Many thanks
and Love to Sandra for posting this on my behalf. I am unable to access my Blog through the
Ship’s Internet connection, so I am relying on her to post this for me. I am blessed!
Jesus said, ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps
lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return
from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he
comes and knocks. Blessed are those
slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will
fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.
If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn,
and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known
at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his
house be broken into. You also must be
ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour’ (Luke 12:35-40).
Well, I hope you all have your affairs in order. Time is short – just another seven months to
go. The end of the world is near! On December 21, 2012 odds are that
civilization as we know it will all come crashing down: the north and south poles
will reverse, flooding the earth with deadly radiation and unleashing earthquakes. Zombies will walk the streets and sexy young
vampires will take their place at the top of the food chain…or at least that’s
what Lord Media says….
Ahem… some say sarcasm is just anger’s ugly cousin, but I
think it can be fun sometimes.
So what do we do about the fact that our Scriptures are
filled with references to end-times and visions of apocalypse? Hollywood and overzealous religious leaders
have turned all our talk of end-times into a running gag and marketable
commodity (like Christmas and Easter)…to their own profit. I feel embarrassment every time I talk about
the parousia (the technical term for
end-times theology). I start every
discussion with apologies, yet, for the early Church, this talk was in the
forefront of their minds. How do we make
the end-times applicable after 2000 years?
I believe there are two ways we can honestly engage the idea
of end-times without going the Hollywood route
or selling our possessions and hiding in a cave. First, we need to acknowledge that Jesus never
focused on the end-times themselves in his teachings, other than to list the
signs which indicate that things are ‘going to pot.’ His focus was always on being prepared, being
ready, living in the moment and not procrastinating (see the reading above). Carpe Diem – Seize the Day – it could all be
over tomorrow. This was an easy theology
to adopt by those who lived in Jesus’ day when people rarely lived past their
30’s and death was always one minor infection away. “The Kingdom of God
has come near,” Jesus proclaimed.
Now. Here. Not tomorrow or next week or down the
road. It HAS come near. The end-times of waiting for the kingdom are
over! What are you waiting for? I have found a Meditation on Death a
particularly effective way to focus on this spiritual interpretation of
end-times. Prepare yourself in a quiet,
prayerful and contemplative space and reflect upon those things you would miss
the most if you know were to die tomorrow.
In addition to this “miss-list” take the time to write down the three
things you must do in your last 24 hours.
Will the list reveal an inner selfishness or a disciple of Christ? Where are your priorities right now? If they need to change, change them. If they align with the love of God, what are
you waiting for?
The second way in which we can reclaim the end-times is
through honestly reflecting on the theology of the Second Coming. Though some of my teachers criticized me for
it, I believe that the Second Coming must be understood as an analogy for it to
have any meaning at all. For there to be
an actual date of Second Coming we must, in the same spirit, give Bishop James
Ussher credit for discovering that the world was actually created on January 1,
4004. I call baloney! The stories of creation are attempts to, in
one way or another, express that God is the source of all that is and that God is
intimately connected with the world of which we are a part. I believe that the Second Coming accounts are
attempts to affirm that Christ comes to bring an end to suffering and
reestablish things as they should be.
This happens every moment Jesus touches our lives and brings new life -
it is a moment of resurrection. It is
world-chattering and miraculous, but as commonplace as, mercy, grace and
forgiveness.
Take back the End-times and celebrate the reign of Christ in
our midst. What are you waiting for?
The information contained in this Blog is the
intellectual property of whoever reads it. If you would like share your opinion
on anything contained herein, please email me at johnhounselldrover@gmail.com.
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