Here we saw something vastly more powerful than wealth, weapons, consumerism, or technology. Here we saw the power of a religious conviction that did not hesitate at personal sacrifice, or the death of the innocent or the knowledge of nigh universal opprobrium to further its ends. Such convictions cannot be countered just by better security systems or intelligence, rather they have to be defeated and exposed by a more excellent way. The battleground lies in the soul of our culture and society. What do we really value, what motivates our lives?  We cannot live by bread alone. Sadly we often act as though we do.

I believe it is time we Christians stopped our adulterous affair with consumerism, and our narcissistic self-indulgence and turn to Christ. It’s time to stop paying lip service to our faith, now we need to live it. It’s time to recover a vision of a Christian community which is shaped by the gospel; a community that does not only preserve the good news but lives it. It’s time to know Christ and make him known; time to deepen our faith, time to live it out in our ordinary workaday life; time to show that being a Christian means a whole lot more than attending church on Sunday, to seek the love of Christ so that we give ourselves again and again in the service of God.  Do you share my vision? Will this be your new year’s resolution.

Revd Donald Dowling, January 2002