Christianity's Surprise: A Sure and Certain Hope

At its beginning Christianity was surprising, powerful, creative, world-shaking.Today in the West it is many times familiar, common, andexpected, losing its power to surprise and transform. We have developedsocietal amnesia and ignorance of what Christianity originally was - andwhat it still can be. We need to recover the surprise of Christianity. Weneed to ask the same fundamental questions as the early Christians, whichwill help us rediscover the surprising power of Christianity in our midst.Focusing on the surprise of the gospel message takes us into the heart ofwhat it is to understand Christianity at all, and thus what it is to rememberand relearn the life-giving power and witness that went with being Christianat the beginning. This remembering and relearning can, in turn, surprise usall over again and chart a course for our witness today.