Some of my conversations in the last couple of weeks have revolved around the idea of how quickly things change.

Someone on Radio Scotland commented that we had gone from late winter through a short spring into a developing summer in about three weeks!

We can certainly see that in our garden: the beech hedge has gone from bare twigs to stunning green more quickly than in previous years. Change seems to be everywhere, not least in political leaders! To my ageing brain it is all more than a little bewildering.

When it was first published in 1970, I remember reading the book 'Future Shock', by Alvin Toffler. The author showed that society experiences an increasing number of changes with an increasing rapidity, while people are losing the familiarity that old institutions, like religion, family, national identity and having a 'job for life' once provided.

As a boy, I remember watching a new school being built in my neighbourhood. Fifteen years later, I taught in it. Another 40 years on, that school has now been demolished.

Many church buildings we once knew and loved have gone too. Young people nowadays do not expect to have the same job for life (one of our sons had at least four different jobs before he was 40). 

It feels as if our life landmarks are disappearing, and Toffler argues that we are left disorientated and increasingly fearful for the future.

Remarkably, the early church noticed that 2,000 years ago, and proclaimed an antidote to future shock: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. That’s why our favourite church building may disappear, but the reason for its existence is alive and well.

That’s worth a thought this week.