Advent 2: Monday

Now, concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2

True confession time: I'm not exactly sure what I believe about "the day of the Lord."

I know that Paul is committed to the idea. For him, it is a given-- something that will happen in his lifetime, or certainly in the lifetime of most of his readers. It will happen fast and it may happen in stealth. A thief in the night may or may not be recognized by the sleepy occupants of the home, hence the need to stay awake and stay sober.

And I take Paul seriously. This is the earliest New Testament writing we have; it's the closest to the days when Jesus walked the earth, so it is filled with the energy of his early followers.

Still, I'm not sure what I believe about it. But I can tell you what I hope for. I can tell you what I long for.

I long for justice to roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Note: Not self-righteousness-- which is about being arrogant and sure of yourself. Righteousness--which is about people taking seriously what God wants them to do, and doing it, whether it benefits them directly or not.

I long for a world where we care for the last, the least, and the lost.

I long for a world in which all this happens, not because God makes us do it (or Jesus kills bad people with death-breath, as some "Christian" writers would have us believe), but because we are filled with love and joy and are overwhelmed by our need to do it. I want this to happen because people catch the love that I believe Jesus is really about, that is the fundamental attribute of our God.

The other day a friend put her head in her hands and said, "I just want Jesus to come back so much." That day I was feeling pretty optimistic about humanity for one reason or another, but some days, I'm right with her. On those days I just cannot believe humanity can pull itself out of the colossal mess we are presently in without divine intervention.

But I long to be wrong.

(For a taste of the joy I long for in this era of justice and righteousness, get a load of this... "Zion's Walls" by Aaron Copland, performed by ProMusica of Washington Adventist University.)