Jesus is Alive

The C of E's Statistics for Mission are out. And they're fairly poor, as you might imagine.

And no doubt there are many ways to respond. Some will say the Church is too old-fashioned. Too small-C conservative. Uninclined, except at glacial pace, to welcome the many people they'd want to offer a kind of blessing for things the Church would rather not think about.

And others will say the Church is too liberal. Too modern. Too compromised. That it should be hanging on to the faith once delivered to the saints. Holding fast against the tide of post-modernism.  And then people seeking truth will be attracted.

There was a man who had few followers. After he made some particularly odd pronouncements about himself he had fewer. By the time he died he had 12 blokes and a handful of women following him.

By the power of the Spirit and the love of God, on the third day he stopped being dead. The movement based not on judgement about sexual relationships nor  about exclusion, but about the simple fact he is alive, expanded - sometimes quickly, sometimes tortuously.

In places where it once ruled, it no longer exists. In places where it had a rod of iron, it is now a joke.

But that man is still alive. If not one human on earth believed it, he'd still be alive. If every knee bowed to his name, he would be no more nor no less alive.

He is alive. Tell out that one thing. Shout it against a world that has no hope, no pleasure beyond hedonism or the dulling of boredom.

They may not listen. It stops being your fault. It's not really your problem. Jesus is alive. Live like it's true - like the end is not the End. Like God holds out hope  regardless

He is alive. That's all that counts. Numbers may tell you that you're saying it well, or badly. But they may just be telling you that this generation is uncertain, or comfortable. Jesus failed in Nazareth. Maybe this time is Nazareth. Maybe we're no good, playing at home. It doesn't matter. Hold onto this truth.

Jesus is alive.