Sermon: Do communities of faith still have what the world is hungry for?
The world is hungry ... for hope, real leadership, vision, healing, forgiveness, more faithful care of Earth, justice, civility, compassionate community, a better way of life. When we had Christendom as our context, we could count on partners in high places to help meet the need to shape a good world.
But now that we no longer have the ear of government in the same way, nor the same level of support from business and civic leaders in seeking the kingdom of God in our time, this Gospel story takes on new and powerful meaning. This is a story for the church today to listen to, with newly opened ears.
The needs we face are huge, whether we look globally or locally, publicly or privately. What's needed is people and communities of faith ready to offer what they have -- even all by themselves, in the faith that the little we are able to do and offer is still all it takes for good things to happen.
The worst that could happen would be a continuation and fulfilment of W.B. Yeats' dreadful vision after the Great War of 1914-1918:
... The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
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