Behold, I am making all things new. Revelation 21.5
1989 was a year of enormous change in eastern Europe. A change of heart seemed to sweep through those lands an almost uncontrollable fire, and we saw many of our prayers and expectations fulfilled. Few political institutions were left untouched by the surge of freedom.
With the changes have come new challenges. In many countries of the eastern bloc, the church's voice has for many years been muted. Even where freedom of religion was guaranteed by the constitution, the church was constantly being harassed in its task of preaching and teaching to all people. A generation has grown up who have had few chances to experience the true life of the gospel. Just as sadly, young people have missed the opportunity to read the Bible and to learn through its pages of God's redeeming love.
These challenges should concern us all, both in our prayers and in our actions. It is a good thing that we at St Ursula's give conscious financial support to missionary work in the eastern bloc. For in rejoicing at the driving out of one devil, we must not take for granted that a dozen other devils will not come and fill the empty space. Materialism and consumerism offer attractive lifestyles, which can become a goal in themselves. Now is the time to try to ensure that something even more positive comes out of the events in the east.
And what of ourselves? Has 1989 been a year of change for us? Has the Holy Spirit swept through our hearts like an uncontrollable fire, and left nothing untouched? Have we too been set free? Or are we also still slaves of an ideology that in the last analysis cannot help us? Our praise and prayer for the situation in other lands must not blind us to the fact that in Switzerland, too, there are people enslaved to ways of living that are opposed to God's will for us. Let us pray also for ourselves, then, "that we and all God's people may be free, and the whole world live to praise His holy Name".
HD