In Good Faith: Christmas is the turning point, not the end point
Dec. 24—A famous speaker traveled the country by limousine giving his speech. He made more than $100,000 a year doing so. His chauffeur, who made $25,000 a year, complained, saying he could give that speech because he'd heard it 50 times.
"Go for it," the speaker said. At the next stop, the speech went fine, but then a question came from the audience in the question-and-answer session that followed. This question was asked: "Please compare Augustine and Luther as to their eschatology."
"Well, that question is so easy that I'll have my chauffeur answer it."
Great recovery, eh? Nimble move! (Are you good that way? Can you dodge trouble and fake your way along?) As to the matter of eschatology, it might be best to defer to others. Most folks don't know much about eschatology, the study of end times. It is a biblical topic that a person can really dig into and theorize about.
Do you know some folks who relish ideas on the end of the world and how that is looking, centering on the study of Revelation? Oddly, these days many secular folks also have end-of-the world thoughts, marinating in our existential threats and various doomsday predictions. They posit that we idiot humans will bring the house down. Could it be that some of the uber-rich folks who are into space exploration are doing so because they think earth will be uninhabitable? Hmm.
Christians believe in the eschaton. We have a linear view of history: that life on earth had a beginning and that it will have an ending. It is going somewhere. It is not just cyclical same-old, same-old. We, unlike many people, do not see earthly life as unending for our race and our planet. God has promised to bring creation to a grand and glorious conclusion. The advent of that day is a side focus of our Advent season. We believe that the one who came as a baby at Christmas will come again — his "second coming" — to complete what he has begun. He will usher in the "day of the Lord" when there will be "a new heaven and a new earth."
Christmas is the turning point in the world's story, but it is not the end point.
Does this sound like good news or bad news to you? Would you prefer that the world just keep stumbling along, with troubles, evils, wars and death, ad infinitum? Are you more of a mind with King Solomon who reckoned that "All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, or the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
Or are you a rosy utopian? Do you figure that we earthlings will one day get it right — despite all evidence to the contrary — and that we humans will evolve into smart, loving, eternal creatures on our own?
In contrast to cynical same-old, same-old despair and to utopian pipedreams of planet paradise, we Christ-followers have the promise of fulfillment by God's power. Jesus in the gospels, as well as Peter and Paul in the epistles, join with the visionary book of Revelation in foretelling the eschaton. God and his love will win in the end!
The day of the Lord is not a threat, but a promise. God will not give up on us. We don't get much detail, nor is the timing revealed to us, but we know that the curtain will drop and then the glory of the Lord will reign triumphant. As you celebrate Christmas, let your mind peer forward to the song of the angels, not just above a stable long ago, but above the earth at the dawning of the perfect kingdom of love.
Whether you ride in a limo or a clunker, there's hope for us.
Chris Brekke is a retired pastor who served Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Rochester for 13 years and Trinity Lutheran in West Concord for 10. He and his wife live in Roseville, Minn., where he keeps busy with volunteering, church and family.
