When folks think of the eschaton, the new heaven and new earth that God will establish, they picture Jesus sitting on a throne. This throne is located in some 4-walled construct; a temple or something. Jesus, parked on this throne, awaits the arrival of people who seek his judgement and counsel. Sounds all prim and proper, yes? Today I saw a different image. When Jesus lived among people, he really lived with them. He walked and talked with them. He ate and drank with them. He was present among them. Even after he was raised from death he sought out his disciples. He ate with them, even prepared food for them. He spent about 6 weeks present with them. I think that this will be closer to reality in the future. The Lion of Judah will be loose, not confined in some building. He will be bounding throughout God's good creation seeking out people with whom he can spend time and be present with.
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As I sat to pray this A.M., there was a bird making a noisome racket outside the window. I mentioned to Yahweh that even the birds were singing to glorify God. Then, I closed the window to quiet the noise.A short time later it got pretty warm in my room. So, I opened the window again. The bird was still nearby. In fact, there seemed to be a whole herd of various voices out there. The Lord prompted me to stop and listen. Yahweh bade me to be present to the chorus of praise being raised. It was a glorious moment! We too often inject our own agenda into all aspects of our lives, including what we think we must do when present with God. I think that most of the time God would have us simply stop and be present.
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A couple weeks back as I was running in a nearby park I came upon a young fawn. It was days, perhaps hours old, lying between a couple of fallen trees. As I ran past, it raised its young head to look, but did not try to get up and run. It seemed quite content to let this feeble old fart pass by. I thank Yahweh for this.
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Recently, my daily prayer has included the word 'maranatha.' Maybe I'm getting old and I desire to see the culmination of history. I desire to see the coming of the new heaven and the new earth. How cool will that be?!? But, I am also prompted by something else. I feel the oppression and suffering that is present in this world. People dying from hunger and thirst in a world that has the technology to ease these things. But, because of greed and selfish desire, these things are withheld. I see people being used and abused by the rich and powerful. People stolen and sold into slavery. People murdered for a few coins that are used to feed addictions. Relationships between family members severed over perceived hurts. War. Wall Street. Insecurity. I think that if El Elohim would just stop this and let the renewal of all things come how good it will be. Order from chaos. Peace from destruction. All things in right relationship with all others. Including humankind. We would have the proper authority, not the authority that we have usurped for our own pleasure; our own destruction. Just as the oceans have boundaries that they cannot cross, humanity will live peacefully within its own boundaries. Boundaries established by Creator/Yahweh who will walk among us.
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