There's some bad thinking that gets passed around about what Christians think happen after it's all said and done. We do not end up in heaven. We are not sitting around on wispy clouds strumming harps. When all is said and done, God is so deeply committed to what he has created that he does not abandon it but he heals it completely and dwells here, along with us.
Check this out:
Revelation 21:
1 Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"
God, the ultimate and first activist throughout human history is going to dwell here on earth--it's a new earth, but it is the earth all the same. Look even further:Revelation 22
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse.
The healing of the nations. No more mourning or crying. All shall be well. This is the sure and certain hope that the people of God who are activists alongside Him lean into. And the invitation for all of us is to join in his revolutionary, reconciling, restorative work that will one day be done, once and forever.Hope wins.
6 comments:
Now for our calling: to make the future impinge on the present, no?
In all my reading on social justice, I've never seen someone link in Rev, though when I see you do it, it makes lots of good sense. I think it really helps build a big-picture theological framework better, perhaps, than isolated random verses about God's love for justice (as important as they are!). Very interesting way to use Scripture.
daniel--si, si! the challenge for christians is not to sit back and wait for things to 'get good' but rather to share in Christ's passions for healing the nations.
ashleigh--exactly. the bigger-picture frames this important work, and when we don't have a clear picture of the end in mind, how can we be faithful to do work that is in line with how things will be when it's all said and done?
Actually, while I'm at it, I might as well just blog-comment my other thoughts on your talk here.
My one criticism actually surprised me (it's usually someone else's job to pt these things out), but in your trying to make Jesus God-made-flesh more accessible I think it lost some of the Jesus-is-actually-God force. This wasn't so relevant if the first time you said it "sort of" and then when you rephrased it was a little stronger, but you said "sort of" twice-- something that may have made things easier to swallow (which is good) but may not have been as good in challenging non-c's tendency to good-teacher-ize Jesus and may have scared esp some of our students from more conservative backgrounds. I know that whether or not you said "sort of" you're not slippery-slopping into theological liberalism, but not all of them do. That was just my take on it. It'd be interesting to hear your intentions/thought process behind the word choice.
And the second thing I wanted to say was your thoughts on "biblical pluralism" that were another talk idea would also make an interesting blog. Or have you already done that?
I sort of feel like a dork critiquing your talk, since I obviously have so much experience giving them myself. ;o) But I do really enjoy paying attention to how you and other speakers present things.
ashleigh,
I didn't realize that I had qualified so much! I think I remember saying "sort of" the first time and then circling back to be more forceful/clear on what I was trying to say...but if I said "sort of" again, then that was definitely a mistake! In other words, it wasn't nearly as intentional as trying to make it more accessible for non-Christians.
I'll probably blog on "Biblical Pluralism" after I get done with this little stretch of a re-cap later this week.
Glad to hear we're on the same page and that even Alex Kirk doesn't give perfect talks.
I def like trying to make things more accessible, and I also really liked that you didn't shy away from "sin" and other less accessible words all the time but instead tried to choose the best word for the context.
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