January 17th, 2013

A New Earth and a New Heaven


Most films in Holiday show the human beings are
looking for a new world order. Sadly this is seen as being outside Christianity.
Christians for a long time have been looking within and have lost the plot. If
we are always looking in we never grow either as individuals or as a corporate
body. So when we speak about waiting for the Christ who comes in glory during
Advent people can take us for confused or fanatics. Why? Because what Holly Hood
has painted is an era of alien life forms coming from somewhere else and in some
cases these aliens are living amongst us, so when we talk about Christ coming in
Glory it sounds farfetched. The reason being is that we are not seen as being
relevant any longer.  The world by
its action tells us that there is a growing need for salvation. The world needs
to hear that Salvation has come through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians need
to make Christ really in the world where Holly Hood has dominated with its
futurist movies. Think of the Transformers, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Twilight,
and Space 99 all these and many others have an underlining theme of saving
humankind. We as Christians have this knowledge or do we understand that we have
this knowledge? That all human beings have been saved and are being saved by the
name of Jesus Christ!  It is not up
to Holly Hood to tell the world it is really our mandate and task. In Matthew 28
vs. 18. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go,
therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This is our mandate, to tell the
World that God came amongst. That is why we have the incarnation.  God
breaking into human history through the birth of his only Son Jesus Christ Our
Lord. He is the one that come to bring the new earth and the new heaven, we look
to the Christ. We as Christians should constantly point to the Christ, who is
not satisfied with the status quo, who challenges our unjust world. Then the
world will stop looking to Holly Hood for answers for Salvation for we have this
knowledge which has been tested. Christians have to stop having this serial
complex of inward looking but be an outward looking people. 
To move away from self-preservation and be a community that takes risks
and only then can the world seriously engage us. An inward looking Church is
irrelevant to the world.  Jesus by
practicing his ministry among the people and responding to their needs become
relevant.  On the other hand Jews
Leadership increasingly lost its place of authority and its relevance in the
community. That is what the Church has become and people do not take Advent
seriously and Christmas is just a big party. The significance of Christmas has
been lost completely.   The
reason being, the Church has been too busy with its in house business. There is
less going out and less of taking risks.


Fr. Barnabas
Nqindi