UMC20240530 - The Golden ThreadΒΆ
I just finished reading 'A Nearly Infallible History of Christianity' by Nick Page. What really strikes me about the history of our faith is that it started like any other movement, in stark contrast to the status-quo, and as it came into popularity, urgency left and humanity crept in. Jesus teaches a few what real life is like; care more about love, peace, and the welfare of your neighbours; care less about material possessions, status, and power. The world was hungry for this. The early apostles, who experienced Jesus, create a massive movement. It is so counter-cultural that they are sought out and killed for saying that the rich shouldn't be rich and that the lowly have value. But this only fueled the movement.
One part of the story really stuck out in the book was after Rome had adopted Christianity as the religion of the empire, a new emperor wanted to restore the old religions and reinstated the pagan Gods as the state religion. But he was frustrated when his subjects were not treating the poor "like the Christians did".
Christianity became the religion of the most powerful nation. Then the most powerful nation started killing in the name of Christ. Popes became greedy rulers, a reminder of the kings of the old Israel, and did unspeakable acts to maintain their power. But when corruption and power came to a pinnacle, major reformers, monks and lay people fought back against what Christianity had become.
Our Church history is messy. Human history is messy. Where there is any attempt at creating an organised structure of any kind (religious or not), there is space for corruption and greed, but there is also space for goodness and love. What is so prevalent in the history of the church is the Golden Thread of Christ, always guiding his people back to himself.
Seeing the history of our country, I cannot help but imagine a similar Golden Thread. No matter how dire the circumstances may seem, we are in one moment in history. Everything always moves towards God. Now, in the times of our elections, we only pray that we see that movement sooner rather than later.
Love, Cliff