Flash-in-the-pan Christians
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
Back in the good old days of the dotconomy, people were making money hand over fist in what Alan Greenspan called a paroxysm of "irrational exuberance" on Wall Street.
Those days are long gone. Fortunes have disappeared. Easy come, easy go. The world is jittery. Terrorists are in a bad mood. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
That's why the conventional wisdom says that you should grab it while you can. "Everything is a flash-in-the-pan," says one observer, "so why not get the most out of your flash?"
Brittany Spears was still hot in 2002. Is she in 2003? Why was she so busy taping all those television specials, recording songs, going on tour, hawking look-alike dolls and instants cameras? Get it while you can? Remember the Spice Girls?
William Shatner, himself a sort of one-hit wonder as Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, hosted a five-hour series of the top one-hit wonders of the music world. In the Top Twenty are such hits by one-hit artists as Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares 2 U"), Debbie Boone ("You Light Up My Life"), Baja Men ("Who Let the Dogs Out"), Right Said Fred ("I'm Too Sexy"), and the number one one-hit wonder, Los Del Rio ("Macarena").
Since the odds of being a two-hit wonder or better are rather long, everyone wants to milk it while they can. No one wants to be a flash-in-the-pan. Not even Abraham. God approaches him and puts this enormous and very attractive contract in front of him. He's going to be big, God says. Bigger than big. He is going to be blessed. People all over the world will remember him and respect him. He will be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. His progeny will fill the earth and be more numerous than the sand on the sea shore.
But before Abraham signs on, he has a few questions: About all my descendants -- don't I have to have a child first? How is that going to happen? And just what guarantees do I have that I am going to get all this stuff you've promised?
God never gave him any guarantee -- except his own word. For Abraham, that generally was enough. He stayed so close to God, that he became known as a "friend of God." He lived by his faith, and anyone who does that will be no "flash-in-the-pan" Christian. Bank on it.
Those days are long gone. Fortunes have disappeared. Easy come, easy go. The world is jittery. Terrorists are in a bad mood. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
That's why the conventional wisdom says that you should grab it while you can. "Everything is a flash-in-the-pan," says one observer, "so why not get the most out of your flash?"
Brittany Spears was still hot in 2002. Is she in 2003? Why was she so busy taping all those television specials, recording songs, going on tour, hawking look-alike dolls and instants cameras? Get it while you can? Remember the Spice Girls?
William Shatner, himself a sort of one-hit wonder as Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, hosted a five-hour series of the top one-hit wonders of the music world. In the Top Twenty are such hits by one-hit artists as Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares 2 U"), Debbie Boone ("You Light Up My Life"), Baja Men ("Who Let the Dogs Out"), Right Said Fred ("I'm Too Sexy"), and the number one one-hit wonder, Los Del Rio ("Macarena").
Since the odds of being a two-hit wonder or better are rather long, everyone wants to milk it while they can. No one wants to be a flash-in-the-pan. Not even Abraham. God approaches him and puts this enormous and very attractive contract in front of him. He's going to be big, God says. Bigger than big. He is going to be blessed. People all over the world will remember him and respect him. He will be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. His progeny will fill the earth and be more numerous than the sand on the sea shore.
But before Abraham signs on, he has a few questions: About all my descendants -- don't I have to have a child first? How is that going to happen? And just what guarantees do I have that I am going to get all this stuff you've promised?
God never gave him any guarantee -- except his own word. For Abraham, that generally was enough. He stayed so close to God, that he became known as a "friend of God." He lived by his faith, and anyone who does that will be no "flash-in-the-pan" Christian. Bank on it.
