That dichotomy again

We are faced with a paradox: the gospel of God’s coming kingdom seems to us a promise waiting future fulfillment, yet it must be lived out, here and now. We must be able to offer people something they can find nowhere else, and it must be something of practical value. So many rightly say, “If we had to rely on what pastors do for us, we would be in a bad way. We can’t live from sermons. What we care about are actual improvements.” In other words, what people want and need is a practical faith. Ah, the hopeless separation between religion and life!—Christoph Blumhardt in The Hidden Christ, page 48