My daily office reading has my New Testament reading in Revelation to finish out the year. I needed to land this NT Wright quote on Revelation 6 somewhere, so I place it here. It is a stark reminder to how we, as American Christians, have been asleep at the wheel for so long.
For too long, over the last century at least, mainline Western churches have healed the wounds of the human race lightly, declaring ‘peace, peace’ when there is no peace except at the superficial level. We have been unwilling to look below the surface and see the dark forces at work. But if God’s new creation is to be brought to birth, the deepest ills of the old one must be exposed, allowed to come out, and be dealt with.
Wright, T. (2011). Revelation for Everyone (p. 62). SPCK; Westminster John Knox.
To this point, we are still unwilling. We have had so much exposed and all we’ve attempted in the last few years is to shove the “problems” back in a corner and try to get back to “normal.”
A quote like this from NT Wright needs to stand in prophetic witness and as an indictment on the current state of the American/Western Church.
God have mercy.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 