'Make way for a divine future' - New Year message from Reverend and author

Brian McLaren's new book Should I Stay Christian? a guide for the doubters, the disillusioned and the disappointed is but the latest sign that a younger generation, soaked in global social media, wonders whether or not to reject a Christianity that seems a prisoner of male terminology, colonial, capitalist, nationalist, tribal, exhibitionist or outdated frameworks.

Before anyone rejects Christianity, please answer another question: Can any society built on the shifting sands of mass selfishness thrive or even survive?

The values of honesty, accountability, compassion, stewardship of talents and creation, forgiveness and selfless service are a society's rock-like foundation.

These are the values rooted in and renewed by religion.

If the Life Force which produced the Big Bang billions of years ago was not an accident but a Being, and if that Being decided to insert a bit of themself into the human race on planet Earth, and if that incarnation called himself I Am, and demonstrated Defenceless Love as the eternal nature of the Divine which we are to imbibe and reflect – what a monstrous betrayal it would be for us to nonchalantly disregard this.

The essence of Christianity is the Way of Jesus. His first disciples were known as Followers of the Way. The Chinese, influenced by Lao Tse, understand that wisdom lies in aligning ourselves with the nature of ultimate reality – The Way.

So a new monastic movement for everyone that enlists us in following a Way of Life based on these values is surely the future of the world.

By all means deconstruct the frameworks of Christianity that have no worth. By all means seek a post-colonial framework. Clothe Christianity in fresh garments: find fresh allies; seek fresh expressions. But don't throw out the Baby with the bathwater. Take the Baby into the new year. Make way for a divine future.

Revd. Ray Simpson is also an author of 40 books and does YouTube videos, as well as podcasts and blogs.