The Citizen, 2000-01-12, Page 13THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2000. PAGE 13.
From the Minister’s Study
A timely Christian in the third millennium
From a sermon Jan. 2
By Rev. Ernest Dow
Blyth United Church
Nearly 40 years ago, in 1963, Bob
Dylan wrote a song called The Times
They Are A-Changin.
At the brink of a new millennium,
its lyrics seem as appropriate as ever.
It is a warning from a new genera
tion to those already in power and
authority - senators, congressmen,
mothers and fathers, to become
aware of the changes that are com
ing. In particular, it is a warning not
to “stand in the doorway” or “block
up the hall”. Dylan cries, “Your old
road is rapidly agin’ - please get out
of the new one if you can’t lend your
hand for the times they are a-
changin’.”
Only God knows the future. As we
seek to peer ahead it is wise to pray
much and search scripture for the
clues the Holy Spirit gives. But it is
not too risky to agree with Dylan
when he writes, “the present now
will later be past; the order is rapidly
fadin’...”
It is the year 2000. It’s appropriate
for Christians to pause and reflect on
how we can stay relevant in these
changing times. Society is experi
encing at least a couple of crises in
which Jesus calls us to remain faith
ful, yet relevant. If we ignore these
changes, we may become extinct and
irrelevant; if we embrace them
unthinkingly, we will be co-opted by
Satan, compromising our faith.
The first crisis is that of technolo
gy. The changes in technology are
mind-boggling. Ray Kurzweil is a
pioneer of human/machine interface
technology; he led the development
of the first commercial computer
speech-recognition program. In this
September’s Scientific American, he
predicted: “Once computers achieve
a level of intelligence comparable to
that of humans, they will necessarily
soar past it ... Ultimately, non-bio-
logical entities will master not only
the sum total of their own knowl
edge, but ail of ours (humanity’s) as
well. As this happens, there will no
longer be a clear distinction between
human and machine.”
The possibility is scary combining
computer technology and biotech
nology to invent new forms of life,
what some call “post humanism”.
Humans could replace themselves
with a kind of disembodied, perfect
world brain.
Of more immediate concern are
GMO’s, genetically modified organ
isms. We’re already cloning sheep. Is
this the thin edge of the wedge to
working on humans? A super-smart
Frankenstein, or “HAL” as in the
movie 2001, may not be far off. Will
we soon be designing our children in
advance as you would custom-build
a computer system or add options on
a car?
The story of Ahab and Jezebel
plotting to take over Naboth’s vine
yard reminds us that, just because
something is in our power to do,
doesn’t make it right to do it. Naboth
protested that under Yahweh’s
covenant the beautiful vineyard was
his inheritance from his ancestors,
but Jezebel cooked up a scheme to
have Naboth accused falsely in a
kangaroo court and killed. The
prophet Elijah’s rebuke to Ahab is a
reminder that if we sell or prostitute
ourselves to do what is evil in the
Lord’s eyes, the long-term outcome
is disastrous. Just because we have
the technology or capability to do
something does not make it okay, we
may be damaging someone or violat
ing some aspect of God’s will.
The TV network A&E recently
published a list of the 100 most
prominent people in the previous
1,000 years, based on interviews
from numerous scholars, politicians
and theologians. Selected for top
spot was Johann Gutenberg, who
invented the moveable-type printing
press in the 1450s. This invention
fueled some of the most important
social and cultural changes that were
to come, including the Reformation,
the Enlightenment, and the Industrial
Revolution.
What was Gutenberg’s purpose?
Was he trying to become so famous?
No, he wanted to make the word of
God available to everyone.
Gutenberg himself said: “God suf
fers in the multitude of souls whom
His holy word cannot reach.
Religious truth is imprisoned in a
small number of manuscript books,
which confine instead of spreading
the public treasure. Let us break the
seal which seals up holy things, and
give wings to truth, in order that she
may go and win every soul that
comes into this world, by her word,
no longer written at great expense by
a hand easily palsied, but multiplied
like the wind by an untiring
machine.”
In 1455, the Gutenberg Bible was
the first book to have been printed
using metal moveable type. Here is a
key example of someone using tech
nology for God’s purposes, not per
sonal profit.
A second crisis we face is that of
cocooning. In the face of this crisis,
Jesus calls us to be accountable, not
anonymous. “Cocooning” describes
the tendency of families and individ
uals to shelter themselves inside
their homes, surrounded by the com
fort and convenience of all the latest
devices. Technology and the media
allow us to have a relatively interest
ing and stimulating life without hav
ing to get out and meet people.
A recent edition of The Citizen
states that earlier in the century,
Blyth had a cheese factory, sawmills
and wood industries, flour and grist
mills, salt block production, flax
mills, brick and tile yards, wool and
leather industries, bakers, bankers,
implement dealers, foundries, bar
bers, butchers, coopers, smiths of all
types, garages, harness makers and
liveries, hardware stores, jewelers,
restaurants, laundries, milliners,
liquor stores, photographers, shoe
makers, doctors, dentists, and
optometrists. What happened?
Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone. Edison pioneered
electricity. Tesla and Marconi began
radio transmissions. Henry Ford
mass-produced the automobile. And
suddenly, poof, here we are in the
global village. But community dis
appears in the process; we tend to
become anonymous.
In Jesus’ instructions to the disci
ples in Matthew 18, religious life
and interpersonal relations take place
in the context of a community.
Someone who’s harmed you is to be
confronted with it before the church,
if they won't listen to you or a cou
ple of friends. Jesus went on to say,
“If two of you on earth agree about
anything you ask for, it will be done
for you by my Father in heaven. For
where two or three come together in
my name, there am I with them.”
Jesus’ vision of the church offers
both support and censure (when
appropriate); we need others who
know us and can help hold us
accountable. A real opportunity for
the church in this changing society is
to offer safe caring small group
experience; rather than leaving the
sheep to wander off anonymously to
multiple congregations.
I began with a song from 1963; I’ll
close with a reference to one from
1962. Pete Seeger wrote Turn, Turn,
Turn based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,
“To everything there is a season, and
a time for every purpose under heav
en.”
Just following that passage, the
wise preacher writes: “What does the
worker gain from his toil? I have
seen the burden God has laid on
men. He has made everything beau
tiful in its time. He has also set eter
nity in the hearts of men; yet they
cannot fathom what God has done
from beginning to end. I know that
there is nothing better for men than
to be happy and do good while they
live. That everyone may eat and
drink, and find satisfaction in all his
toil—this is the gift of God. I know
that everything God does will endure
forever; nothing can be added to it
and nothing taken from it. God does
it so that men will revere him.
Whatever is has already been, and
what will be has been before; and
God will call the past to account.”
In all our crises and changes we
can be confident that God is watch
ing over all, and will not be sur
prised. As we read in the closing
verses of the Bible: “Let him who
does right continue to do right; and
let him who is holy continue to be
holy.”
“Behold, 1 am coming soon! My
reward is with me, and I will give to
everyone according to what he has
done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last, the Beginning
and the End.”
Sou are ‘Welcome at the
BLYTH COMMUNITY CHURCH OF GOD
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Bible Studies - Wednesday 10 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Phone 523-4590 McConnell St., Blyth
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. JANUARY 16, 2000
Ethel United Church
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Auburn -526-7555
PASTOR DAVE WOOD - 523-9017
Sunday 8:45 a.m.- Morning Worship Service
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Brussels United Church
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cute ute£came tfiix Sunday
JANUARY 16 - EPIPHANY 2
HOLY EUCHARIST
Trinity, Blyth St. John's,
9:30 a.m. Brussels
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Rev. Nancy Beale - Rector - 887-9273
ua uiouliip tliU Sunday,
MELVILLE
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BRUSSELS
11:00 a.m.
9:30 a.m.
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We welcome you to come and worship with us.
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831
Morning Worship Service - 10 a.m.
Evening Worship Service ~ 7:30 p.m.
"To you, 0 Lord, I lift up my soul;
in you I trust, 0 my God.
Do not let my enemies triumph over me."
Psalm 25:1,2
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
i Rev. Adrian A. Van Geest
A Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233
Wheelchair accessible
Cornerstone
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Ethel
Communion - 9:45 - 10:30
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Tuesday 8 p.m.
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