why I hope the world comes to an end

Fiscal cliffs, wars in Israel and Palestine, Black Friday.  12/20/2012. The end is coming, I declare it!  Or not.

Doctrinally, Lutheran Christians believe in the end of the age, the return of Christ, and the final judgment.  But we don’t talk about it much, it's not our central message.  Of course, we believe in heaven.  Most Americans do.  About 80%.  Fewer Americans believe in hell.  About 60%.  I guess, when it comes to God and the afterlife, Americans are optimistic.  So, an afterlife is in the future.  But what happens after that is less clear.  As is the way to access the afterlife.  Many believe it is a given, regardless of religious affiliation.  Others believe something quite different. That your beliefs guarantee your future after death.  If you were to ask ten people the question; do you believe in heaven and how does one get there, besides that you have to die first; I would guess you would get ten different answers.  If someone asked you that question, what would you say?  If they asked you if you believe in hell and who goes there, what would you say?  What do you believe in your gut about these things? Will the world end?   I suspect most of you do not believe in the “Left Behind” fundamentalist Christian story line---a story that is about divine punishment and destruction, more than salvation.  I, for one, believe that we are saved.  And I hope that God’s salvation includes those I would exclude.

Mark’s Jesus follows the proclamation of the 2^nd century BC prophet Daniel about the end time.  Daniel is the only book containing apocalyptic literature in the Old Testament.  The bible is a very big narrative with a cosmic divinely orchestrated beginning, a very human middle, and a cosmic divinely orchestrated end.  The end is speculative to some and predictive to others.  Just as some believe in the literal 6 day creation and others believe that the Genesis account is pre-scientific, mythological expression in response to the child-like question, “where did all this come from?”  The Genesis account of the beginning  is a word about God and the created world.  The word about the end is also a word about God and creation.  Apocalyptic or revelation is the type of biblical story that tells us about the end time. The end time is the stage for the final duel between ultimate good and evil. In a world where the problem of evil can overwhelm; where human atrocities, terror, and danger abound, where some are safe and others suffer daily, where children die from hunger and preventable disease, and others live into old age in relative good health; where face the threat of death every day.  And when the world stage appears to threaten more universally—wars, diseases, natural disasters—we feel more and more vulnerable. The problem of evil is a constant reality.  Watch the news. Wickedness triumphs every day. It draws the most attention anyway.  We are vulnerable and afraid.  If we are not these things, we are foolish.  So it seems.  And yet we believe in a Good God, we believe in heaven.  The contrast is what gets us through the night, maybe.  That and a glass of wine, a good movie, a companion, or you fill in the blank…we cope with the burden of mortality.  For the end is nearer than it was last year for sure.  But the bible’s perspective on the end time is not doom and gloom. We don’t believe that the bible is full of predictions. But it does imagine a future…

Jesus compares the end of the age with labor and delivery.  When I think about labor and delivery, I think three things:  Man, am I glad I’m the male and not the female right now. Man, that looks painful.  And wow, we’re going to have a baby!  The birth of a child is hopeful, joyful, deeply emotionally satisfying and scary at the same time.  Complications can take your breath away.  But when the baby is healthy, there is joy and the sense that a promise has been fulfilled, that a dream has come true, that an invisible reality has become visible, that life has overcome amazing odds, great obstacles, and a good bit of suffering.  Life emerges out of darkness and pain.  Ultimately, that is the story the bible tells.

To a people who have suffered, continue to suffer, or will suffer; to a people afraid and vulnerable in this world, the bible suggests an alternative ending to our deadly story; the end is the beginning.  The good life is yet to come.  Not only in heaven, but in a new age, a new creation, a new world.  No human government, economy, or religious institution has the formula for its establishment.  We cannot make the world become what it will become.  We can imagine it. And we can glimpse it.  For there is greatness and beauty and treasure and love and joy and peace that is possible here, even though it is accompanied by violence, suffering, oppression, and ugliness. We can and do experience God’s promise.  And we have seen it fulfilled on the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus.  God’s promise is for new life to emerge out of the darkness and the pain. Whatever and whenever the end might come, trust this: God is the author of the beginning, the middle, and the end.  And this is a story that ends with peace on earth.  Amen.