Happenings 26 March 2017

The thimble is dead. Long live the thimble. So is the boot. So is the wheelbarrow.

Those three Monopoly tokens which have been around forever (the thimble and boot from 1935!) have finally succumbed to the ongoing march of progress, and will soon be replaced by commercial-themed tokens. One Monopoly traditionalist said in response, ‘It broke my heart.’ (The cheeky Scottie dog is safe - breathe a collective sigh of relief!)

Change is a constant in our society, whether said change be good, bad or indifferent. Change is also part of the Christian experience, but it is important to distinguish where change is necessary and where change is abhorrent. As I reflect on this, it seems to me that the ‘Who’ and the ‘What’ must stay constant; God is the unchanging one and his perfections are constant. Likewise, the gospel of Jesus is forever vital and applicable. But the ‘How’ is another matter altogether. God himself has changed the way he has revealed himself and related to people over history (a fancy term called, ‘Progressive Revelation’). Similarly, how the good news of the gospel is effectively transmitted to our world has always been in flux, since, as the surrounding cultures have changed, old strategies have needed to be replaced by the new. I used to be a molecular biologist, and I still marvel at that most successful of critters – the virus. It gains access to ever-defensive host cells not by changing its core material, but by constantly changing the shape of its outer wall. May we be a people that never seeks to put a new spin on the core of the gospel, but always seeks innovative and creative ways to present it to a changing world.

In Him, Murray