When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." - John 11:43

Would it make any difference to the world if the churches were to shut their doors and never open them again? Many voices within and without the Church say no, it would make no difference. Soren Kierkegaard bemoaned the Church’s indifference to its mission. Frustrated, he wrote a little parable which tells of a flock of geese who lived together in a handsome and secure barnyard. From time to time one of them would climb up on the barnyard fence and tell the other geese about the joys of flight and how they were created for something more than a barnyard existence. He reminded them of the adventures of their courageous ancestors who had flown across the trackless wastes. As he spoke, his hearers frequently…