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Posts Tagged ‘2012’

The Time Was Near–Not

Posted in Christmas Through Epiphany, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I am beginning the Book of Revelation with some fear and trembling. I’ve read it before and I know of its mysteries as I am aware of the promised blessings for reading it. I pray for fresh eyes. Let me start then with this: the time was near? Not really. Is it near today? It can be, if we so choose.

Revelation 1:3
Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Of course, there is always the issue of what is time to God? Near in time to God is a type of nonsense since there is no time as we know it in God’s realm. This is all a human interpretation of the message. John sensed urgency and for him, that meant the “time” would come posthaste, soon, and in short order. But that didn’t happen.

Some writers interpret this “nearness of time” as the start of the prophesied events. they say the milestone events were merely drawn out over the millennium and while the end may not be near-near, the beginning of the end was near enough to mention then.

But again, I cast aside anything dealing with time. I think humans spend too much energy on interpreting the time and the times. For this reason, we have a plethora of prophecies and kooks in abundance. And yet, human has managed to live through the “end of time” several years over, from the rise of Hitler in the 1930’s to October 21st (or 28th), 2011 (the predicted dates of Harold Camping and Family Radio). To make things even more interesting, we now have the secular world in on the “end of time” party as we enter into 2012, the year that the Mayan calendar ends.

I am not saying there is no Judgment Day … I’m sure there is, but I am saying that we are incapable of predicting the time. Our world is always in a state of flux, either through the unpredictability of nature or the power of prayer. The way is morphing. Our relationships with God are changing. Our “times” are transforming, lengthening and shortening as God wills.

This is the only element of God that is truly near: the Holy Spirit. The nearness, the very indwelling, of God through the Spirit is the most significant nearness factor. And this nearness depends on human to embrace the truth of Presence.

When Jesus walked the earth, he spoke of the “nearness” of the Kingdom of Heaven as within us [Luke 17:20-21]. This is where the true revelation is now and will be, no matter what events happen or don’t happen. The salvation of humankind is within.

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Thief in the Night

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I am grateful that I have never had my house broken into. But I know people: my brother’s place was wiped out of all electronics, DVDs, bicycle, etc. A colleague from work lost all of her jewelry to a thief in the night. And one family had all of their children’s gifts stolen from under the tree on Christmas Eve.

I Thessalonians 5:2, 4
. . . for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. . . . But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

I have been told that it feels like a rape of one’s life, to experience this kind of invasion. It’s usually inexplicable, and unlike TV, where Monk comes in and floats his hands around to figure out why and who and when, there is rarely recovery of one’s things or capture of the thieves.

Paul writes that the coming of Christ, the total renewal of Spirit, and the “end of the age,” will come when least expected by most people. And yet, as believers, we are not to be surprised. I had never picked up on that before; I focused on the unexpected thief and figured we were all in the dark. Not so.

Unfortunately, others have taken this piece of information as an encouragement to set the date and time. Over the years, there have been a number of end time dates announced and yet, the dates have come and gone, and we’re all still here. Things are heating up a bit now and both believers and non-believers are predicting cataclysmic events in 2012. Some base their predictions on complex studies of the prophetic literature and calendar mathematics, while others are enamored of the Mayan calendar and the implications of its final year.

I still believe we “see through a glass darkly” and we will not understand the fullness of the “return of Christ” until it happens. But I will hold to this: as the Holy Spirit within me manifests more each day, as the Light within me finds open avenues to shine out, then this Coming may indeed be anticipated.

But for now, I’ll just wait.

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