Perspective: Preparing for the Everyday Apocalypse

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Preparing for the Everyday Apocalypse

But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.  So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 (NRSV)

It happens in a blink, it happens in a flash

It happens in the time it took to look back

I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life?

From "Blink" by Revive

St. Paul writes in one of his letters that "the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night."¹  A film released in the 1970s, which takes its title from these very words, depicts events that many Christians believe will happen at the end of this age.  I have never seen this particular film, but, when I was a teenager, I was a fan of a certain book series that described basically the same events.  Both the film and the book series are based on a timeline that people have constructed by piecing together certain parts of the Bible, most prominently the Book of Revelation.

According to this timeline, at some indeterminate point in the perhaps not-too-distant future, all people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior will be spontaneously taken to Heaven.  Everyone else will be left to face a seven-year period of hell on earth, when the whole world will come under the control of a diabolical ruler known as the Antichrist.  Everyone must either be branded with a mark of loyalty to this leader or else be put to death.  At the end of this Great Tribulation, Christ will return to defeat the Antichrist and establish His kingdom on earth.  Those who have sworn allegiance to the Antichrist will be condemned to Hell, but those who accept martyrdom or persevere to the end will be accepted into Christ's kingdom.

I used to be interested in books and films that depicted this framework of the end times, sometimes called premillennial dispensationalism, but now I wonder if the purpose of such media is primarily to scare the hell out of people so that they will become Christians.

I think it was shortly after I graduated from college when I officially left behind such theories and timelines, having learned that the bizarre imagery found at the end of the Bible is most likely representative of the conflict between the early Church and the evils of the Roman Empire.  Though I no longer believe everything I once believed about the end times, as a Christian, I still hold on to the hope that Christ will someday return to set things right in the world.  At the same time, I think it is important that we do not get so caught up in what we hope God does in the future that we fail to see the work God is doing in the world in the present day.

God is not malevolent like a thief.  Christ said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that [you] may have life, and have it abundantly."²  Paul compares the work of God to the work of a thief because, for many people, the actions of God will come as an unwelcome surprise, like waking up to find that everything of value in one's house has been stolen.  A thief strikes when his actions are least likely to be noticed - at night, under the cover of darkness, when people are asleep.  A thief would not strike in broad daylight when his actions are likely to be noticed.

For Paul, day and night do not describe parts of a 24-hour cycle but are rather symbolic of the state of a person's mind and heart.  The day is a time of light and awareness; the night, on the other hand, is a time of darkness and obliviousness.  People with a "daytime" mindset, who seek to know God and understand God's will, will be more able to see what God is doing in the world.  People with a "nighttime" mindset, who are distracted by the temporal things of life and have anesthetized themselves to the suffering of the world, will be caught off guard by the redemptive work of God.

I do not think that God really wants to catch us off guard.  The question is whether or not we are paying attention to what God is doing.  Paul encourages us to prepare ourselves by letting faith, hope, and love be our armor.  In another letter, he writes that when all other things come to an end, these three things will remain.³

The knowledge that God is setting things right in the world should be good news for everybody; however, if we've built our lives on injustice, then it will come as a very unwelcome surprise for us.  As I've written before, I think that the best way for us to prepare for the reign of Christ on earth is to allow Christ to reign in our hearts right now.  When we pray as Jesus taught, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," we are not simply expressing a hope for the future but are seeking to align ourselves with the will of God.  Though we long for a day when God sets all things right in the world, we must be attentive to the work of the Holy Spirit within us, setting things right in our hearts.


Notes:

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (NRSV)
2. John 10:10 (NRSV)
3. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was painted by Viktor Vasnetsov in 1887.

Perspective: Dead Trees and Crumbling Buildings

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Dead Trees and Crumbling Buildings

As He came out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!"  Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings?  Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

Mark 13:1-2 (NRSV)

Love will hold us together

Make us a shelter to weather the storm

And I'll be my brother's keeper

So the whole world would know that we're not alone

From "Hold Us Together" by Matt Maher

One day, Jesus was hungry, and, spotting a fig tree, He looked for some figs to eat.  Finding none, He cursed the tree, saying, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again."¹  The next day, Jesus and His disciples passed by the same location and saw that the same tree, which had previously just started leafing, had completely withered.  The Disciples looked at the tree in astonishment.  Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God.  Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you."²

So often, we read the Gospels as if they are blow-by-blow accounts of historical events.  It is important to realize that the Gospels are thoughtfully constructed stories.  In the Gospel written by St. Mark, we need to take notice of things that are mentioned twice - things like cursed fig trees.  Also worthy of notice are the events that are bookended by the things mentioned twice.³  Immediately after Jesus cursed the fig tree, He made His infamous demonstration at the Temple.  He turned tables over, drove people out of the Temple, blocked the door, and called the place a "den of robbers."⁴

When Jesus looked for figs to eat, He knew good and well that it wasn't the right time of year to find figs.  Jesus' deadly miracle was a highly symbolic act: the fig tree He cursed represented the religious institution of the day.  In the same way that Jesus went to the fig tree hungry but found nothing to eat, people went to the Temple physically and spiritually hungry but found no nourishment.  Furthermore, when Jesus spoke of throwing a mountain into the sea, was referring specifically to the mountain on which the Temple was built.⁵

Jesus had some harsh criticisms for the religious institution of His day, and I think that today's institutional church needs to take a good hard look at itself in light of these criticisms.

A lot of people think that the Christian religion is in dire straits nowadays, particularly in regions where it once had cultural dominance.  Christianity began as a movement, but over time it became an institution, as movements are wont to do.  The problem with institutions is that they often lose sight of their original purposes and begin to focus instead on their own self-promotion and self-preservation.  As a result, that which once worked for change becomes resistant and even hostile to change.

Church members are encouraged to reach out to other people and invite them to church, but, in many congregations, inviting people to church only becomes a priority when the congregation is in decline.  This makes me wonder why people are encouraged to invite others to church in the first place.  Is it so that the people they invite will experience the love and grace of God?  Or is it so that there will be enough money in the plate and enough people the pews to allow the church to go on doing what it has been doing?  In some situations, church members are actually called "giving units."  I wonder if the institutional church is in decline because for far too long it has focused on itself while leaving people physically and spiritually hungry, like the institutional religion of Jesus' day.

A local denominational leader once met with some members of a waning congregation to discuss what it would take to keep their church going.  At one point he said that it would be a shame to close a church with such a beautiful building.  When Jesus' disciples made a comment about beautiful buildings, Jesus said, "Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

At one point while the people of Israel were traveling through the wilderness, a number of people were killed by poisonous snakes.  Moses prayed to God on the people's behalf, and God instructed Moses to craft a bronze serpent.  Whenever someone was bitten by a snake, he or she would look at the bronze serpent and would be healed of the snake's venom.⁶  Centuries after the bronze serpent was created, King Hezekiah of Judah destroyed it because it had become an object of worship.⁷  This sacred object, through which God had once healed people, had lost its sacred purpose and was instead distracting people from God, so it needed to be destroyed.  It has been said that holy cows make great hamburgers.

If a congregation needs new members more than potential new members need it, then that congregation needs to either rethink its purpose or go ahead and call it a day.  We need not fear the end of sacred things that cease to serve their sacred purposes, be they sacred buildings or sacred institutions.

Perhaps the institutional church needs to focus more on loving people and focus less on making itself grow.  According to theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial...  Whoever is mindful to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it, for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it.⁸

What often passes for evangelism is marketing at best and manipulation at worst.  When I ponder what evangelism ought to be, I think about a story of four people who have a friend who is paralyzed.  They hear that a traveling teacher and healer named Jesus is in town, so they make up their minds to do whatever it takes to get their friend to this mysterious person.  They find a stretcher and carry their friend to the house where Jesus is staying.  When they see the massive crowd of people surrounding the house, one of the friends says, "Look at that all those people!  We'll never get in there."  Another looks at the roof and says, "I have an idea."  The four climb to the roof with their friend, tear a hole in the roof, and lower their friend through the ceiling right in front of Jesus.

Jesus is clearly impressed with the four friends.  He turns to the man on the stretcher and tells him that his sins are forgiven.  When someone objects to Jesus' claim to forgive sins, he tells the paralyzed man to get up and walk.  Suddenly, no longer paralyzed, the man does exactly what Jesus has told him to do, to the amazement of the people there.⁹

St. Paul reminds us that whatever we do, if it is not done out of love, it is all for naught.¹⁰  We do not get to know people so that we can invite them to church and convert them to our religion.  We get to know people so that we can simply love them.  When we open our hearts to others and see the pain and brokenness in their lives, we can show them the love and grace of Christ - not to keep a religious establishment going but rather to be a source of light to people we love.  The four friends weren't trying to make a believer out of their friend, nor were they trying to get him to join a growing religious movement.  They had no agenda for him at all: they simply loved him and wanted him to experience healing.  Because of their efforts, the man did experience healing, both physically and spiritually.

Jesus instructed His disciples, "Proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.'  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons."¹¹  Basically, He sent them into the world to be agents of hope and healing.  If a local church building, regardless of how beautiful it is, is not a place where people find hope and healing, then does it really matter if it ends up getting torn down?  For that matter, if the institutional church is no longer a source of hope and healing in the world, then does it really matter if it comes to an end?

I do not think that the Church is irrelevant, but I wonder if the Church is really offering people what they need.  Some people believe that the institutional church may be nearing its end, and I wonder if maybe they have a point.  Though the church as an institution may be coming to an end, I do not fear for the future of the Church as the Body of Christ.  I am confident that, as long as there is a Christ, there will be a Body to carry on the work of Christ, even if it someday looks a lot different than it does at the present moment.


Notes:

1. Mark 11:12-14 (NRSV)
2. Mark 11:20-23 (NRSV)
3. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.  The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem.  2006, HarperOne.  pp.32-33
4. Mark 11:15-19
5. Borg and Crossan, p.56
6. Numbers 21:4-9
7. 2 Kings 18:1-4
8. The complete quote can be found here.
9. Based on Mark 2:1-11
10. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
11. Matthew 10:7-8 (NRSV)

The photograph of the dead tree was taken by R Neil Marshman and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Introspection: Metamorphosis

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Metamorphosis

Lessons from Butterflies

Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (The Voice)

Sheltered in this cocoon

I will break the skin

I'm not afraid

I will be a butterfly

From "Emotional Cocoon" by Tearwave

Butterflies are of symbolic importance in numerous cultures.  To the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Japanese, the butterfly was a symbol of the human soul.  In Japan, a large swarm of butterflies was once thought to be a sign that something bad was about to happen.¹  At some point centuries ago, the butterfly became symbolic of the Resurrection of Christ, for it was believed that butterflies were spontaneously borne from dead caterpillars.  As scientists became more and more interested in the study of insects, it was discovered that what was once thought to be the corpse of a caterpillar is actually the site where an amazing process of life occurs.²

Lately I've found myself somewhat fascinated with butterflies, specifically the process by which a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.  I think my fascination stems from the fact that I am haunted by the painful feeling that I am not at all what I was meant to be, that I am nowhere close to living up to my potential.  I often feel as if I am merely crawling through life when everything in me dreams of flying.  Sometimes I feel that I am a prisoner within myself, trapped inside my own fear, shame, guilt, and insecurity.  Needless to say, the idea that a creeping creature barely distinguishable from a worm could transform into a beautiful flying creature is appealing to me.

St. Paul, in one of his letters, writes that, in the Spirit of God, we find freedom.  Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we, like caterpillars becoming butterflies, are being transformed "from one degree of glory [or beauty] to another," thereby becoming more and more like Christ,³ the One in whom we see what it means to be fully human.  The Greek word Paul uses to describe this process is metamorphoō,⁴ from which we get the word metamorphosis, which we commonly associate with butterflies and other creatures that change in form.  I am beginning to think that the process of personal transformation, like the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, is not simple or clean.

A caterpillar sheds its skin multiple times as it grows, but, when it sheds its skin for the final time, it is covered by a hard shell called a chrysalis.⁵  It is within this shell that the very much alive creature goes through its radical change in form.  This metamorphosis is not simply a matter of a caterpillar's snapping wings onto itself, as a child might snap hands and feet onto a Mr. Potato Head toy.  What happens in a chrysalis is actually a rather gruesome process.  A significant portion of the poor caterpillar's body is broken down - liquefied - to serve as the raw material to develop new body parts like wings.⁶

Maybe the gruesome ordeals we endure in our lives are one means by which we are transformed spiritually.  Perhaps the difficult experiences that make us feel that we are coming apart at the seems, though not necessarily caused by God, are things God uses to help us to become the people were created to be.  David A. Seamands writes,
God's recycling grace takes our infirmities, our damaged emotions, and the garbage of our lives and turns them from curses that cripple into means of growth and instruments to be used in His service.⁷
Perhaps the experiences that seemingly break us down are the things God uses to put us back together again - wiser, stronger, bolder, and kinder than we were before.

I think that one reason I've been feeling "stuck" lately is the fact that I have become pain avoidant.  In the past few years, I've found myself running from things that would potentially cause me to feel ashamed, insecure, inadequate, vulnerable, awkward, or out-of-place.  As a result I've ended up quitting a lot of things, including dancing and bowling.⁸  Looking back, I don't think my avoiding anything potentially painful, difficult, or unpleasant has done me any good.  In fact, I've discovered that running away from pain is essentially the same as running away from life.

Once a caterpillar has been broken down and put back together as a butterfly, it secretes an enzyme to soften its chrysalis, and it begins its struggle to break free from its shell.  The butterfly uses tiny claws on its wings to cut its way out.  Once free, it sits on the remains of its chrysalis while its wings unfurl and harden.⁹  Once the wings are developed, the process of metamorphosis is complete, and the adult butterfly sets out in search of a mate.

There is a story in which someone was watching a butterfly struggling to break free from its chrysalis.  He began to feel sorry for the poor creature, and, out of a misguided sense of compassion, he decided to help it out by cutting it free from its prison.  Unfortunately, when the butterfly was cut free, it had not yet built up the strength it needed to fly.¹⁰  I am not sure how much of this fable is based in reality, but lesson it conveys is clear: our struggles make us strong.  St. James writes that our struggles produce endurance and that endurance produces maturity and wholeness.¹¹

If I want freedom from the things that imprison me - fear, insecurity, shame - I cannot run away from them, for I would merely be a prisoner in hiding.  Instead, I have to face these things directly and fight for my freedom.  My friend Erica recently helped me to realize that if we got everything we wanted in life easily, we would not appreciate it as much as we would if we had to struggle for it.

In the seventeenth century, a Dutch etymologist named Jan Swammerdam dissected a caterpillar that would have soon entered its pupal stage, and he described what he found as "a butterfly enclosed and hidden in a caterpillar, and perfectly contained within its skin."  In other words, beneath the caterpillar's skin, he discovered the beginnings of the wings and legs that would be developed in the chrysalis.  The process of transformation had already begun even before the caterpillar entered into its chrysalis.¹²

In the same way that caterpillars are born to become butterflies, we were born to become more than we currently are.  The term for the final developmental stage of a butterfly is imago, a Latin word meaning "image."¹³  In the Church, we say that human beings are created in the Imago Dei, the Image of God.¹⁴  For reasons we still don't fully understand, human beings don't typically seem to look very godly, but the Holy Spirit works within us to restore the divine image in which we have been created, transforming us from one degree of glory to the next.

In Christ, we are like caterpillars transforming into butterflies.  The process of metamorphosis by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly is arduous and gruesome, but the results are undeniably beautiful.  Likewise, the process of personal transformation is not simple, quick, or clean, but the potential for transformation is already within us.  We were made for more.  To those of us who dream of flying but feel as though we are crawling, may God grant the strength, courage, and endurance to break through all obstacles so that we may become all we were meant to be.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: Butterfly, section: In culture
2. Ted Olsen.  "Are Butterflies a New Creation After All?"  The Behemoth, 02/19/2015.
3. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NRSV)
4. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3339&t=RSV
5. Wikipedia: Pupa, section: Chrysalis
6. Wikipedia: Butterfly, section: Pupa
7. David A. Seamands.  Healing for Damaged Emotions.  1981, David C. Cook.  p. 131
8. In the last couple of months, I have started bowling again, but, after some frustratingly bad games, I'm thinking about quitting again.
9. Wikipedia: Pupa, section: Chrysalis
10. One telling of this story can be found here.
11. James 1:2-4
12. Olsen
13. Wiktionary: Imago
14. Genesis 1:26-27

The photograph of the butterfly was taken by PJC&Co and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  The photograph of the chrysalis was taken by Viren Vaz and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.  Neither photographer is in any way affiliated with this blog.

Perspective: What Do You Want?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

What Do You Want?

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NRSV)

He made the lame walk and the dumb talk

And He opened blinded eyes to see

That the sun rises on His time

Yet He knows our deepest desperate need

From "What Life Would Be Like" by Big Daddy Weave

Scattered throughout the Gospels, there are a number of stories in which Jesus miraculously gives sight to the blind.  In one such story, Jesus and His disciples are heading from Jericho to Jerusalem with a large crowd following them.  Suddenly, two blind men sitting at the side of the road begin calling out to Jesus, shouting, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"  The people in the crowd try to silence them, but they start shouting even more loudly.  Jesus stops and asks the men what they want, and they reply that they want to be able to see.  Moved with compassion, Jesus touches their eyes, and their sight is restored.¹

There are a number of lessons we can glean from this seemingly simple story of healing.


Pray louder.

First, this story tells us that, when the blind men hear that Jesus is coming, they start shouting out to Him.  When the crowd tries to get them to shut up, they start shouting even louder.  I think that these blind men can teach us something about prayer.  When the voices of resistance in our lives tell us to shut up and accept our fate, we need to start praying to God all the more loudly.  Whether such voices come from other people or from our own inner dialogue, we need to drown them out with prayer.

Humans are ridiculously fickle creatures who are easily swayed.  In a very similar story, a blind man cries out to Jesus for help, and, once again, the crowd tells him to be quiet.  When Jesus turns His attention to him and invites him to come forward, the crowd changes its tune and tells him to take heart.²  It was such a crowd that would soon welcome Jesus with shouts of "Hosanna!" and then condemn Him just a few days later with shouts of "Crucify Him!"  Don't put too much stock in voices of resistance, whether they come from others or from within, because the voices are unreliable.  Instead, put your faith in the God who loves you.


God cares about what you want.

Second, the story tells us that, when Jesus hears the cries of the blind men, He stops and asks them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  Jesus' action shows us that God actually cares about what we want.  St. Paul writes, "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."³  We are invited to lift up to God any desire in our hearts.

Though I say that God cares about what we want, please note that I am not claiming that God always gives us what we want.  God is the giver of every good and perfect gift,⁴ but sometimes the things we want for ourselves - or think we want for ourselves - aren't very good for us.  Still, there are times when we pray for something good but don't receive it, and we don't really understand why.  I suspect that most people who pray have experienced what they believe to be an answer to prayer yet also feel that some of their prayers have gone unanswered.

God cares about everything in our hearts, so it matters to God that we want what we want.  Whether or not God actually chooses to give us what we want, we are invited the throne of God where we will find grace and mercy.


God is compassionate.

Third, the story tells us that, when the blind men tell Jesus that they want to see, Jesus has compassion on them.  The word compassion literally means "to suffer together with" someone.⁵  To say that Jesus had compassion on the blind men is to say that Jesus entered into their suffering.  Perhaps Jesus remembered what a blessing the sense of sight truly is and was saddened that they didn't enjoy this blessing.  Perhaps it was a particularly beautiful sunny day, and it pained Jesus to know that they couldn't fully appreciate it.  Suffering with the two blind men moved Jesus to action.

God hasn't given us an explanation for suffering; instead, God entered into human suffering with us.  Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and, in Jesus, the compassion of God is put on display for humanity.  One early Christian theologian compares Jesus to a heavenly high priest who intercedes on behalf of us, fully able to empathize with us.  To borrow a phrase from one ancient prophet, Jesus was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,"⁶ and we see this truth most vividly when Jesus hangs on a cross and cries out in agony.  Christ knows what it means to suffer, and He knows what it means to overcome suffering.


Whatever desires are in our hearts, we are invited to offer them up to God.  We do not have a God who turns a deaf ear to our cries, or a God who is ambivalent to our wants and needs, or a God who is unable to empathize with us.  Our God is loving, compassionate, and abundantly gracious.  May we approach God boldly, that we may experience God's love and grace.


Notes:

1. Matthew 20:29-34 (NRSV)
2. Mark 10:46-52
3. Philippians 4:6 (NRSV)
4. James 1:17
5. Wiktionary: Compassion
6. Isaiah 53:3 (KJV)

Christ Healing the Blind Man was painted by Eustache Le Sueur in the 1600s.