Article April 23, 1966 Issue

Signs of the Times

Bishop Gerald Kennedy

The Churchman

Bishop Gerald Kennedy The Methodist Church, Los Angeles in The Churchman St. Petersburg, Florida

The church is in the midst of a revolution. We are being asked not only to send missionaries to Africa...but to deal with our fellow American citizen who lives in the next block. We have forgotten that Christianity is a revolutionary faith. We have forgotten that much of the revolution of our time was inspired by the Bible. We have forgotten that Paul and Silas were accused of being those who "turned the world upside down." If there is one way of life which ought to be at home in a world like ours, it is Christianity....

People no longer assume that Christianity is something to say yes to and never doubt. We no longer live in a time when as Samuel Butler put it in The Way of All Flesh, people are equally surprised to see Christianity practiced or hear it doubted....This means that the church must become a school of Christian nurture and we must have a reason for the faith that is in us. It means that the layman who hasn't had a new idea about God in thirty years isn't much count in the real struggle of our time. It means that we have to know what we believe and why.... P/>We are not interested in the kind of preacher who answers questions nobody is asking. What will fill our leisure with some kind of meaning and help us to endure empty days? What can bring to a rich nation a sense of joy in the simple things of life? What can bring us control over the tremendous power we have released? What can restore family life and fill the emptiness in our hearts? The Gospel has something to say to these great questions and it is relevant to our day and it will save our life....

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