Additional Thoughts on Eschatology

Upon reflection of the previous post some additional clarification may prove to be helpful in how we wait with hope. More importantly is how do we engage actively in waiting.

For me Jeremiah 29  helps with solid biblical eschatology balancing hope and reality and how we respond in faith. First the often quoted verse out of context:

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 

Jeremiah 29:11-13 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jeremiah spoke these words to a people facing 70 years of captivity. This was not a "get out of jail" free card. There was no swift exit. They had to be resolute in their faith, hopeful all would be well, seek God with all their heart and not cease calling upon the Lord. Our faith is never passive, it wrestles with God, with his word, as we seek to press forward his vision despite what we think we see or feel. It was the resolute faith of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. every time he spoke the grief/ hope laden words, " I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!" 

Dr. King in his message "I've Been to The Mountain Top" said these words: It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do."

This is the message of Jeremiah. There is the future hope but by faith we must live it as reality until we see it or our children see it. 

Julian of Norwich facing of death, struggling with her thoughts of sin, wishing to die, calling upon God heard these words from heaven: “But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.'

Her words are in agreement with Jeremiah and John in exile on Patmos, "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus..." Revelation 1:9

There is the suffering but there is also the kingdom and the patient endurance that are ours in Jesus. We are companions together in all of it - the suffering, the kingdom, and the patient endurance with the resolute hope that we will get to the promised land. It may be 70 years, 40 years, or any amount of time. Time is irrelevant all that matters is our prayer "Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory both now and forever." 

We are brothers/sisters and companions in the kingdom and for the sake of all people we must live by faith that all manner of things shall be well. It happens when we press forward in God's power for God's glory into the reality of the kingdom of God that is it hand. Take Jeremiah's words and place them in the following context: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Jeremiah declared God knows the plans he has for us to give us  a future and a hope. There are people waiting for us to demonstrate the kingdom of hope.

ESCHATOLOGY

The blog has sat quietly waiting for words to be added but they have been few and far between. The words have been rattling and echoing in my mind and deep within but they bubble up to the surface at less frequent intervals. It has been the season of silence, listening, hoping and not allowing my self to give way to fear. That is why a recent reading on the topic on Eschatology by Kathleen Norris jarred open some long closed doors. Kathleen Norris' take on eschatology resonates with my journey and life. Eschatology is a good word but unfortunately has been taken hostage by not so meaningful religious practitioners with one goal to assure they are burn free while others unlike themselves would face the largest wienie roast in history in which no one will be singing "I wish I Was an Oscar Mayer Wiener." Very inspiring theology and possibly why Teddy Roosevelt abandoned church for a time because he was afraid the "Zeal of the Lord was going to kill him."

I digress and some are saying but 'hell' is a reality and you can not dismiss it. I would not think about dismissing because I see it daily in the trauma at our border, in mass shootings, and in the incivility that has cast a pall over our land.  I could go on but I believe in eschatology.

For me my eschatology has already centered on one verse "I am confident that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord..." Psalm 27:13-14. There is no need to have a misplaced cataclysmic theology that sorts out the losers and winners in the life to come nor in this present life and misinterprets dominion that leaves the earth vulnerable and the mass of humanity exploited.  This view of eschatology is void of the mind, heart and voice of Christ and has lead to brutal suppression and displacing of countless millions, apartheid, segregation of those outside the norms and brutal wars in the name of religion, This same false eschatology props up empty, useless, hopeless and futile talk and false misrepresentation of First and Second Amendment rights, gun controls and the protection of our borders. This false eschatology of the acceptable and unacceptable, the losers and winners, and to misinterpretation of dominion is kept alive by those who have enjoyed the power and the glory of their privileged life but it's not the power and the glory of the kingdom now or in the life to come.  I abandoned that years ago but will never abandon my hope in God and the utter beauty and decency of God who came to us, comes to us, and will come to us. Christ simply asks that we pray His kingdom come daily and then stand back and behold the power, the glory, and the beauty of that kingdom in the land of the living.

I have beheld the glory of the Lord in the land of the living in my life time. I am still taken aback every time I listen to recordings of Martin Luther King Jr., the power and the glory of God overflowed his life. Dr. King interpreted Psalm 27 in four simple words, "I have a dream!" I have experienced the glory of the Lord in the land of the living each time I read a book by Mother Teresa. Her words are just an overflow of the glory and goodness of God she saw in the most cruelest places each day.

For 34 years my vocational calling placed me in the midst of people facing cancer, tragic deaths, and utter despair. I have sat though night watches of loved ones final hours and in those difficult moments the Lord's Prayer has been recited and the glory of the Lord rushed in to catch those falling in despair. I have been with parents holding their still born children and have seen those parents not lose faith that they will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living even if it would be a mere shadow of the glory their child is experiencing.

In my own life I have experienced a life time of sleep related problems and all the health issues that come with that. I spent a year with Shingles and now I am having a round of Bell's Palsy. Seeing the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living does not dismiss us from the trials of this life, it simply calls us to refuse to allow our pain to become the front windshield of our life that obscures our forward view. God can redeem all the suffering we experience by his grace and set before us the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and we can participate in the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living no matter the circumstances.

A few years back while in Utah I was looking for the goodness of the Lord in the land  of the living when God led me to Kim Correa who was founding and launching a Homeless Hospice Center called The Inn Between in Salt Lake City, Utah. The goodness of the Lord overflows that place daily providing grace, shelter and care to the forgotten. Those they serve are not the losers now or in the hereafter, they are God's beloved. Those being served and those who serve them are together seeing the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That is good eschatology - The trust in God to make all things new now and forever. God invites us to live and display this hope.

I site this one example and could name many others demonstrating the goodness of God in the land of the living and practicing practical, honest eschatology. All it requires is to be present in the land of the living. It is a simple process. If you are alive this moment, you are in the land of the living. And being alive is all that is necessary to be present. There is no requirement to be whole, perfect, right or anything but simply eternally grateful for the overabundance of God's grace who loves me for me and and every single person I will encounter in the land of the living. The next time you desire to see the glory of God in the land of the living, look into the face of your neighbor, those you work with, those you go to school with, or someone on the street corner, homeless shelter, prison, hospital or crises center and recognize in your neighbors, people who are deeply loved by God and believe as never before in the communion of the saints.