What of the end times? What will be our personal eschatology?

It is certain that the end of the universe will not happen for tens of billions of years. It is also certain our own death will happen on a time scale of tens of years.

I believe there is a true and lasting hope of an afterlife and it can only rest in the eternal being of God himself. 

When our bodies cast off our spirit, God does not just cast us off as discarded and broken, thrown on to the rubbish heap of the universe. Our belief in a destiny beyond our death rests in the loving faithfulness of the eternal God.

So. what happens? Who and what are we when we die?

Well let’s look at what we are now. We know that mind and body are intimately connected with each other. We are embodied beings.

Consider the real me, the real you, the ever-changing atoms, the material of our bodies, that are organized for each of us. Let’s call this “the unique pattern” of each of us.

It seems to me that God will remember this pattern of matter, unique for each of us. And in God’s great act of our resurrection, God will recreate that pattern, glorified, in a new environment, a new world.

Scripture speaks of the promise of “a new heaven and a new earth where death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former have passed away”
God cares for all his creation. So, God must have a destiny for the universe beyond its death just as there is a destiny for us beyond ours. What would that look like for each of us?

There are clues in the Gospels of Jesus’ appearances. Jesus’ body before his resurrection becomes transformed and glorified after his resurrection. I believe we will be like him after our resurrection.
These accounts in the Gospels tell us how Jesus looked, spoke and what he did after his resurrection.

Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene. In the garden outside the tomb, Jesus is standing there. Thinking he was the gardener, Mary says, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus replies, “Mary.” She turns and starts to embrace him. Jesus tells her, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.’”

Jesus appears to his disciples: “When the disciples are together, with the doors locked, Jesus comes and stands among them. He shows them his hands and side.”

Jesus appears to Cleopas and his companion as they are going from Jerusalem to a village named Emmaus. Jesus himself walks along with them. As they come to the village, Jesus continues on. They urge him to stay with them for the night. When he is at table with them, “Jesus takes bread and blesses and breaks it and gives it to them. And their eyes are opened, and they recognize him.”

Jesus appears to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Jesus tells them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught. Come and have breakfast.” Jesus takes bread and gives it to them, and so with the fish.

Later, his disciples are gathered, and Thomas is with them. Although the doors are locked, Jesus comes among them, “Peace be with you.” Then he says to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side.”

He presents himself alive to them, appearing to them during forty days and speaks about the kingdom of God. The eleven disciples go to Galilee, to the mountain. When they see him glorified and they worship him.

Jesus appears to Paul. As Paul approaches Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashes around him. He falls to the ground and hears a voice, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"  "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asks. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,".

So, Jesus’ glorified, full of God’s Spirit, tells Mary Magdalene not to touch him, appears through closed doors, breaks bread with his disciples, prepares breakfast, eats with his disciples, tells Thomas to put his hands into his wounds, appears to Paul as a blinding light and a voice heard.

Jesus is glorified, alive and active in Spirit and Body as he was then, is now and will be forever. Just as we will be. Our destiny is everlasting life. God creates life as a process in the way love works; as it is now and as it will be true beyond death.

Heaven will not be boring. Life will be the exciting and an inexhaustible exploration of the riches of life in God’s presence. The wounds of this life healed. Unfinished business completed. The dark side of our natures purged away.

Jesus promises us abundant life; life in its abounding fullness of joy and strength for mind, a body and soul glorified; a life that is our final destiny as part of God’s kingdom and as beloved children of God.
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 "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
 

In Jesus’ baptism God’s Spirit descends and rests on Jesus. God’s voice tells him he is God’s beloved Son. He emerges from the wilderness filled with God’s Spirit. From that time on, Jesus begins to proclaim,

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”  Matt.4:17

“What does Jesus mean when he refers to the Kingdom?

Tradition tells us at the heart of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom is God’s sovereignty over the chosen people and through them over creation. This is a theological and faith filled understanding. It raises questions for me, not doubts but just a need to understand. I need to see what Jesus taught about the Kingdom.

Can we in today’s world relate to “The Kingdom” as his followers did. Yet even in the beginning, they had the wrong idea. They expected that the ancient and historic kingdom of Israel would be restored, their enemies driven out from their midst. He was clear about what this Kingdom is. Most did not want to hear that his arrest and death would impact on their expectations. What can we know today about the implications of this idea of God’s Kingdom?

The word “kingdom” in Aramaic and Hebrew combines several ideas about God’s rule: a centralized and determined extension of power; the creative word; the empowering vision.

Jesus instructs his disciples about the mystery of the Kingdom of God. He tells them it begins not by violence and retribution but by signs of love, compassion and forgiveness. Jesus teaches about the Kingdom in parables.

God’s Kingdom is like the mustard seed; like yeast hidden in flour; like the found treasure; like the pearl of great value. A seed must be watered and nurtured to grow just as we must be to begin and grow in faith. Water, the flour and yeast must be worked and kneaded to become food. So, our life must be shaped into signs of spiritual nourishment. What God sends us out to do every day. On our journey of faith, we must always be seeking to find God’s kingdom. And guess what! We find it all around us and abiding within us.
The parables speak to God’s vision for us and the power of the creative word in our lives. Contrary to small and obscure beginnings, faith, hope and love grow within and become outward signs of God’s kingdom to our world.
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I believe God rules by instilling in our very being the grace to figure out each next step in our faith journey. That journey will ultimately lead to abundant life as Jesus promised.
 
*I substitute “God” in identifying the Kingdom. Matthew’s Gospel was written primarily for Jewish Christians. Matthew like most Jews out of respect never spoke or wrote the word God. 

“Peter, standing with the eleven raised his voice and addressed them...This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. So those who welcomed his message were baptized and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 1: 14, 41-42

I believe it is always a good idea and a rewarding meditation to remind ourselves what is really going on in the liturgy of the Holy Eucharist and to reflect on its importance in our lives beyond the place where this all takes place.

The six-page pamphlet, “The Four Movements of the Eucharist” by the Rev. Samuel Lloyd III from Boston’s Trinity Church from Forward Movement Publications, summarizes what those early baptized followers of The Way began and continues to this day.

A mediation and study of these four movements always reminds me that God gifts us so much in the richness of the liturgy. The word “Eucharist” originally comes from the Greek for thanksgiving. The word “liturgy” is from Latin and Greek meaning the ministering or the work of the people.

 When we enter the nave and face the altar, we open ourselves to what’s going to happen with quiet and prayer.  In my reflection, I see the altar, lit with candles. I see the opening procession, the Gospel book raised in honor and expectation.

We hear and respond to the “Blessed be God.” We hear the opening Collect, a prayer recited by the celebrant but to me our own prayer to Almighty God to remind us who we are, why we’re here.  We sing the “Gloria” proclaiming that God is at work in our lives forgiving us, sanctifying us, healing us.

In the Liturgy of the Word, scripture and sermon lift our sight beyond our own concerns; help us to see with God’s eyes the real world about us; call us to be part of Christ’s healing work.

Now we respond to all that went before. We offer our cares and concerns in The Prayers of the People. We then confess to God our failures and brokenness. And, thanks be to God, undeserving as we are, we are healed and forgiven!.

Christ always uses the common, the ordinary to teach us, to heal us and to nourish us. With the celebrant, together we offer up the bread and wine to be blessed. We ask the Holy Spirit to sanctified us. And Christ feeds us with the spiritual food of his Body and Blood. Leaving the altar, we are somehow changed, something is confirmed deep within us.
We then together we raise a prayer of thanksgiving that nourished by Christ we are truly living members of Christ Jesus. Thanks be to God. Worshipping in community, being nourished by Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Finally, God sends us out to do our given work, to love and to serve in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Every Sunday following Canon Holly’s sermon, we recite the Nicene Creed thus affirming our faith. Anticipating this point in the service, questions always begin to arise in my mind about what I am affirming. Where in there is the living message of Christ, the living faith in Christ? The creeds for me have no warmth, no suggestion of the intimate experience of God’s presence in my life.

I believe and accept what the creeds proclaim. After all, Sacred Scripture are the foundation of what they mean to proclaim. I understand the necessity of drawing a line of strict orthodoxy beyond which we should not or cannot venture. The Greek language was used in the councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon. The leaders of the church, participating bishops, were necessarily specific, using nuanced meanings within the Greek language to determine what is accepted orthodox doctrine to confront prevailing heretical beliefs about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I find much more about my relationship with God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit from the Iona Abbey’s “Affirmation of Faith,” excerpts of which I include here.

“We believe in God above us, Maker and sustainer of all life.
We believe in God beside us, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, servant of the poor, died forsaken, arose from the tomb, ascended to heaven to be everywhere present.

We believe in God within us, the Holy Spirit, life giving breath of the church, Spirit of healing and forgiveness, source of resurrection and eternal life.”

This has so much more meaning for me. It describes significant realities of my faith. God as a parent sustenance’s my life as a beloved child. Jesus Christ a person like me, born as I was born, who I can relate to, and everywhere present in my life. The Holy Spirit within me, breaths life, heals when I need healing, forgives when I need forgiveness. She is the source of my ultimate resurrection into eternal life.

This letter shows how the earliest Christians gleaned writings from the Jewish Scriptures that predicted the coming of the Messiah and King to restore the glory of the Jewish people, their traditions and beliefs. The author delves into the five books of Moses, the psalms and the prophets finding scripture texts that were meaningful and significant to their burgeoning faith in Jesus as the Messiah King and Son of God.

The author’s profound intuitions about the central points of Christian belief make this letter one of the most important books of the Christian Testament.

One of my favorite texts from the letter, actually from all Christian scriptures:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible”. Hebrews 11:1

“Things hoped for; Things not seen.” A thing is anything that is or may become an object of thought. A reality is a thing which exists independent of human awareness or which exists independently of ideas concerning it.

For me, faith is the assurance of realities hoped for, the conviction of realities not seen.

The “Things” the author writes about are realities for me. I consistently use the word "reality" in describing what I believe in my faith as a Christian.

I believe things we know from God’s self-revelation are absolute true realities; intrinsic to God’s very nature and being. Realities which stand by themselves as truths and of themselves are independent of any human thought or idea.

I believe this describes how utterly dependent we are on God’s grace. Only God’s gratuitous gifts of faith and hope can give us the assurance and conviction that is beyond our human capacity to achieve without the help of the Holy Spirit.

I believe our lives are full of sacramental realities whether we are aware or not. Outward and visible signs in our lives that make concrete the inward and spiritual grace springing from the in-dwelling of The Holy Spirit.

The author of the letter speaks of Jesus, as the eternal High Priest and offers up for us a prayer to Him:

 “. . let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful” 10: 22-23

Note: For Biblical scholars, the authorship is cannot be determined and not really important to the significance of the letter. I believe the author is Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew and Paul’s missionary companion. In Luke’s Gospel he is described as “an eloquent man with a sound knowledge of the scriptures* . . . he was accurate in all the details he taught about Jesus.” Acts 18: 24-25 
*The Jewish Scriptures  

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform our humble bodies that they may be conformed to the body of His glory . .” Philippians 3: 20-21

Paul tells the church in Corinth “A thorn was given me in the flesh . . . Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12: 8-9

I regard as one of the better things I do for the community of Saint Anthony on the Desert is being present in St. Luke’s chapel to be with those who in need of healing seek words of encouragement, of solace. As well as prayers and a sympathetic touch, (“laying on of hands”), which I believe emphasize our mutual and shared brokenness.

Yet, I struggle with this whole idea of healing sickness and disease through prayer. How do our prayers for healing work? I know God and Jesus in his glory hear us! Why do we not perceive their answers? How did I feel when all our prayers to heal Bonnie of her cancer didn’t result in the cancer going away? In my mind, I felt that perhaps her death is a healing; her, and God’s, final victory over the cancer. It was a way to deal with it! Did that help me in my grieving; not much! Nor was it meant to! It was more an intellectual answer rather than a spirit filled answer from my heart.
   
So, what does this mean to us, “to be healed”? The words salvation and savior are rooted in the Latin salve:  to heal, to be made whole, the one who makes us whole.
 
We say Christ Jesus comes to us and brings God’s salvation. The church, that’s all of us, names Jesus as our Savior.  We proclaim Him as Lord and Savior.  We are saying, confessing to, and proclaiming that He comes to heal us; to make our broken humanness whole; to strengthen our human weaknesses. In His human nature, he experienced despair, brokenness, pain, death, healing. He knows what is to be fully human, warts and all. Is this where our hope should be? Perhaps the answer I, we, are looking for?

The idea that salvation principally means a “rescue from” something could be considered a negative concept. I don’t believe sending an S. O. S. to God or spelling out HELP in the sand is the answer.  Maybe there’s no really satisfactory answer for me, for us. Am I, are we, expecting too much?  I don’t know the answer.

But this is not the answer. Expecting to be “rescued from” all the aspects of illness and disease does little in a positive way to ease our hurting souls and sick bodies in need of healing. It sometimes brings doubts in faith and lives full of despair. We hear: “Because of this disease, I’ve lost control over my life!” As if we ever had full control. “Is this sickness punishment for my sins?” “Should I feel guilty that I am the cause?”  “If there is no divine intervention, why should I hope? Why should I believe?”

Salvation in a more positive concept God gifts us into a deeper intimacy with Him. God’s loving, salvific acts enable us to better understand that healing is less about our bodies and more about the health of our souls.

The words from St. Paul assure us we share in Christ’s glorified body, here and now; each in our own brokenness. Like his broken body made whole and healed by God’s power, we share in that healing power as well. It is the promise of God’s Spirit dwelling within us.
Our response to that promise is to accept that in our sufferings we are participants in Christ’s life; to know in our hearts, in the midst of our pain, with a certainty, that God never withdraws from us, never abandons us. We are in Christ, and he is in us. In this oneness with Christ, we begin to see how our sickness and pain are consecrated to our total life in Christ. We know that Jesus suffered and died in agonizing, excruciating pain. We share in that suffering. We share in that pain.

Are we now encountering one of the great mysteries of our faith? The mystery that somehow (a theologian’s favorite word) there is Devine healing happening always? Are we in our human inability to really know God’s true nature getting into the unknowable, the ineffable mysteries of our faith?

Maybe we are. All we can do is rest with confidence and hope in God’s gift of intimacy and grace.

I see no clear answer in my struggle about healing prayer except in the reality of God’s steadfast love and mercy; in God’s compassion for His children.
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And in: “My grace is sufficient for you.”
 

“ . . . the Spirit of God dwells in you. The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according the will of God.”
Rom. 8:9, 26-27
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Paul’s insight about prayer strikes a resounding “wow, he hit the nail on the head for me.” Most of my prayers are inarticulate groans. I struggle with finding words. I struggle to voice heartfelt pain; to clarify my hopes, to ask for healing, for understanding, for solace. And guess what! God’s Spirit dwelling within me so completely understands, accepts my feeble attempts and helps me “in my weakness.” I experience this most often when in the chapel, God’s Spirit always there to help me find healing words for those who seek healing.
Reading again Richard Foster’s book “Prayer,” I thought I would share his thoughts about praying. The idea of middle prayer; that prayer takes place in the middle voice; that we do not have to have everything perfect when we pray.
We often tackle prayer in the same way we tackle every other task – by hard work with an intensity to try, try, try again. Does that ring a bell? The thing is we have to let go of all that intensity; of all that trying harder.
Letting go, we enter into a stillness and silence. And we discover God’s presence in that stillness and silence. We discover God is always already here! God is continually praying along with us. We begin to experience prayer in which God acts and we receive; prayer in which we act and God receives, all at the same time: “middle prayer.”  

 
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there will you be also.” John 14: 1-6

The average life expectancy today for American men like me is 77 years. Any man nearing the end of 90 years as I am would be considered an outlier, living way beyond 77 years.

So, lately whenever I think about my own death, I think about my own resurrection. I believe in the very core of my being that I will be lovingly greeted by the glorified Jesus, by my beloved Bonnie, by family and friends, all who have gone before me. I believe He has a place for me beyond this mortal life and I will share with them the abundant life He promised.

Anticipating death is one of the ways we remind ourselves of the promise and presence of eternal life.  Death is when we claim the promise of the resurrection. I believe we experience the power of the resurrection in a personal way, in a way as unique as we are. I believe it will mean the end of all earthly things for us, the end of the world as we know it. It will be for us Jesus’ Parousia, not in a general or theoretical way, but ultimately in a very personal way.
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“And you know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life’”

“He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” So, he said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, may your name be revered as holy.  May your kingdom come.
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Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins,
 for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.  And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Luke 11:1-13
Here we have another Gospel reference to John the baptizer having disciples. A fact that sort of fleshes out the person who John was, a charismatic teacher with a loyal following. No wonder the Jews at the time thought he was the one who has come to restore the kingdom of Israel to its former greatness.

Jesus, in his prayer, reminds us to be reverent when speaking of God. Jesus refers to God’s name. Naming a person infers a familiarity with and a closeness. In this case, as close as a child to a father and mother.

I believe Jesus, in every moment of his life, is aware of God’s constant and intimate presence. At times of crisis; when he needs answers he goes to his Father. He senses his need to speak to his Father who is always ready for His son. Jesus goes to a quiet place to pray. And there in quiet places he speaks with His Father.

God has an open invitation for Jesus and to us.

Prayer does not begin with us. Rest in the faith that God already initiates something within us.  Our prayer is ultimately a response to God; God’s invitation to encounter with the One who loves us.

We pray acknowledging our own weakness. It is worldly weakness, not worldly strength, that enables us to encounter God. By rejecting worldly power and ambition, we open ourselves to be guided by God’s Spirit. We are led to encounter God face-to-face in the person of Christ Jesus who said, “Whenever you pray”.
 

We are the Church! We are the salt of the earth!

“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is then good for nothing, but is thrown out and trampled foot.” Matt 5:13

“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you restore its saltiness? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another” Mark 9:49-50

Jesus asks the question “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”  In truth, salt is salty because it is salt.  Salt isn’t sweet, nor is it bitter, it is salt because of the nature of what it is.

We are by God’s design and from the very core of our being, intended to reflect the glory of God in everything we do. As the refiner’s fire of the Holy Spirit works within us, we become the salt that we are intended to be.

Just as no one uses one grain of salt expecting it to be effective, we too are not meant to be only one grain of salt in the world.  Jesus concludes this brief parable by stating, “Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” The salt, then, is not just one person but a collective that functions together. The church, when it strives to pursue God and display His glory, profoundly impacts the world through us.  We are the Church and like salt, we provide flavor and life to whomever we touch and in whatever we do. We preserve the integrity of the that which we proclaim, Jesus Christ has died, Jesus Christ is risen, Jesus Christ will come again.