The self-sacrificing, servant aspect of the Christian life has many parallels to parenthood.

Jesus represents a point of common ground an esteemed rabbi to the Jew, a god to the Hindu, an enlightened one to the Buddhist, a great prophet to the Muslim. Even to the New Age guru, Jesus is the pinnacle of God-consciousness. At the same time, Jesus is the divider. None but Christians see Him as a member of the Godhead on an exclusive mission to repair the broken world.

The Bible never belittles human disappointment ... but it does add one key word: temporary.

Grace is a free gift of God, but to receive a gift you must have open hands.

Rather, God has commissioned us as agents of intervention in the midst of a hostile and broken world.

Whoever desires to remain faithful to Jesus must communicate faith as he did, not by compelling assent but by presenting it as a true answer to basic thirst. Rather than looking back nostalgically on a time when Christians wielded more power, I suggest another approach: that we regard ourselves as subversives operating within the broader culture.

Christians are simply pilgrims who acknowledge their lostness and their desire for help in finding the way.