Millenium Fever
Just a mere 300 days or so to prepare for the new millennium! How will the Dome shape up without Mandelson? Will the country be in chaos because of the millennium bug? What will you be doing on December 31st 1999?
In thinking about what lies ahead and all the hype that will be associated
with 1999 - 2000 there are a few useful principles we should bear in mind.
The first is that "One day's the same as any other"; the second, "Each day is different".
On the one hand Christians should be realists and recognise that changing the digits on the calendar doesn't change the issues with which we have to contend. The implication is, if we are not equipped to live properly today we probably won't be tomorrow and if we aren't prepared to die today we probably won't be any better prepared tomorrow. We live with the assurance that our Heavenly Father knows our needs and the challenge to "seek first the kingdom of God". Now is the time to have the right priorities. Now is the time to seek the Father's blessing and the Father's kingdom.
On the other hand each day is different - new challenges, new trouble, new opportunities to experience God's grace and new opportunities to serve in the kingdom. Today can be another day of self-indulgence or a new day of service and praise. If we get living today sorted out properly then we won't be worrying about tomorrow.
Christians need to be very cautious about catching millennium fever. Much of what will happen over the next year will be the product of godless, wishful thinking. God won't have much of a say and the thinking will be predicated on the notion that man is in control and can do better. The hype will be as empty and shallow as was the hype at Princess Diana's death. Remember her? This time last year she was being immortalised as the Princess of people's hearts but already the 'English Rose' is a distant or forgotten memory. A lot of people are in for a nasty shock on the morning of 1st January 2000. Their overdraft will still be there (or much bigger!), people around them will die as usual, wars will continue, politics will be as fraught as ever. The poor will still be poor and the rich, rich. The Arabs and the Jews, the Unionists and the Nationalists will still live with competing aspirations, as will many other nations and peoples around the globe. Humanity will still be a rebellious species, out of sorts with itself and out of fellowship with God.
Christians need to avoid replicating the hype of secular millennium fever with religious ambiguity. There will be those digging into their eschatological bunkers proclaiming the imminent return of the Lord. There will be those publishing tracts by the thousand trying to scare the unconverted into faith in Christ with visions of 31st December being some kind of apocalyptic termination of the world. Hollywood will cash in on the millennium speculation and so will just about every other opportunist - religious or commercial. The presentation of the gospel must continue to be founded, not on the uncertainties of the future but the certainties of the past that gave rise to the counting of time which gives us our millennium celebration - Jesus Christ, God incarnate, crucified Saviour, redeemer and risen Lord, coming King.
Christians should be confident and optimistic in approaching the new millennium. While it might appear that the caution I have expressed about millennium preparation and celebration suggests a rather black and pessimistic outlook on life, nothing could be further from the truth. Christian realism about the human condition and the way the world is does not lead to defeatism. Christian realism is the other side of Christian hope. Christian hope finds its origin in God's unbelievable kindness and mercy, finds its evidence in the love and sacrifice demonstrated at the cross, finds its strength in the vision of redemption and renewal proclaimed throughout the New Testament. Christian realism faces honestly the mess we have made, Christian hope is confident in what God will renew.
The Christian project for the millennium will be to live the reality of the Christian hope. Words have never been enough and never will be. There will be many opportunities in the midst of the millennium celebration for Christians to initiate or become involved in special and worthwhile millennium projects. However, the millennium projects that will make the long term difference are: the Christians who live each day with integrity and Christ-likeness; the Christians who are beacons of light in the community, the work place, the home, the government, the public services; Christians whose homes are millennium domes displaying the honesty of human frailty energised by God's grace.
The story of this millennium will take a long time to write but the story that can make the next millennium different has already been written. We are the custodians of that good news story and the recipients of its benefits, so let us be bold to tell in life and in conversation the Christian story.