Our Society Is Fractured

We live in a fractured society.  Even blind Freddie would acknowledge the truth of the statement.  We may be at peace with our environment especially from a faith perspective but that is a very insular stance, one that does not notice the dysfunction around us.

Jesus never missed the dysfunction in His world; in fact He went out of His way to point out where there was inequality.  This was a large part of His teaching ministry leading up to His ultimate act that being to offer reconciliation between the world and His Father.

We should keep in the forefront of our vision that one of the early statements of the Son of Man was that He “came to seek and save those who are lost”. He went further to claim that He did not come for the well but for those who are sick.  Then at the end of His work after He declared that “it is over” He appeared to His disciples and asserted that all Hs disciples were to pick up the bundle, so to speak, and continue the work that He had already completed.

There is an apparent disconnect in the last paragraph I know, one that I will pick up here.  Jesus in the crucifixion comment declared reconciliation available to all through His offering on the cross: what He did not do was take the problem (sin) away.  The world He left behind when He ascended to the Father was still fractured and beset with problems, the difference that we were capable of conquering sin in our lives and offering that to others by their being reconciled to Father.

So our mission if we accept it is to offer to others the truth that they can make a difference in their environment and in their lives by their submission to Jesus the Lord of Life.  I am not here just talking about laying the Good News on people and leaving them to their own devices.  Most people look for the evidence before they are ready to commit to anything even in their own personal level.

Jesus in His charge to us about picking up the bundle, was all about us making a difference in our world; just as He did.  When He declared that “the Kingdom now was” spoke of a kingdom that was and was not.  A kingdom on earth made up of His followers and who were reaching out to others to help them to encounter Him so they could be reconciled to the Father.

How do we achieve this end, fixing the fracture in our society?  It is not a single all consuming plan.  The reason is that people are very individual; they seek evidence in many different ways.  It is up to us to build bridges of reconciliation so that others may walk across them and become partners in the work

We must work out, lead by God’s Spirit, how we can make a difference in other’s lives.  For some may be attracted by social programs that others feel discomfort in being offered.  Others may need a friend who can see God at work in our lives which offers hope to them; this can be especially true in the workplace.

It is as we reach out to others that we bring the kingdom closer in our concern about the environment in which we encounter people.  It is also true that as we serve the Master so others see our faith in action and as we place these two concerns together we form a cross of caring for others (the horizontal span) and living for the Master as the vertical element..