In the midst of uncertainty, has the 21st century church got anything to say, or more importantly anything to pray?

Every day the uncertainties of local, national and international life are played out before our eyes in what we experience, what we hear and what we see. With a 24 hour news animal that must be fed, we are receiving information from every corner of the planet often within minutes of an incident taking place. As residents of the Global village, news readers have become the village gossip.

Every day we are informed of the struggles that nations like China have to meet the demands of its people for change and freedom. Russia struggles with what Peter Gardener in Llanelli calls, Authoritarian capitalism; India wrestles with a growing economy and a growing population; Africa struggles with wars, famine and disease; Europe is trying to cope with unprecedented movement of people searching for a better quality of life and America tries to cope with the fall of the mighty dollar and the consequences of the credit crunch.

With the ever increasing connectedness within the village, things that happen, sometimes thousands of miles away, can have great effect on our day to day lives. A drought in one place affects the food supply in another. Financial collapse in one nation affects many nations. A war in one country draws in armies from many lands. The price and availability of oil in the Middle East and other oil producing nations affects everybody on the planet. We could talk about tsunamis, earthquakes, pandemics, migration of millions of people, all these issues causing great uncertainty around the world. Within our own nations that uncertainty grows. In individual family and work life the breakdown in trust and loyalty, the removal of boundaries and guidelines brings uncertainty to every age group.

In the midst of all the uncertainty around us, we speak, act and pray standing on God the eternal rock

In the 1970s and ‘80s we were told that the new millennium would bring early retirement with great pensions giving us more free time, cheap travel, cheap food, peace of mind and a good life. What uncertainty the dashing of those hopes bring.

In the so called faith world, religions of all shapes, sizes and beliefs have arrived on our shores to be batted around by secular humanistic thinkers and practitioners and as the Bishop of Rochester recently pointed out, they are working hard to fill the spiritual vacuum left by until recently, an inward looking church. That naval gazing came from uncertainty by church leadership and lay people in who they were and what they believed.

On the global and local scene, politicians of all persuasions struggle to bring conclusions to the uncertainty. With good intent, laws are introduced to improve the welfare of the country’s citizens. Laws and regulations concerning education, health, law and order, transport, finance, the environment, indeed every area of our lives, pours out of places like Brussels at an astounding rate, all trying to bring improve­ment and order into uncertainty and at times hopelessness.

So in the midst of uncertainty and an increasingly uncertain future, has the 21st century church got anything to say, or more importantly anything to pray? The answer is a resounding YES! Whilst we thank God for men and women who serve our nations in politics, education, health, finance, law and order and many other ways, we must also thank God that the church is demonstrating its living faith in word and action bringing real hope to communities across our nations.

2008 has been for many churches and Christian organisations a year of hope; yet many of us struggle with uncertainties, disappointments, as yet unanswered prayers, our own failures and the failings of others, on top of all the uncertainties of life. For some of us our hopes and dreams have yet to be realised. The writer in the book of Proverbs in the bible says “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” In the Message translation it says, “unrelenting disappointment leaves your heart sick”.

by Ian Cole, World Prayer Centre

In the midst of our uncertainties, what is our message? The great thing about the bible is that God did not fill every page with perfect people. In fact many battled with uncertainty, disap­pointment, barrenness, frustration and impatience and yet the writer to the Hebrews tells us that for many, at the core of their being, was faith in God and His word. Today, at this moment in our world’s history our faith tells us that God is still God.

Today the faith of the church, the Body of Christ is being exer­cised in a million ways. All over the world this Body is using its shoulders to carry burdens, its hands to bring comfort and healing and its feet to carry the Gospel of Peace. In the midst of all the uncertainty around us, we speak, act and pray standing on God the eternal rock, in the name of Jesus who is the same yesterday today and forever, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the words of the Godfrey Birtill song;

Even when we’re unbelieving

When we’re desperate for our healing

When our friends desert us

Through the things that hurt us

When the Government has no answers

When the media lowers its standards

When the plans we make are worthless

When we lose our sense of purpose

He’s still God.