Friends,

On Sunday, the Gospel text we read had Jesus predicting a coming apocalypse in the lives of his hearers, and promising to come in the midst of those catastrophes, breaking in like a thief in the night. My sermon asked this question: How do you hold on to hope in the dark? We practiced an adaptation of the ancient Jesus Prayer together as part of our response. You can listen to the sermon here.

Learn more about the Jesus Prayer using this handout from our friends at the Episcopal House of Prayer. The words I like to use are simpler than the traditional ones -- "Oh Jesus, have mercy."

One more note: If you've been exposed to Rapture theology, Sunday's Gospel text was likely very familiar to you. Below you'll find some thoughts on that.

With love,
Susan+

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Last Sunday's Gospel and the Rapture

See last Sunday's readings here.
The earliest Christians took seriously the promise that Jesus would come back, so much so that early Christian leaders had to tell people: no, please don’t quit your jobs and go live on a mountaintop watching for signs in the sky. Daily life goes on. That might be part of what Paul is doing in the text from the letter to the Romans in Sunday's assigned readings. Paul says to those people wondering what was holding up their Lord and Savior, stay awake. Don’t be lulled into sleepwalking toward all the seductions of the world. Live honorably. Practice the way of Jesus.

For two thousand years, Christians have been holding that tension. How do we live in the world as it is, this beautiful world, this world on fire, and stay watchful for God to set things right? How do we hold these things together?

Some Christians have tried to resolve this by piecing threads of Scripture together as if it were a puzzle, to try to predict what the end will look like. If you grew up hearing about the Rapture, this Gospel text might be very familiar to you. One will be taken and one will be left. In that rapture worldview, you want to be the one who gets taken up to be with God, right? Nobody wants to be left behind in the chaos.

Alas. That doesn't appear to be what Jesus is talking about at all. Read the Gospel text again, or even the whole 24th Chapter of Matthew. Jesus is talking about a flood coming along and sweeping people away, and in that context, I’m pretty sure we want to be the ones who get left behind. Not the ones who get drowned in the raging waters or swept up into slavery in the Roman Army’s campaign of exploitation.

One of the major problems with Rapture theology is the way it cherrypicks texts like this one from various places in the Gospels to support a very specific, very historically recent, very imaginative vision of the second coming.

A deeper question I'd like to ask is this: In your experience, how has Rapture theology been used as a tool of fear to control your behavior and your choices?

What if, when Jesus shows up, however that may look, it's actually good news for all God's people and for the world?

Tags: Rev Susan, Hope, Rapture