Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.

   - Proverbs 22.28

There is more need in this for tears than words, how the enemy of the Christian name has increased after the living words of the Son of God, after the fullness of the gospels, after the apostolic teaching, after the recent writing of orthodox authorities, who from the Old and New Testament have expounded in varied speech the mysteries of faith.

   - Columbanus, Letter to Pope Boniface, Irish, 7^th century

It is, to say the least, puzzling, how the evidence of a lively Christian community has increased since I became a believer now forty years ago, while, at the same time, the evidence of ungodliness and moral evil has increased, if anything, even more rapidly. 

Everywhere we look Christianity has a visible presence on the landscape of our nation – churches, radio stations, Internet presence, all kinds of parachurch organizations and Bible study groups and the like, publications, pop culture and bookstores. Yet much that is impure, unwholesome, disgusting, and even dangerous in the culture is present and increasing.

What does it say about the Christianity we profess, that it has not salted and leavened our society and culture any more effectively?

Apparently, the faith that many – if not most – Christians believe has little power to bring the beauty, goodness, and truth of Christ into the great moral, ethical, cultural, and social issues of the day. In the generations leading up to America’s founding, the faith of Christ made its presence known in every area of life. In homes and families, communities, workplaces, schools, laws, the arts, and the halls of government, one was never very far from the overt presence of some Christian or Biblical testimony, guideline, precept, or law. The landmarks which defined the moral, social, and cultural borders of pre-revolutionary colonial society were poured with the cement of Scripture and the Gospel.

Today, as many writers have shown, all that has changed. While the percentage of Christians in our society remain about the same as then, the character of the faith we profess has dramatically changed. We have substituted a gospel of personal peace and hope for the Gospel of the Kingdom. And this gospel, which is another gospel from what our forebears knew, has little power for turning our nation rightside-up for the Lord.

“There is more need in this for tears than words.” Ours is a time for tears, brethren, tears of repentance and pleading with God for revival, renewal of our mission, and awakening of our nation to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Will you plead and weep before Him this day?

Psalm 80.1-7, 19 (St. Theodulph: “All Glory, Laud, and Honor”)
O God of grace, restore us, and shine on us Your face!
O save us, Lord, work for us; renew us by Your grace!
Give ear, O gracious Savior, Who leads us as Your flock;
Stir up Your pow’r and favor, our King and Lord and Rock! 

Lord, forgive us every way we have failed to please You, and every good we have omitted to do in Your name. Adapted from Litany of Confession