Transforming Church

Apocalyptic writing, like prophetic writing, has more to do with understanding God’s holy history. Either of those writings always has it’s significant point to do with the present time, right now, whether you are at the end of the 1st Century under the intense persecution of Emperor Trajan and the Roman Empire, which the Book of Revelation is really all about, here in 2009 in an equally messed up world, or in any other time past or future. That means apocalyptic is always about right now, as it is impacted by the past, right on through the present, all the way through the last day and even beyond into the next life. Contrary to assumptions, it’s about right now.

The other related biblical style of writing, prophetic, is a whole lot easier to understand. Some people think the prophets were crystal ball gazers, like fortune tellers. They were not. Instead, with God’s help, they were great readers of history. They could look back at what already happened in the past, see how that got them to where they were in the present, and also, drawing the line between the dots, to where that would lead them in the days and time ahead. Prophets needed all of that perspective to be able to get the Jewish people back on course.

About 90% of their message was spent warning everyone that if they stayed on their present course away from God He would visit His wrath upon them. And then, in the last 10% they brought hope. They said, “However, if you repent of the direction you are going and get back on track with God, He will repent of the wrath He was going to dump on you and everything will be hunky dory.

In a closer look, even though prophetic and apocalyptic are related, there’s a big difference between them. When a prophet’s message was taken to heart by the people, everything turned around and was made right. Apocalyptic on the other hand realizes that most of what is broken cannot be fixed. No amount of repenting or effort is going to turn around and fix this world. With the growing imperfection our best efforts can only slow it down, “try” to hold it back.

In the last decade of the 1st Century Christians faced persecution by the Roman Empire so intense they knew that no amount of effort or promise was going to make life get better. Knowing every day they might not be alive the next morning, the only realistic and meaningful hope for them had to be anchored in the life to come.

Therein lies the difference between prophetic and apocalyptic. Prophetic says try harder and things will get better now. Apocalyptic acknowledges that all of this simply cannot be fixed. So for hope to be meaningful it has to be anchored in the life to come.

We were raised to think that if we try harder, love more, have more faith, we can turn this planet around. But today is getting dramatically close to conditions at the end of the 1st Century and real hope can only be anchored in the life to come. Anything else is naive.

The last time I shared this with a congregation, after worship one man said to me, “You are way to pessimistic for me.” I answered, “Do you believe things can be turned around?” He said, “Yes.” I didn’t say any more, but we won’t always be able to live in denial. Let me just add, I am not pessimistic; I have complete hope and trust in God. It is true, though, that I cannot put my hope in this life.

We live in what has now been identified as the Chaordic Age. That’s not a made up word; it has two other words in the name. In the word chaordic you can see the words chaos and order. We actually live in the seam between chaos and order. It can also be said that in that seam the Holy Spirit does His best work. When you or I face some dire crisis in our life, the loss of a loved one or whatever, that is when we are most open to being changed by the Holy Spirit.

Christians at the end of the 1st Century knew they lived in that seam. Apocalyptic speaks to that seam. Jesus in the Book of Revelation is very different from Jesus in the Gospels, and that Jesus is different from the epistles. They are all the same Jesus, but in Revelation He is a warrior King in the cosmic war between good and evil. Battles are won and lost, but the outcome of the war is already known. Since Jesus won on the Cross, He wins period. Even though today we still have battles won and lost, we can count on the outcome of His victory.

As a season in the Church Year, Advent is apocalyptic. It is a time in which Jesus tells us to be prepared. We are to prepare our lives, our homes and our church to receive the Lord. We do not, however, just prepare for Christmas when we remember His coming in the past. Advent speaks at the same time to His coming in the present in Word and Sacrament and through the faith practices, and to His coming in the future at the end of time. We celebrate in Advent the entire apocalyptic Christ event, “apocalyptic”, not eschatological.

Second, besides preparing, we are told to pray. "Always be on the watch," Jesus tells us, "and pray that you may be able to see and escape all that is to happen, and that you will be able to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:36 Prayer is conversation of the believing heart with God, a time spent with God where we receive through assurance the guidance we need to navigate the chaos of this life. Too many people when they pray don’t listen. They talk but they don’t listen at the same time for God to speak to them.

Before they pray they don’t give any thought to who is the Creator and who is the creature. So many people who pray just don’t get it. They may not be brazen enough to admit it, but they use prayer to tell God what they want Him to do, even how and when to do it. I can tell you there’s no two way communication in that; those people might as well be talking to a rock.

In prayer we are to surrender our will to His will. We offer Him the burdens of our hearts and then trust Him to do with them what He will, but we should never try to tell Him what to do. We can speak our desires, but don’t tell Him what to do. His way is always the best way and there’s always a good chance we will have to struggle to even see what that is. He sees the big picture; all we see is one tiny fragment in one tiny moment in time.

So Jesus tells us to prepare, to be praying, and finally, third, He tells us to be excited. This is where we need to take our lead from little children waiting for Christmas. They bounce around on the sofa so excited by the prospect of what Santa will bring them they can barely contain themselves. That’s the way we should anticipate Christ coming into our lives now and at the end of time.

This timeless coming of Jesus is what makes the Season of Advent itself apocalyptic. Don’t fall in with the masses who simply try to get excited about celebrating Christmas as a national holiday, hoping this year it’s going to be bigger than New Year’s Eve, the 4th of July and all the other celebrations wrapped into one. Instead, celebrate Christ’s coming in the past at Christmas, His coming in the present in Word, Sacrament and the faith practices, and His coming in the future at the end of time as we know it. Be prepared, be in prayer and be excited. The timeless Christ is coming to you.