David Valentini sent a message to the members of Anglican Prayer Network.
--------------------
Subject: Thoughts for a busy Monday - 24 Aug 09
In the book Fahrenheit 451, the hero meets a young woman. The young woman is a mystery to this main character. One night, he walks past her home, and sees the young woman and her family sitting on the living room couch merely talking. This sitting is incomprehensible to him, as in this future world, books are banned and people are hideously busy; people are so busy that no one really stops to think in depth, or communicate with anyone around them. People drive at over 100 a miles an hour on 10- lane highways.
What is really interesting is that this book was written 60 years ago.
In many ways, science fiction has become science fact. On the road, people are in such a hurry to get somewhere. Thankfully, books have
not been banned. However, many analysts believe such as William
Bennett in his book, The Dumbing Down of America, is that people
really don't stop to think anymore. CS Lewis in his book The Scewtape Letters, stated that one time in history, that men and women would think a think a thing then act on it; he postulated that such an era has long past. Finally, sociologists have stated that the new gadgets, texting, e-mail, have actually made people less communicative not more.
Our society has become so overly busy, that in many areas, that it is starting to erode. Families don't spend the time together that they did
in the past. Church attendance is down fromr where is was 50 years ago.
This tendency for people to be overly busy has resulted in them turning from God to other things, other events, and other places.
However, this article is not a doom and gloom piece of writing. I am amazed on how many times that the Church has led the world out of darkness time and time again. It was the Church that helped lead Europe out of the Dark Ages, through the founding of major universities. It is Church that has brought the Gospel to the world, despite that governmental institutions are running away from God at records speeds.
Some have contended that the prayers of the saints have prevented the world from being destroyed. In fact, one general in the pentagon was so taken by the Gospel, that he said that defense spending will not save the
world, but the saving power of Jesus Christ.
Pope Benedict the 16th was asked what deemed that the mission of
the Church was. He simply said to lead once more. Today, we have to rise to that challenge. How do we do this ? Easily. When we see our busy friends, simply ask them if we can say a quick prayer with them, and in
the process let the knowledge of wisdom of the life-giving Trinity come
upon them. By praying with people, we stop them and give them pause. By praying with them, we show the a peace that the world cannot give and turn them away from the busyness that is often anxiety provoking. In praying with them, and for them, we could begin to tackle and reverse
the moral decay of the world; here is an example of this; Billy Graham said that the divorce rate in the United States could be taken from 1 in 4 to 1 in 400 if the couple worshiped together, studied the Bible, and
finally prayed together.-Deacon David
--------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment