Our hometown isn’t just something outside, it’s within us. It’s not just a place, but our routines and habits, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, prejudices, assumptions, identity, and values. But what happens when someone comes to our hometown and says, “Follow me.”?
The phrase ‘King for a Day’ and the tradition of April Fool’s Day are intertwined. Jesus rules a Kingdom with no borders to defend, no soldiers to defend it. It is a kingdom that inverts our very understanding of power. But it’s no joke.
Times of collective fear and terror are nothing new – it’s just that the object of our collective fears may change. When we have witnessed our world come to an end, we have to face the ultimate, apocalyptic question, who or what, do we really trust?
Beyond the legend, St. George had to face a question. Was he the centre of his own universe or was their something more worth defending? A dragon that needed defeating?
For all our advancements in communications technology it seems we still have a deep and sometimes dangerous fear of those different from ourselves. We can communicate in ever more instant ways and yet this freedom also provides a platform to amplify our fears and prejudices of all that is ‘other’. “Who is my neighbour?” This question was once posed to Jesus who responded with what is called the ‘Parable of the Good Samaritan’.
We cannot change the past but we can learn from it and faithfully shape the future. ‘Tomorrow’ is a precious gift that has been entrusted to us by those who gave their ‘today’.
A church congregation were once asked by their minister to encapsulate their faith in 300 words? Not quoting one of the historic creeds, but their ‘creed’? If you can’t say what you believe in 300 words, what can you say?
The human soul in the 21st century still hungers for the numinous that liturgies coming from the era of rationalism cannot seem to fulfil as people continue to vote with their feet and walk away.
From print to the internet, are we experiencing a digital reformation?
