Well another year has come and gone. I am reminded of the words from the movie “Field of Dreams.” “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game; it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again. Oh, people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.” 

As I think of these words, I do believe we could substitute the word “church” for “baseball.” The church, when it has been true to its calling, “to baptize and preach the Gospel, when it has been true to the whole word of God, when it has stood opposed to injustice and evil, the church has been the one constant in America.”

America has rolled by like an army of steam rollers, erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. From a British colony to an independent nation. From slavery to liberty and justice for all. From offering hope to millions to opposing evil, the church has been the one constant.

At times the church has failed. At times the church has been more like the world, appeasing evil in hopes that it would not cease to exist. At times the church has sold its soul for money, for power, for fame, for glory. When the church has done that the whole nation, the world has suffered.

How different would this nation have been if not half the churches supported slavery? How different Europe and the world would have been if the church had opposed the evil of the Third Reich?

As one looks back one can say that too often evil, dissension, persecution, violence, and hatred rose up because the church failed in its mission. Too often the church adopts a policy of, “let’s just go along to get along.” Jesus said, “You are in the world but you are not of the world.”

A professor back in seminary once said that the church must be the “moral guardian of the nation.” To put it another way the church should be the “moral compass of the nation.” The way we live, our teaching, our preaching should never be sacrificed so we can get along with the nation, especially when the nation is going in the wrong direction. We are called to bring people to Christ. In 2023 let Immanuel dedicate itself to that great calling.

Veritas - Curt