Been thinking the unthinkable… what if the burgeoning number of people who describe themselves as “not religious” and a culture that no longer reflects Christian values actually reveal the precise place of the Holy Spirit’s action, desire and intentions?

We only half-jokingly mumble “it’s over” for religion as we have known it! Paraphrasing Pope Francis’ prescient observation: “Ours is not simply an epoch of change; we live in a change of epochs!” Like it or not, this is the world in which we find ourselves. There is certainly resistance and grief woven through our denial or resignation. Yet, why would we expect to find God anywhere else?

What elements of “the faith” would we want passed on? Yes, the kerygma for sure. But what form or expression does the proclamation of Good News need to take? What of current methods, structures, practices or traditions are essential, effective and deserve to be preserved? And the always more relevant question: “What’s God up to?”

Christian faith and religious expression have not always been as we’ve experienced in our lives. Imagine the rich diversity of styles and configuration of community spawned by the Reformation. Only in the nineteenth century did Rome disentangle itself from the political shackles set in place by Constantine in 313 CE.

Consider a specific example near and dear to my heart: How must Ignatius of Loyola’s revered Spiritual Exercises — composed in the 16th century at the dawn of modernity — be reformulated for a fast approaching post-modern world? Some would dismiss my question out of hand and charge me with heresy, apostasy, sacrilege, ignorance, even arrogance for imagining such a preposterous idea. But, again, “What’s God up to?”

Observing how Christianity has been transformed, even co-opted, over the centuries, who are we to say that the forms, structures and expressions of religious faith we have known, treasured and served are even suitable or relevant to whatever the future holds? So much around us is crumbling — much needs to crumble! There’s plenty of precedent for that in Judeo-Christian faith.

“Unless a grain of wheat fall to the earth and die it remains but a single grain, but…” My faith suggests that the Spirit is up to something great, grand and unimaginable! We are never left orphans. Might the self-proclaimed “not religious” actually be clearing the land and preparing soil for the seeds of faith most relevant for our grandchildren’s children? Preposterous?

“They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” (John 20:9). This is the kerygma, the faith we too need to better take to heart.