Sustainability? ...

Thursday, September 23, 2010. Sustainability is one of the great topics of our time. We want to develop a sustainable energy supply. We want to have a sustainable economy. We want sustainable education and sustainable social or political structures. However: do we have a clear concept about what sustainability could really mean and whether we really want it?

Stability or Dynamical Change? …

Social development has always been quite dynamic over the past 400 years. In the 17th century the scientific and industrial revolution started to gain pace. Since then, we have been flooded by a series of deep changes - on a technical level as well as on a social level. The speed of change continues today …

How can we develop sustainability within strong changes? 100 years ago the automobile became the key social tool. Today we are talking about how to sustain the mobility in a time where the resources of fossil fuels are coming to an end. But this will continue to be strong change. The car of the future will be driven by a different energy source.

Today, the internet is becoming ubiquitous. Where ever we go we have internet via our mobile phones, i-pads and laptops. Networking everywhere and any time is already reality, though just 20 years ago that was still science fiction. That is not stability, but dynamical change with a strong and far reaching impact on our relationships and the way we act. On my last birthday the majority of greetings have reached me via social networks and email!

Faith Dynamics …

Faith relies on Jesus and the work of his life many years ago. What he said and what he did has a lasting impact even today. The biblical message is as active today as it has been 2000 years ago. In some sense this shows a strong sustainability of faith during very diverse parts of human history. When God is the living creator and living center of the Universe, that is what we would expect from his message.

Sustainability is also an important topic for our personal faith story. How do we keep and develop our personal faith. What is the faith curve of its depth, its intensity, its maturity? Do we really have a sustainable faith in a changing environment? Or is our faith dependent on things which are quite temporary, for example on some particular people who taught us or led us to faith?

In the New Testament we find a strong dynamics of personal faith. Paul writes a lot about development, about learning, about the journey with the Lord. He talks about the beginning of your personal faith story as well as its end, the time when we die and move on to the Lord. He talks about challenges and maturity, about the love to the Lord which is to grow and the love to the brothers and sisters in the Lord, which is to evolve strongly as well. ... more texts