Enraptured

Tough day to wake up to but I think it is better than the alternative, or is it??  If some fellow Christians had their way, we would have been taken up in the rapture on Saturday.  In their arrogance they have decided that God has empowered them and them alone with the date and time….even though God-incarnate, Jesus, told us quite clearly in the Gospel of Mark that “only the Father knows.”  So why the obsession with the calculation??  I am thinking that the “gold star” that they are looking to receive is as elusive as the date and time.  As for me, I believe that this is God’s jurisdiction and that God will determine the date and time. I also believe that God desires all of his children with him.  I realize that my faith might not make that evident since you hear many people say things in an “only if” context.  But I just don’t see that supported.  So what about the rapture?  It was predicted, immediately following the rapture catastrophes would start.  Well, this Spring has been full of catastrophes! However, Saturday night a volcano erupted in Iceland, (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_iceland_volcano) and tornado’s hit the Mid-West (in tornado alley…during tornado season  www.weather.com).  They are devastating the community and Joplin, Mo. is in serious need of assistance (www.redcross.org).  But as one of my 11year old’s friend’s, Aiden, said to her mother; “wouldn’t it be funny if the rapture actually did happen, but almost nobody was worthy, except maybe a few people. So everybody thinks it didn’t happen , but it really did?!?” The wisdom of that statement is real.  It is also typical.  The assumption that Aiden is addressing is that if it didn’t directly effect me than it didn’t really happen.  But what if Aiden is onto something, and very few were worthy??  Jesus reassures of of our worth in the Father’s eyes in many places but Mt. 6:25-34 is my favorite which ends with “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.  Sufficient for a day is it’s own evil.”  But for good measure and more than likely because God knows his creatures, Jesus throws out in Mk. 13:32 that “only the Father knows the day and time.”  Both passages are telling us that it is our call to live in the gospel way and not to focus on what is not ours to worry about.  If we trust in our God, and most of us say we do, than why would we worry about the end times?  Why the interest?  I know that most people laughed it off and did what my children did; walked around with signs that said “REPENT” or “The end is nigh!”  Humorous at their ages but as I told them, it is always right to repent.  We all have things to repent about!  The 11th hour makeup is not what it is all about.  It is about living justly or as Micah 6:8 tells us “This is what God asks of you, only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.” The convenience of a theology that only focuses on end times is that it means we can ignore the now times.  It is one that doesn’t acknowledge all that Jesus said about the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, the ones treated unjustly.  It also doesn’t speak to a faithfulness that is true because it lacks trust and humility.   Perhaps Aiden is correct and I am not worthy, and no one else I know was, so be it.  Our desire to please God should not be so we can go to heaven.  As Christians we believe that Jesus opened that door for all people.  Our desire to please God should come from a place that simply wants to please God.  So when I look at my neighbor; here, around the corner, in Cornhill, wearing a guerrilla uniform in the hills of Afghanistan, or living in a mud hut in the Congo; I can look at them as also being children of God.  I can trust that the diversity of God is so great and so unique that it not only created me and wants me back but that he created everyone and will handle what needs to be handled.Interestingly enough, this is true faith.  The ability to take our fears and worries and be assured that God has a plan for us, that it is not always easy for us to see and not always considered fair.  I would say the people in Joplin, Mo. are feeling a little abandoned right now, but that is where we come in.  We are the hands, feet and body of Christ and we do our little part to promote healing to our hurting world…this is probably what Micah meant when he said “to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.”Please make a donation if you can.  www.redcross.org