Hard times coming

Have been away for a few days (wonderful to be away, wonderful places visited, wonderful people met), so some time to reflect on all sorts of things.

A day does not go by now when we are not reminded about rising fuel prices (not all bad if it makes oil last a little longer), rising house prices / costs of mortgages and rents, and, the daddy of them all, rising food prices.

I am not much of an expert in world history but I think food shortages have played a role in the causation of wars.

Are we heading for another world war? We have antagonism between cultures, civilisations, and world religions. We have aspirations that cannot be met. We have a dire shortage of great political leaders. And we have the prospect of a permanent shortage of food or lack of access to food.

What does a preacher do in this situation? In the Bible we find models in which the preacher-prophet is called to be a watchman, calling God's people to face the facts of imminent catastrophe. We also find encouragement to preach messages of hope in the face of realised or prospective disaster.

Cliches about living in interesting times come to mind!