Of shooting stars

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

Recently, one evening I was outside in my backyard, doing something that I enjoy immensely…watching the night sky. It was a clear cool night, perfect for observing God’s handiwork. For as long as I can remember I have stood in awe of the beauty and wonder of space: as a young boy, it was the magnificence of the heavens that was one of the things that first started me on my quest to discover the Creator.

The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory. Psalms 97:6

As I stood outside I saw a shooting star unlike any other that I have ever seen before. It was simply stunning. The celestial object raced across the entire visible sky, from the left to right horizon. It was so low that I almost expected to hear to make a noise as it burned up in the atmosphere. After it passed (it only took a few seconds) I stood there hoping for repeat performance.

I have thought about that “shooting star” (more correctly a meteoroid ) many times in the last few days, of its ancient beginnings long ago in some deep and dark corner of God’s universe, and its journey across countless light-years, only to end in a brilliant flash in our atmosphere, witnessed by possibly just one person… me.

Our Christian faith has attracted countless numbers of people who were just like that shooting star. Jude talks about them in his short, but remarkably insightful epistle, the penultimate book of the Bible. Jude was brother of James, he was also known as Lebbaeus (Matthew 10:3) and Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18).  There seems to be a fascination and flirtation with worldly ideas within the church at present; a whole swathe of “new age” thoughts and philosophies are making their way into mainstream Christian thought today.

Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perish in Korah's rebellion. These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever. Jude 1:11-13 RSV

These ideas look and sound right to those who them give a casual look, but they lack substance and depth. Why? Because Holy Spirit, the God who made us, is our only source of inspiration and joy. The Holy Spirit is our source of fellowship, integrity, substance and the Holy Spirit is the one who brings us together rather than drives us apart. That is why Jude was concerned that these shooting stars had broken into the church, flaring up brightly with wonderful ideas, but only promoting themselves and not the Body of Christ in the power of the Spirit.   

The Christian faith is not just about bright shining stars, fads of the day, not just about one simple moment where everything looks wonderful, but about a lifelong, sometimes tortuous, often painful commitment to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.   

I can remember when Yoga was securely locked behind the doors of gyms and health clubs, then slowly it became mainstream, along with its fellow travelers, crystals, spirit guides, meditation, humming mantras, all promoted as means to achieve global consciousness and enlightenment. Now it's not uncommon to see "progressive" churches, even entire denominations promote some or all of these ideas borrowed from Eastern religions, as a way to get into contact with God, and enhance your prayer life. This movement has fully embraced the burgeoning "Climate Change" ideology and is rapidly evolving into a new universalist religion, the complete antithesis of Bible believing Christianity.     

The surprising thing to me is how quickly Christianity has commutated in a few short years. Why and how has this happened? Does it have something to do with the Word of God being undermined? It seems to me that many Christians have joined hands with the New Age, and we now have the New Age Christianity that the Bible warns us about.

The Christian faith is timeless; and should not be subject to the vagaries of the age. We live in a perilous time, not dissimilar to the age that the very first Christians had to live through. However our race to the finish line is an individual one; we need to dedicate ourselves to maintaining our allegiance and our faith to Jesus Christ, to continuing to run the race so that we’re not fruitless tress, nor like clouds with no rain or waves that splash and roar or stars that shoot across the sky then burn out.