Sermon Central
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Resisting A False Culture
Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Mar 6, 2026 (message contributor)
In the late 1980s, the world witnessed the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe. One of the central figures in the Velvet Revolution of Czechoslovakia was Václav Havel.
Havel had been a playwright and dissident long before he became president. He spent years imprisoned because he refused to live inside the lies of the regime. In his reflections, he described what it meant to “live in the truth” in a culture built on falsehood.
He argued that resisting a false culture required two things.
First, what he called a parallel culture. Communities that lived differently. Different conversations. Different art. Different values. A way of life that quietly revealed the emptiness of the official story.
Second, gathering spaces. Places where people could come together and rehearse the truth. They would sing their songs, read their poetry, discuss their philosophy, and strengthen one another so they would not slowly absorb the dominant lies.
They were not called to hide. They were called to live truthfully for the sake of their neighbours and the common good.
That picture gives us a helpful way to think about the church.
The church is gathered.
The church is scattered.
And if we confuse those two realities, we lose both.
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