A ship wrecked mariner had spent several years on a deserted island. Then one morning he was thrilled to see a ship offshore and a smaller vessel pulling out toward him.

When the boat was grounded on the beach, the officer in charge handed the marooned sailor a bundle of newspapers and told him, “With the captain’s compliments. He said to read through these and let us know if you still want to be rescued.”

We are living in wacko times. And the times may get even wackier. But the church’s usual response to cultural innovation and change is condemnation and isolation rather than incarnation and participation. Go back two centuries ago and remember how dime novels and penny dreadfuls were no sooner evoked than evicted from church life. Ditto the theatre, the music hall, the waltz, jazz, radio, television, movies, comics, rock music, computer games.

Very early in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo says he wishes the master ring had not been found in his lifetime. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

(from Leonard Sweet’s “Jesus Drives Me Crazy! Lose Your Mind, Find Your Soul”).

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