The enemy of hope...

What do we need for the church of today to survive into the future?  Is it better pastors; more production; better music; more comfortable pew’s?  These things may make up part of the answer, but the thing they have in common is the one thing we need most – Hope.

If the church is going to thrive in a new world it has to have hope that it can be of consequence there.  Hope that it can have a transformation impact on the world.  Hope that it (church itself) can be better than it is now. 

Nostalgia is the greatest enemy of hope. We humans love nostalgia and hold as tightly to it as we do our memories. However, nostalgia is really the thought that the past was better than the present and that it can never be any better than it was.  If the future can never be as good (or better) than the past – there is no hope for the future.  Nostalgia says – it can’t be better than that, so don’t bother trying! 

Christ calls us to Faith, Hope and Love – Faith is remembering (how things really were), Hope is belief that the future can be better than the present, and Love… God is Love.  He is standing just ahead of us, calling us forward into the future, into Him, into complete – unadulterated, Love.

What do you think?  How has nostalgia affected the church? What nostalgia surrounding church have you held to?