GLEANINGS from the Daily Office – Get Over It!

GLEANINGS (from the Daily Office) – Get Over It! – Year One, Proper 24, Thursday, October 22, 2015, 1 Corinthians 16:1-9

“A wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

We may not be brats but we are spoiled. Those of us who are Gen X and older grew up in “Christian America” or at least with the myth of Christian America. Adherents never equaled the number of citizens but Christianity was the civic religion. After all, we have a National Cathedral. There was no opposition. There were no adversaries. Well, a few but not many.

But those days have come and gone. Many question whether we were ever as Christian as we thought. Almost all accept that we are not now. Agnosticism is more prevalent. Unbelief has grown in acceptance. And so have alternate religions. Pluralism advances. No belief and many beliefs have prospered at the same time.

Some lament. Others pound their fists. Paul would have loved it. The adversaries were part and parcel of advancing the Gospel. He taught in a world in which there were Greek gods, Roman gods, astrology, varied beliefs ad infinitum. And Paul’s response? He seemed to lick his chops. He saw “a wide door for effective work.”

We once sent missionaries to other countries. Now other countries are sending missionaries here. Take no offense. Get over it. The fields are white for harvest. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.

–Frodo: “I wish none of this had happened.” Gandalf: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”–