Perhaps our worship of God in the shadow of the glory of the past occurs because we fasten our attention on heroes of the faith of bygone days. The giants of yesteryear grow bigger each day with the food of our imagination until their size is tremendous.

To be sure, in their day they made a great contribution to the Christian movement, but many of them had feet of clay. Some of them lived in a cultural environment that held them in check from expressing the high ideals of the Christian faith.

Then too, we must admit that they were merely human beings who possessed envy, jealousy, prejudice, and discrimination just as we do. Possibly we are dissatisfied with our own age of crime…threats of war, injustices…and the like, but let us not forget that we have greatly improved the horrible conditions that existed in what have been considered the “good old days.”

Minorities have been given their rights; women have shown their ability to be equal to men…effort is being made to curb crime…

Unfortunately, the only area where we see little improvement is in Christian circles. There are disagreements…that have little significance in the ongoing of the Christian faith.

Unfortunately, these internal conflicts lead nonbelievers to say to us, “Get your own house in order before you express your zeal in your witness to Christ.”

from Beyond the Shadows: Embracing Authentic Worship