Wednesday, November 20, 2019
“He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20, New Living Translation) 

                When I was about 10 or 11 years old, more or less, I scared my poor, slightly younger cousin nearly out of his wits by terrorizing him with the “details” of the end time, all fire and brimstone, chilling catastrophic end-of-the-world stuff. I had learned my Sunday School lessons all too well as our S.S. superintendent was big on this kind of Jesus-is-coming-soon timeline. I loved my S.S. superintendent, so I was just passing on the message. It was scary stuff for someone of my age; I guess that I wanted someone to be scared with me. It worked!

                I am no longer an apocalyptic enthusiast. Or to put it more succinctly I have a much different understanding and interpretation of the Biblical message about the coming Kingdom of God. Much of the Biblical imagery is indeed drastic in nature, quite vivid and dire. It is very illustrative in this way to get our attention so that we fully understand that God intends a radical, decisive and thorough cosmic re-creation which leads us into his rule of total shalom, justice, harmony, love and grace.  This the Ultimate Vision of God’s New Reality which is full of hope, peace, joy and love (the four traditional themes for Advent).

                I don’t know about you but I am becoming very sick and tried of politics these days, be it global politics or Canadian and American politics or  church politics or the politics of human relationships in general. Not much of it is very pretty, as we have become so divided, hostile, angry, judgmental, confrontational in all spheres of politics. There seems so little respect. Nobody listens politely.  There is little grace in speeches and rhetoric. In this age of social media everybody has an opinion and sends it out in big, bold letters – shaming, bullying, castigating. There is little toleration for different opinions. There is decline in open-mindedness and fairness. Politics in its many forms seems like a battle ground. In all wars people get hurt and wounded.

                So, there is a piece of me who agrees broadly with my choice for today’s text: Come, Lord Jesus! The sooner, the better. We are in dire need of your power to lead us back into righteousness, grace, hope, love, well-being, harmony, positive relationships, justice, forgiveness and all the qualities to turn this world right-side up once again. We are in dreadful need to be find healing for all peoples and all nations. We are in terrible need to eradicate evil, sorrow, pain, shame, brokenness and hatred. We are in abysmal need for renewal, transformation, resurrection, and second birth.

I believe that only you can affect such re-creation. So come, Lord, Jesus, come.

In the meanwhile, I‘ll just wait here while you’re thinking about it. And I will work at getting my little corner of the world ready, doing the right and loving things which you’d expect me to do for you and for others.

I wouldn’t want to be left behind!

Dale