Grace Notes 2021-10-27
Leslie and I attended a timely conference sponsored by Touchstone Magazine. This magazine labels itself “A Journal of Mere Christianity”. And the conference this year was entitled “No Neutral Ground: The Cost of Discipleship in a Secular Age”. The lineup of speakers were Hans Boersma, Allan Carlson, Rod Dreher, Anthony Esolen, S.M. Hutchens, Peter Leithart, Patrick Henry Reardon, and Carl Trueman. They were excellent!
The annual conference has been held on the campus of Trinity International University in Deerfield, Il (northern Chicago). And of the eight speakers, seven are either Senior or Contributing editors of Touchstone Magazine. The diversity of affiliation with the speakers includes one Evangelical, two Reformed, one Lutheran, one Presbyterian, one Catholic, and one Orthodox. They all have several books and journal articles to their names.
All the presenters were in basic agreement with Rod Dreher, author of “Live Not by Lies: A Survival Manual for Christian Dissidents”, that we are living in a period of increasing soft totalitarianism. That is, there are increasing attempts to control and exercise authority over every aspect of our lives. And this control is not necessarily primarily from the government. It is also from such entities as corporations, academia, the various medias of news, social and entertainment, and from sports, medical and legal associations, and the list goes on.
Much of this control is unfriendly to Faith and Family. In fact, it is trending toward being militant. The presenters shared many examples of this trend. The reason they label it as soft is because, at least now, the control is not by physical force or torture. Instead, it is by WOKE sensibilities with the accompanying ‘cancel culture’. At the present this results in such things as job loss and the defamation of character.
None of this is new to the faith in general. But it may be new for many of us. Accordingly we will need to be well fortified to endure. It is always time to take the faith seriously!
Since You Asked…
Does the receiving of money offerings play a significant role in the worship service?
Yes, more than you might think! Cash is one of the strongest symbols in modern culture. When we offer our money on the altar it should represent our time and effort – our very selves. In early Christian worship gifts-in-kind were handled during the weekly assemblage. In our post-industrial societies, we now exchange in paper or metal symbols. The offering of our selves upon the altar is in response to God’s love proclaimed in the Good News and in anticipation of how God offers back that which is entrusted to him. During the moment of offering we also offer bread and wine upon the altar, and in return these gifts are offered back to us as the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.