As millennium approaches, it's time to take stock
This is not just another year we're pushing into - it is the five-year mark before the end of one millennium and the beginning of another.
Which means you've got five years to get your life straightened out before the Almighty comes swooping to Earth like a giant winged bird and takes the faithful away to paradise.
Yes, that's what some people believe, and as we journey toward that fateful moment - midnight on Dec. 31, 2000 - the anticipation is going to become frightful. All believers will be on full alert. Some will be swooning as the moment approaches. Others will be on their knees imploring mercy for past evil deeds. Preachers will be pursuing the sinful and chasing them into a cage of righteousness.
Where will you be that night? You've got five years to figure it out. Will you be in church or at some drunken blast trying to escape the rigors of life? It's entirely up to you, but just in case, why don't you at least take stock of who you are and what your purpose in life has become?
I mean this for preachers especially but not exclusively. Laypeople are leaders as well.
Preachers, I know you're tired. All those extra services during the Christmas season take a toll. But if you're going to lead the flock into the 21st century, there are a few things you should consider.
For instance, are you thinking as a prophet would think? Are you wondering where this religion of yours is headed during the next five years? Are you warning the faiuhful about eternal perdition? Are you reminding parishioners it is their religious duty to live righteously?
Perhaps it's time to re-read the Old Testament and take a look at those incredible prophets who could make a crowd wither with fear. They also brought a message of hope. All was not lost just because a few people in the community messed up their lives. There was always a better vision for the future and hope for a less chaotic world.
Sometimes it feels as if we're in an Old Testament world, with all the wars going on and the tribal hatred and religious strife that busts up our sense of well-being. The difference between our world and that primitive time long ago is that turmoil a world away can no longer be ignored. We watch the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and it seeps into our mind and makes us feel uneasy, as if the troops were about to descend on our village.
In our world, there are many prophets who could bring us hope. But few talk about the shining city on the hill, preferring instead to remind us that the world is crumbling before our eyes. And frankly, some days it seems that it is on the brink of destruction.
Still, if you are a religious person you can afford to live in hope. That is the great cry of every statement of faith ever written or spoken. If we do the right things, humankind will endure. If we don't, we could be lost. And as the passing of a millennium approaches, that tension gets magnified.
So you can understand why some faithful people become more fervent in their religious practice. Feeling hopeless, their only refuge is in God, and they believe the Almighty is about to move on the world in a powerful and unique way.
This is a time of opportunity for all religions. Therefore preachers need more than ever to concentrate on the big words. Preach about salvation, not damnation. Preach about living righteously rather than picking apart people's lives looking for sin.
I remember an old preacher, a friend of mine, who could make an audience red-faced and shamed in the first five minutes of his sermon. But for the next 15 minutes he massaged them with grace, and by the time they left the church they were shining with glory.
The old preacher faltered one day in the pulpit, stepped down and sat in his big, ornate chair. His head fell to his chest and he died, and for a moment pandemonium reigned. But the band and chorus struck up the old gospel hymn "I'll Fly Away" as the paramedics carried him off. He died as he lived, full of fire but also full of grace.
That's what we need. Preachers and leaders who can stop bickering and start giving people hope. Yes, the world needs some repair. Who has the answer? My guess is, it's you.
Clark D. Morphew
1-19-96
