It is the Monday after the second Sunday in Advent, and I am looking forward and backward at the same time. I am also experiencing the phenomenon that occurs every Advent and Lent, when I am planning a long series in advance--I don't know "when" I am! With all four weeks of Advent, Christmas Eve, and on into January swirling around in my mind, I am unsure what today really is! Perhaps that is helpful as I reflect on the eschatological passages in scripture that are "up" each week in the lectionary.
As a human, time-bound person, I sometimes struggle with the concept of eternity. Just how long is that? And in periods of Advent waiting, just how long do we wait for God to bring in the peaceable kingdom promised in Isaiah and the Gospels? When will the Lord return again? It's hard to be patient.
In one of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, the lion Aslan asserts: "All times are now." Maybe that is what eternity is--the now and then and not-yet all merged into the "eternal now." Not know which week of Advent it is may just be my own silly glimpse into that reality. My question, then, is how do I live in that eternal now? I'll be pondering this as I prepare for Sunday's sermon, whichever week this happens to be!
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