World Without End

End Times Round Up 1.15.11

It has been awhile since the last roundup. Here is the best of End Times thoughts from around the internet.

1. Wednesdays with Wright: Monotheism, Election and Eschatology.
A good summary of N.T. Wright's thoughts in Jesus and the Victory of God. Wright is a leader in current progressive eschatological thoughts and integrates it well into the rest of theology.  Brian does a great job of quickly summarizing a few key points.

 2. Glenn Beck and Mormon Eschatology.
More and more I think Beck is a fascinating character when it comes to American eschatology. I will wait till later to flesh that out, but this article is an interesting piece looking at his political bent and religion. Beck also factors in by urging people to horde food, another factor in Mormon eschatology. The LDS "theological" reasoning for food storage is here.

 

Abandoning

The Western fascination with abandonment is part of a cultural apocalypse.  This film has been making the rounds lately, showing the abandoned 6 Flags Themepark in New Orleans.  I have written before of hurricane Katrina as a unique American Apocalypse, and this video is part of the continuing influence.

Our culture is fascinated with End.  Our postmodern location insists upon it. While a story is not believed in, an end is part of the reality.

The bleak nature of a secular eschatology is confronted by the Church and her story and mission.  Humans have a purpose, and we are part of a definitive timeline that is ordered by the divine.  Our interest in an end does not stem from escape, but in the fulfillment of Christ and the eternal kingdom.

Church Leadership and the Zombie Apocalypse

 
A few of us have been thinking about how the scenario of the Zombie Apocalypse speaks to the future of the Church in America.  This might seem a morbid analogy, but it is not based off of a sci-fi geekery (well...maybe a little).

In the catalog of books and movies of the zombie family, one of the biggest threats is "being overrun", when the masses of undead overwhelm the living. A critical mass no longer exists, and the possibilities of demise are soon.  There is only a matter of time until nothing is left.

For those that serve and attend thriving churches, this might seem odd. Christian life and worship is thriving! But a drive through the interior city or a rural location will show plenty of churches that are for sale, have bare minimum of attendance or are just simply vacant. The numbers tell us that Christianity is in decline.

This is not a situation of popularity or participation, but of existence!

What this means is that we need creative leadership strategies.  A frequent response in several zombie tales is the armored schoolbus.  This creative solution finds the answers to several problems (transportation, protection, etc..) in a single innovation.  Survivors abandon what might have previously worked, and understood that they needed to transform to fit the situation. We need to learn to identify what no longer works in our ministry and leadership and fix it.

Adaptability will be the king.

What would be the wrong answer is for us (the church) to simply hole up and wait for our time to end.  Instead, we need to start finding these places of transformation. In the last 50 years, the conservative American church has followed the lead of the Liberal Protestant Paul Tillich, allowing culture to inform the Gospel message, and this has contributed to our decline. This mindset brings the devil of conformity into every conversation. Our methods might change...but our message does not. As a United Methodist, the wesleyan distinctives of Repentance, Faith and Holiness serve as a ruler as does the Gospel that has been proclaimed for 2000 years. Christ is always the same, yesterday, today and forever.  Our homebase is the word and message of God made manifest in the Son, Jesus Christ.  We have the Holy Spirit as the person of God among us and empowering us in these tumultuous times.

Related Posts:
3 Reasons the Church Should Understand the Zombie Apocalypse-Chad Brooks
In the Zombie Apocalypse You Defend Diminished Territory-Rev. Aaron Mansfield

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.

Classics: The Anti-Jabez

In my scripture this week I was in Isaiah 26 and I stumbled upon this verse-

Is. 26:15 But you have increased the nation, O LORD,
        you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
        you have enlarged all the borders of the land. (NRSV)

The first thing that came to mind was the "Prayer of Jabez" which took the evangelical world by storm and inspired countless pieces of Christian accessories. It is taken from 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.

The passage from Isaiah is the end of a praise of the uprightness of YHWH.  The Prayer of Jabez is criticized for being prosperity gospel and abuse for the prayer of material gain. Some were able to speak of it (the idea of the prayer) as an increased witness in reference to an enlarged territory, and I think this is a bit better...but still off the mark.

Inside the larger scope of Isaiah 26, we read about the desires of the LORD and His victory.  What if our view of an increased nation and borders is an eschatological look at the idea of Israel being a land of God, a Eden re-imagined...out of the scope of militiristic Zionism and instead a vision of a new world directed in the worship and prayer of Father, Son and Spirit?

This might be as off based as branding a piece of scripture to throw pillows, blankets and plaques....but it might also be a way us naming the future promise of God of a land of Holiness and praise.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.

New Directions in 2011

The last few days I have been working on blog stats and planning how both this blog and my "usual" blog outsideisbetter.net will run for the next year. It is always good to be constantly tweaking things.

I am moving towards version 2.0 ( I like to call it POMO2.0) on PostModernEschatology.com. My desire for this site has always been to resource and write for the average Christian, and putting the book of Revelation back into the hands of worshipping congregations. These slight changes in POMO2.0 are designed to help this site work better inside that mission. I just wanted to let you know of a few upcoming things.

1. Swag- I and a few others are producing some great little pieces of swag for the blog. I think that in the 21st century, Christian resourcing needs to take on the idea of the grassroots rock band instead of the huge publishing house. So why not have fun stuff?

2. Giveaways-I held a contest on twitter a few months back, and I send the winner a random package of Revelation related stuff that I had collected. I have a great reader pool that sends me all sorts of stuff, so I want to pass that along to you. Sometimes these giveaways can be serious and at other times they can be zany.

3. Videos- I am writing a producing a few short videos that are designed to be used as conversation starters for small groups and bible studies. These videos will be given away free on the internet, but I might package them together and sell them on disc CHEAP.

The main move will be taking content on the blog in a more focused direction towards resourcing. When I looked at the stats for my first few months I had a better reader spread. As the months went along I noticed a dip when my posts became more technical than they needed to be.  This happened when I spent to much time in original languages and more complicated information. Since I study Revelation and Eschatology in the Academic Sector, I fall into this mode at times. 

But that doesn't fit the original model and mission of the site.  In the next week I will be rolling out a format where I spend several posts on a topic, and at the end of the series I will release a .pdf of more research oriented material for the folks that like that type of information.  That way I can provide two levels of writing and information that YOU can use.

I wanted to share this so you can keep your eyes open in the future for POMO2.0. I am really excited and I hope you are as well. If you have any thoughts please feel free to share them in the comments.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.