Kendall the Fire

My dad was a dedicated diary keeper and he also loved nature. In his writings, I found these words about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (which has not been sighted since 2004).

“The passing of the ivory-billed woodpecker filled me with a creeping sense of nostalgia. Maybe it’s the realization that something which I enjoyed as a kid will never be enjoyed by my children, or anyone else. Gone forever is this unique and majestic bird. Gone is the echoing mating cry which rang across the wooded groves. Gone is the rat-a-tat-tat of the heavy ivory-colored beak as it chiseled into the diseased trunk or limb of a great oak. These sounds and scenes are gone forever. Gone because of neglect…. gone because too few cared too late. Gone because we just weren’t concerned.”

Myself, I can hear the sadness in my father (who is also gone now from this world) as he ponders a loss that becomes representative of other losses experienced in his life.  It makes me think of a parallel in our own day and time. Because, you see, there is another form of life that is only one generation from extinction.  Our Christianity is never guaranteed. Our life with Christ in this world faces dangers and perils. Just as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker dropped from the living, we must be aware that the same possibility awaits the neglectful—if we fail at passing the faith along. Even as civilization and “progress” pushed deeper in the forests that provided habitat for the woodpecker, one could say that the same has pushed (or, is pushing) Christianity into the woods. Science and technology are replacing—for many—a sense of the need for dependency on God.

Just like a whole host of factors contributed to the demise of the woodpecker, Christians and one might say the Church, is facing many threats. Even as the woodpecker was thought of, by many, as a pest or a threat to healthy trees as it drilled voluminous holes, so it is that people misunderstand the voice of the Church in the world. When Christ-followers  critique society and lift up moral standards, some people see both haughtiness and destruction at work. Thus, the clamor against the Church is great. Perhaps, Christians are woodpeckers at work on culture. (Or, at least they are viewed that way.) But, the woodpecker wasn’t just chiseling holes for fun.

Underneath the bark, enemies were grouping to make an assault on the tree. When their numbers multiplied, they could and would launch an entomological attack that just might prove fatal to the tree. Yet, the ivory-billed tree protector detected these aliens and devoured them and in so doing, preserved the health of the tree. Christians are frequently criticized for attacking the “termites” of sin—in it’s variety of forms—in our culture, today. When believers speak against sexual promiscuity or perversion, when they point out greed and exploitation, when they malign idolatry and criticize self-serving dishonesty Christians can appear to be drilling needless holes in our society. But, if our morals are lost our culture and our nation will soon collapse. We see around us that many unbiblical beliefs about behaviors and morality have become embraced as the right and progressive way to see the world. The temptation for Christians is to be silent. After all, who wants to be a woodpecker? We can even become reticent about sharing our faith at all. 

So, could Christians become extinct? Yes… or at least decline into irrelevancy.  It is an ever-present possibility. But not if you and I remain true. Not if we shake off complacency, sluggishness and unconcern to win others (both to Christ and to righteous ideas).  Not if we continue to hear God’s commission, to speak His truth, and live His life in sacrificial love.