The End Times

One of the themes the church reflects on in the early weeks of Advent is “watching and waiting for the coming of the Lord” at the end of time. Daniel 12:1 says “At that time…there will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.” We are culturally living in a “time of distress.” The rate of cultural, institutional and ecological change and uncertainty is mind boggling. There is loss of trust in every form of institution: religious, social, political, and economic. Even our ecosystem is on the precipice of collapse. We are living in a time of great cultural anxiety. And on the margins of a society that is in disarray, the Church is in the “end times” of decline and change. But because of the Incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas, that Christ is in our lives, we have every reason to hope for a new tomorrow. 

Institutions and individual lives ebb and flow with rise and decline. There is a universal pattern that we can notice and apply to our lives and cultures: Order - Disorder - Reorder. You may recognize this pattern in your own life: when things seemed to be going along smoothly (Order); and then you were dealt some great loss (Disorder); and then in time, a new normal emerged for you (Reorder). This same pattern happens historically in the rise and fall of civilizations. And the same has happened and is happening in the church. As a church we are in a time of decline and Disorder. But underneath the surface chaos there is the incarnated Christ, our life, and we will trust in a Reordering in a new and emerging Church. 

We are constantly evolving and changing, and God’s incarnated life in the world is evolving and changing. Ilia Delio encourages us with these words: “On the whole we are not conscious of evolution, and we do not act as if our choices can influence the direction of evolution. What will it take for us to realize that we are unfinished creatures who are in the process of being created? That our world is being created? That our church is being created? That Christ is being formed in us? . . . The good news of Jesus Christ is not so much what happens to us but what must be done by us. The choices we make for the future will create the future. We must reinvent ourselves in love.” 

Let us not fear the times we live in, but let us trust in the Incarnation, that God is in our lives and unsettled society as it is. Let us go a little deeper into our Spiritual Hearts, and notice our Original Goodness, the emerging Spirit that is Creative Love, and let us choose and create a more compassionate, loving and inclusive tomorrow.