Approaching the End of the World Mystery Faithfully
As we enter 2012, as the ball drops, as Auld Lang Syne plays in the background, many within the greater community will be concerned as to what this New Year will bring. I try not to pay too much attention to end of the world predictions, but we’ve all heard the dastardly predictions of what this year has to bring us. The Mayan Calendar ends this year, and frankly, that has freaked people out!
Recently when I was preaching at a church in Iredell County, I was asked, “How do I approach the end of the world with faith? How can I deal with what is coming my way with dignity and grace?” This question took me back, because it deals with a very real fear many people have with this New Year. How do we deal with doomsday as people of faith? First of all, I would remind people who are keeping score that there have been thousands of failed predictions in the past, and there will probably be more, simply and directly, we cannot predict the end, and honestly we shouldn’t be concerned with that. That’s really not our jobs. Our jobs, as people who claim the Christmas reality and New Year hope should be doing our very best to proclaim God’s grace present in the lives of those around us.
In the theological world in which I often find myself living, we have a wonderful term to describe an end of the world we can all look forward to! It’s called realized eschatology, big fancy words simply meaning that the kingdom of God will come, when we as people who believe in God bring that about. We become a part of God’s kingdom coming to earth. So in a sense, it’s not an end, but a beginning! A beginning of hope, joy and peace, we who are caught in the crosshairs between heaven and earth should rejoice in the mystery of the end, or beginning depending on how you look at it. Peter Gomes puts it this way; “mystery is unwelcome because it intimidates many of us, suggesting a limit on our capacity to control. Few of us are willing to sacrifice autonomy, for an awesome encounter with the seraphim and cherubim continually crying, holy, holy, holy”
For us, we have trouble ceding the control of our earth to our God, and that is why the end of our world and the beginning of God’s scares us. So this year, whether it is the end or not, let us all take faith that God is in control. God will never leave us nor forsake us. I love how the book of 1st Timothy puts it, “Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, and taken up in glory.” We can all praise God for 2012, no matter what happens. To be honest I’m not concerned about the end of the world, let’s get to work and make this year worth living.
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