How did we get here?

It does not take much for folks of all ages and persuasions to look around the world and wonder "How did we get here?"  Look at violence on a scale not quite seen since the last world war or the meltdown of progress that was supposed to our savior or such radical change that happened so quickly all because of a virus and the list goes on.   It was not supposed to be this way.  Things were supposed to get better.  Who can recall the horror of the first school shooting that has been followed now by so many mass murders that they are almost routine on the news?  Who can recall the first prominent gay TV character or series only to wake up to a world in which you cannot have any story or history without a prominent gay character?  Once the trust placed in the Church and her ministers was matched by no one and now Christianity and the clergy have become the ordinary butt of jokes more for hate than for fun.  Once the school's concern was education not social engineering and the repair of the ills society has foisted upon our youth.  Can you remember when the concerns of teachers was the ordinary curriculum of reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic?  What happened to make impeachment as routine as an election?  The sums of our current deficits were not so long ago our whole gross national product and the mind boggling debt we carry today as a nation seems to be the concern of no one.  I could go on.  For your sake and mine, I will not.

We are seeing the triumph of Modernity -- a Modernity fueled by mass migration, by the creation of a mobile life, and by the view of family which has deemed the family optional at best.  Modernity has made other things more sacred than life and life the domain of feelings more than any other reality.  Modernity has given greater promises than even religion but has provided less in return for the investment of faith in the progress of man.  Modernity has been made easier by a technology which feeds on conflict and fuels distrust and enjoys the provocative more than the truth.  Modernity has stripped from nearly everything except the usual subjects any inherent right or wrong and left the moral up to the individual so long as it did not intrude upon the sacred cows of bodily autonomy, diversity, and justice.  Modernity has left the Church in the shadows and on the sidelines and seems adept at making even the most confident Christian self-conscious about its book and it savior.  

There might have been a time in which we thought that conservative political parties and political figures were an alternative but it is pretty clear that the end goal is not so different for conservatives or for liberals.  The conservatives want quiet, managed, and slow change.  The liberals look at history as if it were a parade of drag queens on pride day and that was all there was -- something designed to shock and in the moments of shock and awe to move the bar faster and further than anyone thought could be done.  Trump has proved as disappointing to people who want to know how we got here as Biden has proven embarrassing.  Is this the best we can do?  The pace of change is certainly different but who can actually say that where we end up will be different depending on who is in charge?  When we get there, yes, but not where we are going.

This is not really about blaming anyone but admitting the obvious.  This life is not improving and this world is not getting better and people are not become more virtuous.  The sterile life of modernity is built not upon stronger community but stronger individualism (although this is less of the noble and rugged pioneer type than the one which sees everything in terms of self-interest).  In the end, religion might not offer much help in slowing the change down further or reversing its direction.  What Christ has come for is not the repair of the world but its redemption.  He has come not to make this world better or more fair or more equitable or more open but to build a new heaven and earth and to call forth from the world a people for His own possession.  In the end, I do not believe you are giving up anything by taking back the idea that you can help make a difference or improve even slightly a hard and harsh world.  What you can do is this.  Love God above all things and love your neighbor as Christ has loved you.  This you can do because Christ has already done it.  Now, in the wake of His light and salvation, we walk not according to the flesh but the Spirit.  We do not win if the world improves but by being saved from what could not and will not ever be redeemed.  God saves people.  He does not save nations or cultures or societies.  He saves us not because of who we are but in spite of it.  He saves us not with earthly powers but with the power of blood shed upon a cross where the Son of God bowed low His head and breathed His last, commending Himself to His heavenly Father so that we might as well.  In the end, the battle of faith is if this is enough for you.  I have gotten to that point in life where it is not only enough, it is more than enough.  I am relieved.  It was never about me.  It was always about Him. He is the end to my past, the power of my present, and the promise of my future.