Changing Perspectives

As I sit typing this blog huge white snowflakes are tumbling down out of a heavy grey sky, not yet beginning to stick as they land on the rain soaked pavements but containing the potential to disrupt life to some degree or other for people all over the area, a potential not yet realised since it could turn to rain and be gone in just a few minutes.

When I was a child and winter came I would anxiously scan the weather forecast for snow, especially at Christmas time.  I would look forward to all the childhood joy that snowy weather brings, the snowball fights and sledging and snowman building.  I would look forward to coming back into the house, cold and wet, to dry myself with warm fluffy towels and a hot drink.  Such treats were rare indeed because the Fylde coast doesn’t get much snow at all.

Now I am an adult I see snow somewhat differently.  I still anxiously scan the weather forecast for snow, but now it is with the hope that there won’t be any.  Snow represents an inconvenience, a disruption to life; it represents delayed or postponed journeys and it represents elderly people dying because they are too cold and cannot afford to heat their homes.  Yes, a snow covered landscape looks fantastic and I enjoyed views of such a landscape as I drove over the Pennines on Wednesday, but it would have been a different story if the road had been covered with snow or even closed, as that route can be in winter.

My reflection on my change in perspective on snow has made me ponder some more about our twenty first century British society.

I used to think of Britain as basically a Christian country.  Our legal system was largely based on Christian values and we had an established church that was at the centre of big civic events.  Christian ethics ruled in most people’s lives and there was a pretty strong sense of right and wrong.  The Bible was well known and Bible stories were taught in schools.  Religious Education meant Christianity.  People knew the Lord’s Prayer, even those who did not regularly attend church and they would not have been embarrassed to join in public prayer or antagonistic to it.  The church mattered, the opinion of clergy mattered and governments resented and even feared adverse comments from the church concerning their policies.

Britain is no longer a Christian country and perhaps it never truly was, perhaps it is my perception that has changed.  I am becoming increasingly disturbed, saddened and angered by the moral decay I have become more and more aware of.  We now live in a country where cursing and swearing have become the norm, where once taboo words are used freely on television.  Pornography is freely and widely available, not only through the internet but also on television.  Sexual morality in general has seriously declined with more and more people living in sin before they get married, or simply not bothering to get married at all.  Some people are becoming obscenely wealthy whilst others can barely scrape enough money together for a nutritionally adequate meal.  Christianity is now one among a number of faiths and even though we still have an established church it often only receives lip service from the authorities and people who make a stand for Christ and Christian values may well find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

It would be very easy to feel very, very negative about all of this; but actually I don’t.  I think our society is in decay, morally and spiritually, but that decay does not need to be terminal; that decay can be transformed into something good again by our God of transformation.

When Jesus lay cold in his tomb things seemed to be pretty hopeless and bleak, just as they can sometimes seem today.  His followers were hiding in fear, convinced that they would be the next to die, to suffer the agonies of a Roman cross.

Then came life, new life, glorious resurrection life.  A cold dead corpse was transformed into a resurrected body, more alive than it had ever been before, more vital, more real.   A terrified bunch of men and women were transformed into bold evangelists whose preaching would help transform an empire.  The resurrection life of Jesus transformed and empowered them through the presence of the Holy Spirit in each of their lives and ministries.

That same resurrection power can transform lives today, it can transform communities and it can transform countries.  Disciples of Christ can preach today faithfully the word of God with power, we can pray for resurrection, we can work in the name of our God and in his name to bring about change.  Our task may be harder than it was a generation ago as our society is much less aware of Christianity and the good news we have to share; but nothing has lessened God’s power to resurrect that which is dead, to bring healing to that which is sick and decaying, to bring forgiveness and restoration to each and every one of us and through our witness to draw the whole world to our Lord Jesus Christ.