10 January 2005

We continue with "In the End - The Beginning" by Jurgen Moltmann



'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope', writes Paul to the congregation in Rome (Romans 15:13).

This is unique. Nowhere else in the world of the religions is God associated with human hope for the future. God is the one who is Eternally Present, the deity is the Wholly Other, what is divine is Timelessly Eternal: all that is common coin. God is 'above us' as the Almighty, or God is 'within us' as the ground of our being: that is familiar. But a God of hope, who is in front of us, and goes ahead of us in history?



If this is indeed the case, I suppose we will start to take a look at how such a view of God has an impact on us. In the text from Romans, there is already a glimpse at what it means to have hope for the future - it is present today. Hope abounds today because we are taught that there is a future in which God already presides. When hope in the future abounds today, today becomes a day filled with life. In that sense, as we shall see over the next week, we are intimately tied to the end of all things because they already make an impact on who we are and what we do today. With a vision of what is to come, we do not simply live within this day and count on what the day will make of us. We can walk through what the day will make of us but we will hang our lives on what we know will be the outcome of history - sometimes we use language like a banquet. In this way, there is life today that cannot be contained by the limits of today. You may say I'm defeated, but I know I am already a part of the victory.



Connection: We are free to be very involved in the events of today and we bring to this day all the life that is promised for the very end of time. How will that shape the day?



O Lord, from the end of time, you rush into this day to remind us of what is to come and to walk with us through the day that awaits us. As we live among our neighbors, remind us of the neighborliness of your Blessed Reign that we will be free to join your saints in just such a life now. Amen.