The Collect for this past Sunday asks for God to “Be our strength and support amid the wearisome changes of this world.” I need to remember this prayer as I start most days watching the morning news programs. Oh, the wearisome changes indeed!
The death of toddlers in hot cars, the breach of our southern border, and the latest crime statistics certainly are wearisome. It is hard for 21st Century people to comprehend that there was a time when most Americans believed in the progress of civilization and improvement of society. Since the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the thriving of the drug culture and so many other wearisome realities, it has become harder and harder to believe in progress.
America was founded on the implicit belief “that government of the people, by the people, for the people” would turn out to be the most equitable and just. However, there were some who could foresee how easily people can be manipulated by demagogues. In our age of mass communication and the power of the internet, media and politicians continually appeal to emotions, fears, prejudices, and ignorance in order to gain audiences, power, and promote personal political agendas. There is nothing to stop the people from making decisions out of personal greed or individual gain or the basest desires of the flesh.
One of the most recent wearisome changes has been the legalization of recreational marijuana in two states. I have seen very little reporting on how this freely available mind altering drug may damage society. Media reports have downplayed the hospitalization and deaths of children who have been allowed to consume harmful amounts of the drug. It is ironic that the same media that will not abide the use of tobacco or the use of steroids are so quick to embrace this latest wearisome change.
Of course this is just the most recent event of a decades long trend. Unborn babies have no right to life. Prayer is no longer tolerated in the public square. Marriage is thought to be unnecessary. Vows and promises are meaningless. Immoral behavior is celebrated with pride.
What is a person to do? It has always been a false misleading dream to believe that mankind would at some point establish a utopia. Our fallen nature left to its own devices will always corrupt society. History is replete with examples from the Roman Empire to the Inquisition. Our only hope now and ever is our gracious God! If the human race were able to save itself and rise to the level of Shangri-La, there would have been no need for a Savior. Facts prove just the opposite. Left to ourselves, we constantly make bad, dangerous, deadly decisions.
May God grant us His grace and protection as we trust in Him through these wearisome changes. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1).
The Wartburg Castle
Overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany.
Collect prayer for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost:
Gracious God, our heavenly Father, Your mercy attends us all our days. Be our strength and support amid the wearisome changes of this world, and at life’s end grant us Your promised rest and the full joys of Your salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
God’s richest blessings in Christ,
Pastor Philip Quardokus
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