a wind a-blowin'
All across the land
A fragrant breeze of heaven
Blowin' once again

Don't know where it comes from
Don't know where it goes
But let it blow over me
Oh sweet wind
Come and blow over me

There's a rain a-pourin'
Showers from above
Mercy drops are comin'
Mercy drops of love

Turn your face to heaven
Let the water pour
Well let it pour over me
Oh sweet rain
Come and pour over me

There's a fire burnin'
Fallin' from the sky
Awesome tongues of fire
Consuming you and I

Can you feel it burnin'
Burn the sacrifice
Well let it burn over me
Oh sweet fire
Come and burn over me

© 1994 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing
Vineyard Songs Canada
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(Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
(Admin. by Music Services, Inc.) David Ruis

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