I am old enough that I can remember the “B.T.” days, “before television.” There are days when we would all like to be free of television. Television, though, has rapidly changed our society. Our homes are often geared around it. Politicians now run their campaigns around television exposure. Many are elected because they are good at public relations and promotion and may be weak in political savvy or insight. It is the image that sells them. Television has changed sports, made it available for instant consumption, and holds an ideal of ability that will forever elude most of us. Television determines products we buy, where we go for vacations, clothes we wear, cars we ride in, and so many other things about our whole lifestyle. This is true even to the point of what has happened in religious services on television. Entertainment is now the chief religious sales pitch and, if we are not entertained, many feel that they have not had a religious experience with God.
The automobile has also changed our society. Our landscapes have mountains of old cars piled high. Cities have been built around automobiles. Courting habits have been changed by automobiles. Businesses and their job markets are determined often by the accessibility of automobiles. Computers, e-mail, fax machines, cell and smart phones and other forms of technology have forever changed our lifestyles. Yes, our society has undergone a great deal of rapid change, and some of us really do not know how to adjust to them.
Snoopy is seen lying on his doghouse in a peanuts cartoon. The night is black; the stars are shining brightly. As he is looking up into the heavens he says, “I am always impressed by the constancy of the stars. It gives me a feeling of security to look up and know that the star I see will always be there. And will ...” Suddenly he sees a shooting star fall across the sky. In the next frame, you see Snoopy lying across the top of his doghouse with his head down and with a droopy look of dismay. We are beginning to discover that even the stars fall and do not last forever.
Some have exclaimed: “Alas, alas the times now are not what the times used to be!” That inscription was written six thousand years ago in Babylonia. Even then times were changing. One of the popular songs of a few years back declared: “The times, they are a-changing.” It is difficult for us to imagine what people tomorrow will think about the changes that will take place in the tomorrows ahead of us.
We Often Prefer the Familiar and Fear Change
What can we you and I, as Christians, do in response to all the changes that are going on around us? How do we react to them? Well, a lot of us, if we are honest, really prefer permanency and fear change. We really do not like change. We want the old shoes and comfortable clothing. We slip into them quickly when we get home at the end of a busy day. Some of us prefer antiques because we know the quality of the merchandise and something about the era in which they existed. We like the security and the sense of permanency in those items. We know their style, history, and value and feel at home with them. We cling to that which is familiar and identifiable.
Halford Luccock said that he once took his six-year-old daughter for an afternoon ride on a merry-go-round in a nearby park. After five rides, she turned to him and said: “I’d like to live on a merry-go-round!” A lot of us prefer the merry-go-round type of life. We prefer to move around in those familiar circles in which we are secure. We want schedules and routineness. We reach out for some kind of security blankets of orthodoxy, customs, or traditions that make us feel comfortable. We desire those things that make us feel secure. We prefer the old paths and traditions that we understand. And we often cling tightly to them. We hug the shore of familiarity.
But…our world today is feeling an earthquake; a tremor that is tumbling the familiar structures all around us. Everything permanent is being shaken loose. The ground seems to be reeling beneath our feet and the important things are passing out of our life. As the walls begin to crack and fall, some of us do not know which way to turn. We look for a toe-hold. We look for something to cling to. We search for some secure, snug harbor where we can put our anchor down and remain secure. We are often terrified and frightened by the changes and do not know where to go or what to do. As the poet, W. B. Yeats, says “All changed, changed utterly.”
“Hold the old way” is the watch-word of this perspective. Too many of us are like the old farmer who was interviewed as he approached his ninetieth birthday. “I suppose there have been a lot of changes in your lifetime,” noted the reporter. “There shor have been,” the farmer replied, “and I’ve been agin every blasted one of ‘em!” A lot of us are that way. We simply cannot stand the changes that are going on around us. We scorn the new and sanctify the old; criticize the different and cling to the familiar; reject the changes and reclaim the customary; throw over the unfamiliar and hold on to the traditional.
Change Is at the Heart of the Universe
Change is indeed all around us and we do not know where to turn or where to go. But we need to realize that change is at the very heart of the universe itself that was designed by God who created it. When God created man and woman and placed them within the world, God created them for growth. On examination, we discover that man/woman and the whole universe are still in process of changing, growing, and becoming. Nothing is finalized or complete. When God looked upon creation, God said “Behold it is good.” Creation was not perfect, not finished, not over. God said, “It is good.”
A church pulpit seems solid. The pews people sit on in church seem solid. But we are told by scientists that they are really particles in motion. If we could put them under the proper microscope, we could see that in actuality they are in motion. Our bodies are all still in process of growing. As one cell is dying, a new one is coming into existence. The atom itself is energy in motion. For awhile scientists thought the atom was a fixed unit, but when it was split, a world was discovered inside of it, also. Heat and light are waves or particles in motion. Matter does not perish but changes. Everything is in process and is constantly changing, sometimes rapidly and sometimes slowly. All creation is continuously growing. And where there is no change, there is no growth. Growth does not come if there is no change. But change, life will and must.
Sometimes Change Is Painful
If you don’t think you have changed, look at a picture taken ten years ago. We all change. Exercise produces for us some sense of pain, if we have not done much for a while, or if we engage in an exercise that we are not used to. You and I know that when we flex muscles that have not been used to being exercised, we feel the strain upon our body. Our first steps were painful. We stumbled and fell several times before we could walk. Learning comes through the discipline of time, energy, and mental abilities. Growth itself is sometimes painful. Pain is a part of life. Ernest Campbell, the late minister of Riverside Church in New York City, asked a friend once “How do you know whether you should be for change or not?” He answered directly: “If it hurts, it’s good.” Real change always produces some pain in our lives because it indicates our need for growth. We always experience pain when the radically new comes into our lives. It is almost always painful when something that is different from the routine crosses our path.
Many people have stood in the way of progress and have simply marked time and watched it march past them,