Can you imagine Jesus pointing us back to “the good old days”?
I can’t. The idea of striving for a return to an imaginary past in which everything was somehow better doesn’t fit at all with following Jesus as I understand Him.
Jesus is about moving forward, about taking risks. He’s about an unfolding story of justice that can’t be written in an imagined, idealized past.
I can only picture following Jesus on a road leading into a future filled with hope. I can’t imagine turning back in fear.
Prospective leaders prey on our desire for the imaginary safety of the good old days, when everybody got along and kids always behaved. Of course, everybody didn’t get along and kids didn’t always behave. Also might be good to remember that, depending on which good old days we’re recalling, some of our parents or grandparents experienced Great Depression and Jim Crow.
In an uncertain world, it’s tempting to believe the lie that the promise lies in a return to the good old days. Jesus invites us to the path of hope
HOPE paints a remarkable future on a canvas of chaos and despair.