The Good News Will Outlast The Golden Arches

The arch is an arch-itectural wonder with ancient beginnings. Some years ago, while traveling in the Middle East, I visited the location of the one pictured above. This (Roman arch) is located beneath an aqueduct that runs parallel to the Mediteranean Sea at the ruins of the city of Caesarea in post-modern Israel. In all probability it was once gazed upon by the likes of: Philip (Acts 8:40) Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10:1) Peter (Acts10:24) and Paul of Tarsus (Acts 18:22) just to name a few.... Crazy King Herod even kicked the bucket nearby (Acts 12:22) - BTW this is not exactly bedtime reading.

20 centuries have come and gone since the aqueducts were built atop these arches and they
are still standing. I seriously doubt that 20 centuries into the future that very many tourists will have their photos taken beneath McDonalds golden arches. Can't you hear them arguing?
"Mom, Nevtek just pinched me!" "Boys! Keep your hands to yourselves." she says. "Now please - let your father capture this image so we can go. You know your grandmother is going to be upset if we're not back on Jupiter by lunchtime. " "Mom," one of boys whines. "What are these things we're standing in front of anyway?" Dad chimes in, "They're probably the ruins of some ancient temple. Look boys - here's the remains of their ancient god - Ro-nald."

Maybe one of the reasons the Gospel is GOOD NEWS is that it stands the test of time. I mean the good news which was shared by angels and shepherds in Bethlehem is the same good news
Paul found to be good thirty years after Jesus' resurrection. Its GOOD NEWS today. But the gospel, according to Frederich Buechner, is actually, " bad news before it is good news. It is the news that (humanity) is sinful; to use the old term that (we) are evil in the imagination of our hearts. That when (we) look in a mirror all in a lather - what we see is at least 8/10 chicken......phony ...slob.....bleeding to be sure...."

Kenneth Cragg once offered the following words in an Anglican Cathedral in Cairo Egypt. I think they've got more good news staying power than McD's could ever muster.

Christian faith is fact, but not bare fact; it is poetry but not
imagination. Like the arch which grows stronger precisely by dint of the weight you place upon it, so the story of the Gospels bears, with reassuring strength, the devotion of the centuries to Jesus as the
Christ.

It would be unfair to not let Buechner finish his earlier statement,

....what we see is at least 8/10 chicken....phony.... slob. That is the tragedy.
But it is also the news that (we) are cherished anyway....forgiven....bleeding to be
sure......but bled for.......

Standing On The Promises.......
Jon(the methodist)

"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." I Peter 2:6