What time is it?
How would you answer that question? There are a lot of options.
What time is it? It is August. It is the dog days of summer. It’s Miller time. It is (almost) football season. It is the season of our discontent. It is an election year.
There are many ways to tell the time. But not all of them tell the truth.
Our Christian faith took root and grew out of the rich soil of 1st century Judaism. One theological distinctive of 1st century Judaism is the notion of apocalyptic thought. In response to the terrible suffering of the Jewish people, some came to believe that the world is, at present, under the dominion of evil forces. But apocalyptic looks forward to a new age, when God will topple the tyrants, vindicate the suffering righteous, and usher in a new era of peace, prosperity and justice.
Jesus preached an apocalyptic Gospel. He proclaimed the nearness of the kingdom, or the reign, of God. Jesus invites people to get ready for what God is about to do. The Apostle Paul is also an apocalyptic thinker. He believes and teaches the nearness of God’s new world.
But it is apocalyptic with a twist. Maybe we could call it apocalyptic on pause.
Consider Paul’s words in Romans 13:
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light…
Paul believes that God’s new world–the promised kingdom in which all will be well–is both already inaugurated and not yet consummated. In Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom has already begun but in the history of the world, God’s kingdom is not yet here.
The already/not yet character of the kingdom causes a crisis for each one of us. Once we know about God’s kingdom, we have a choice to make. Will we play by the rules of the present world, the world that is passing away? Will we continue to practice violence and hoarding and hatred? Or will we start living today for the world that will be, the world shaped by peace and sharing and love?
What time is it?
It is time to decide.
And the church is here to help. The church is not a club or a clique or your local chapter of the Society for the Preservation of Stained Glass.
Church is here to tell the time. Together, we remember and rehearse for what is coming.
What time is it?
That is a question we can only answer together.
See you in church!
Pastor Matt
How would you answer that question? There are a lot of options.
What time is it? It is August. It is the dog days of summer. It’s Miller time. It is (almost) football season. It is the season of our discontent. It is an election year.
There are many ways to tell the time. But not all of them tell the truth.
Our Christian faith took root and grew out of the rich soil of 1st century Judaism. One theological distinctive of 1st century Judaism is the notion of apocalyptic thought. In response to the terrible suffering of the Jewish people, some came to believe that the world is, at present, under the dominion of evil forces. But apocalyptic looks forward to a new age, when God will topple the tyrants, vindicate the suffering righteous, and usher in a new era of peace, prosperity and justice.
Jesus preached an apocalyptic Gospel. He proclaimed the nearness of the kingdom, or the reign, of God. Jesus invites people to get ready for what God is about to do. The Apostle Paul is also an apocalyptic thinker. He believes and teaches the nearness of God’s new world.
But it is apocalyptic with a twist. Maybe we could call it apocalyptic on pause.
Consider Paul’s words in Romans 13:
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light…
Paul believes that God’s new world–the promised kingdom in which all will be well–is both already inaugurated and not yet consummated. In Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom has already begun but in the history of the world, God’s kingdom is not yet here.
The already/not yet character of the kingdom causes a crisis for each one of us. Once we know about God’s kingdom, we have a choice to make. Will we play by the rules of the present world, the world that is passing away? Will we continue to practice violence and hoarding and hatred? Or will we start living today for the world that will be, the world shaped by peace and sharing and love?
What time is it?
It is time to decide.
And the church is here to help. The church is not a club or a clique or your local chapter of the Society for the Preservation of Stained Glass.
Church is here to tell the time. Together, we remember and rehearse for what is coming.
What time is it?
That is a question we can only answer together.
See you in church!
Pastor Matt