The Waiting Season

Waiting. Waiting is an element that is pervasive all throughout life. Every human being experiences some form of waiting. There is waiting for the weekend to end and finals to begin. Waiting for my wedding in August. Waiting to finish my current loom project. Waiting to find a job for after graduation. Waiting for the coming of Christ and the day the world will be renewed. There is so much waiting. As I have been sitting in my apartment since 2 A.M., listening to my "Folksy Christmas" Spotify playlist, and looming I cannot help, but think about the advent season that we are in. Advent is a beautiful time to reflect on this idea of waiting. Advent is a wonderful time during the Church calendar that can help us better anticipate the coming kingdom.

As I have been reflecting this evening I have been reminded that waiting does not mean being stagnant. Waiting is about anticipating and preparing for the outcome. I am preparing for finals through studying, planning my wedding by working out the necessary details, anticipating a future job by searching for one, and anticipating the coming of the Kingdom by working to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth in the here and now. As I wait for the caffeine in my system to wear off so that I can sleep I have decided to read the lectionary readings for church tomorrow and reflect on them as I prepare for the second full week of Advent. The Gospel reading comes from Mark 1:1-8, which says,

 "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appearedin the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The other readings (Epistle, Old Testament, and Psalm) go along excellently with this passage which is all about preparing and anticipating for the coming King. In Mark's retelling of this story, we see this radical homeless guy going around and declaring that the Lord is coming and we need to prepare. John is not just sitting around in some Synagogue, but instead he is out in the wilderness baptizing people with water and preparing the way for the coming King. How often do we do nothing when we are waiting? I think the good news of the Gospel this week is that we can do something while we wait. We are called to prepare the way and anticipate. We all can find ways to help usher in the Kingdom as we wait for the Age to Come. This can be done through helping out at your local homeless shelter, helping your elderly neighbor with their groceries, asking for forgiveness, shopping ethically for the holiday seasons, babysitting for those parents that never get a day for themselves, treating the cashiers at your favorite convenient stores with respect and love (as well as those who work at your least favorite stores), getting to know people with developmental disabilities, loving the hard to love and getting to know their stories, and so many more things. There is so much brokenness in this world which means there is so much more we can be doing as we anticipate the day when all things will be made into how they were intended to be. 

May we continue into this Advent season with an attitude of anticipation that is coupled with action.

Why Left Behind should be left behind.

I just returned from seeing the Left Behind remake and I am reminded of many memories of my childhood. This poorly done remake focuses solely on the plane ride of those who were left behind after the rapture. This movie was laced with horrible acting, awful implications (such as an elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease getting left behind or the one Arab in the movie being a Muslim who gets left behind), horribly cheesy Christian merchandise on the items of all the Christians, and simply put horrible theology. If that was not bad enough the movie ends [SPOILER] with the plane finally landing, everyone embracing, and the three protagonists, Ray, Chloe, and Buck holding hands as Mark 13:33 plays across the screen. As the credits played to Jordan Spark's rendition of I wish we'd all been ready I could not help but, see the evangelistic theme of the film. It was clear that this horrible theology was turned into a movie to draw in people so they will be scared into Salvation. This worries me and is not how I believe Salvation should work. It may have worked before but, it hardly works now and seems pretty manipulative.

This idea of the rapture comes from Dispensational Premillennialism theology which did not even originate until the 19th century by a Revivalist known as John Nelson Darby. As cheesy as this film was it worries me. The fact that Hollywood finds a need to remake this film makes me worry that people will see this and buy into the theology of escapism. Left Behind and these ideas of the rapture lead to thoughts of the earth--which God created and said was good in Genesis--being evil and meant to be destroyed and that we should be taken from it. This line of thinking can lead Christians to believing we should not care for the earth because one day we will leave it. I find the words of protagonist Chloe Steele in this new adaptation to accurately describe how we should view this theology when she says, "The God my mother talked about would never do this!" 

Instead we should view Revelation as liturgy for what has happened filled with allegories, metaphors, and symbols. We need to view Revelation as we would view the entirety of Scripture: out of a hermeneutic of love. The point of Scripture is God's love and his saving grace. Scripture tells us Jesus is coming to renew this earth that He said was good and building the Kingdom of Heaven here. This is not escapist theology. This is a theology of caring for creation, of loving your enemies and neighbors, of showing everyone what God's love looks like and how we can better build God's kingdom here. A Kingdom without violence, terrors, hate, isolation, exclusion, and destruction. A Kingdom where people are not Left Behind.

For more great resources on this see:
Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness by Michael Gorman 
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thepangeablog/2014/06/05/a-raptureless-theology/
Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright