Babylon and Zion

I spent the beginning of the week at a ministers' conference where the key speaker was Stuart Murray Williams.  We reflected with Stuart on what it means to be in post-Christendom, and how daunting that seems to many.  However, it need not be daunting.  It is an opportunity.  It means that those in the churches are - largely - those who want to be there.  However, one of the struggles is when we seem to be being faithful to God's promise with no effect.  Then we can seem abandoned by God.  Our fundamental premise is that God is with us, come what may.  Matthew’s Gospel ends with those resounding words – And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.  But what about those times when it doesn’t seem to be so?  Let us not pretend that those are easy.  But it is worth remembering a point that Stuart made on Monday evening – “Think of what the Israelites learned in Babylon that they didn’t learn in Zion.”