End Time Thinking
Do you think these are signs that the end is near?
“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven." - Luke 21:9-11
This is Advent, the beginning of the church year, a time of anticipation of the birth of Jesus, a joyous and optimistic time. So why all the talk of the end time and destruction?
Sometimes I wonder if we in the church want to scare people away.
What Luke describes in today's Gospel could be a picture of the world today, and if these things are a sign for us, what are we to make of them? Should we accept that this is supposed to happen and do nothing to stop the wars, cure the plagues, fight the famine?
The problem I have with end time thinking is it may lead to complacency and stagnation. We can sit and wait for the inevitable, rather than rise up and do something to bring the pendulum back toward center.
Maybe that is the real message here. Maybe the end time is always with us, but through our actions and resistance, through our caring and acts of love for one another, we keep it at bay.
What if that is the true message of Advent?
What if we are all supposed to join together to bring about the changes needed to keep us alive, living in the hope of salvation, with grace and love?
God trusted us with Himself as a baby to show us that He believes in us. If, as that baby told us, we are surrounded by signs from heaven, perhaps we should do as he did and bring people together.
We come together to worship, to pray, to share and to help each other, so that all may enjoy the Kingdom of God now. Through our efforts, we can make the time we have together positive and fruitful.
Or we can shrivel up and die.
I choose the former. And I don't want to scare anyone away.
More to come...