It is not only the racist, “small government for a huge country” club that looks back for the time they want to bring back.  All the religious movements of the last three centuries have either fabricated a conversation about what God takes pleasure in or they have presumed not to take ancient writings as settled spiritual nourishment.  They all major in minors: patriarchy, misogyny, food and drink, impoverished observances and rituals, shadows instead of substance.

We cannot improve the church

We can make ourselves grow at a faster rate by being more diligent to study God’s word and work for others’ advancement.  We can lose weight, gain weight, stop behaviours, start behaviours, fast or feast.  The church will always be an organism with weeds and grain.  The church will always be a graphic representation of God’s Son in his incarnate majesty, composed of both divinity and humanity. Since we are incapable of making one lock of our hair black or white it is futile to talk about bringing back the church from some kind of catastrophic fall.  Nothing prevails against the Church.

MAGA is a dying dog

Used to be great? What happened? Someone will have to explain what is great about males circling wagons to deny women to their place in society. The Taliban will never be the benchmark for a decent society, no matter what miracles or how many wise prophets they pull out of their hat.  Some nations and tribes would like us to believe that their thousands of years were not sufficient to put a cap on hate, corruption and bigotry.  When the record smacks of conspiratorial malevolence three strikes are too many, and another kick at the can for any such perpetrator is not in the cards.  We do not imagine Israel revisiting Sinai or the Plains of Moab to rewrite the covenants.  Americans have shown that they are not ready to stand up for their Constitution. The greatness that comes out of looking back had to be catastrophic.