"A Model of Christianity"

I was doing a bit of research on where the term "shining city" had been used before. Obviously, in the Bible, but I also found that it was most famous in a sermon that John Winthrop gave to the soon-to-be founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I thought it was a perfect description of what our generation could be if given the certain amount of encouragement and taking the right amount of responsibility.

The following is excerpt from John Winthrop's "A Model of Christianity" sermon:

"For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are on us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken... we shall be made a story and a by-word throughout the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God... We shall name the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us 'til we be consumed out of the good land whither we are a-going."

I like the first part. But the second half just makes me shudder. That's quite a consequence for rebuking God. I wouldn't want to be that person. Let's try to follow John Winthrop's example. The eyes of the world are upon us, and we must become a shining city on a hill.