Good luck in South America, Francis

My heart was warmed when I heard that the Pope was an occasional coffee buddy with South American born Louis Palau the most successful evangelist since Billy Graham and that he furthermore affirmed the Popes interest in Protestantism and the wider Christian culture.

This conflicts to a degree with the stated goals of the new administration which includes rescuing some good South American Catholics who have left the church for Evangelicalism.

Guitars and drums and hand clapping and body swaying joy and enthusiastic preaching from the word, against, Mass and liturgy and robes and incense and homilies.

Good luck with that.

I continue to believe that the message will survive the wine-skins in which it is carried. The problem with wine-skins is that they get old and new wine will burst the skins. The joy of passing the faith from one generation to another is that the young believer is new wine and he will store his new faith in flasks that fit his own culture and understanding.

I believe Evangelicalism is facing the same problem of wine-skins not only in worship style, traditional preacher centered worship, but in the content of the message being formed from messages that may have been formed more by tradition that truth.

I drink all my wine from bottles these days.

I enjoyed bringing an Easter meditation to the staff and volunteers at Casa De Amor ministry yesterday.