Skip to main content

Second Coming

I suspect some readers are going to see this title and have certain expectations.  Some will be disappointed that I am writing on something like this and may never read it again.  Others will be so happy and, then, when they read it, will likely be disappointed.  And they may never read again anything I write.  So indeed, this is about the second coming, but probably not in the traditional way people associate with that idea.
           
I did not set out to write this little inspirational piece.  But the idea was dumped into my lap---or my mind, as it were.  I am part of a group that meets weekly and explores spiritual issues.  It is a group that has been meeting for many years now, so it is not unusual to get personal stories emerging out of a discussion about some issue.  Most of them are important, because the people are important.  But most of them do not provoke me to write about it.  The one shared recently moved me to reflect and here it is.
           
The story was a wintertime story and actually was pretty hair-raising.  A good friend in the group was sharing about her travels to Florida soon after the first of the year.  As might be expected, she left in the cold of winter and looked forward to getting to the southern part of our country to enjoy the warmth of those southern latitudes.  However, it was fraught with some tricky weather.
           
About half way through the journey, the roads precipitously got slick with the ice that formed.  She and her companion slowed and were ready to push on.  Coming upon a semi going very slowly, they responded accordingly.  Soon however, the semi-truck began a slide and moved gracefully to the side of the road.  They were ready to swing left around that ditched truck, only to find another semi enters its slide.  Danger that truck came to a halt perpendicular to the other semi now grounded at the side of the road.  There was no way around.  They were trapped---knowing other cars, trucks, etc. were heading down the highway ready to hit the ice and maybe them, too. 
           
Not long after they stopped, they noticed a pickup truck approach.  I was listening to the story, but without too much engagement.  And then my friend described the guy get out of the pickup.  Apparently, he got out, filled some bags with sand and put it around his truck.  And then he began to do the same for all the cars now stranded behind the two trucks.  What was going on?
           
Her description of him brought me to full attention.  She said, “our savior with a San Francisco 49’s coat and a cowboy hat got out of the pickup truck and made people safe.”  I almost laughed out loudly.  Maybe it is because I have a warped mind, but it struck me funny that this could be an offbeat way to describe the second coming!  And it is certainly a different version that any I had heard.
           
No doubt, what triggered the association in my mind was her use of the word, “savior.”  Of course, that is a descriptive term often applied to Jesus.  Christians are used to hearing and using such language to describe who Jesus was and what Jesus was here to do in our midst.  It is typical in certain Christian circles to hear language such as, “Jesus came to save us from our sin.”  My interest is not to get into whether this is true or not, but to understand it as one way to understand how God is involved in our world trying to make things better.  I have no doubt this is what Jesus was up to.
           
The traditional Christian teaching suggests that the saving work of Jesus continues after his own death.  And more conservative Christianity follows the lead of the last book of the New Testament, namely, Revelation, that at some appointed time, Jesus will return to the earth and finish his work.  This is the second coming.  What was funny in my friend’s story is seeing this second coming as some guy in a pickup, cowboy hat and 49’s jacket.  That is not the usual image of Jesus in his second coming.
           
I could have laughed and left it at that.  But maybe there is an inkling of truth here.  Maybe Jesus does come again every time someone acts on behalf of others.  Maybe every loving act---redeeming some sin, evil or disaster---is a manifestation of the second coming.  Maybe instead of one big, last act, it will be a series of mini-actions in multiple places in a variety of times.  Who is to say how God may come again and again?
           
It makes me wonder if the second coming is nothing more than every disciple and every person in the world choosing to follow his example and be part of the power of love in our world rather than participating in the power of the problems of the world.  Our work is to be redeemers and not ridiculers.
           
I know how the book of Revelation talks about it and I am not saying it is inadequate.  But I also wonder if there is not more to the story than simply waiting for Jesus to come back again to end this mess.  Maybe those of us who are in the middle of the mess can do our saving part right now.  We may not need a pickup truck, 49 jacket and cowboy hat, but we can go into those places of sin and danger and work to make folks safe.  It becomes a nice metaphor for the work of salvation.    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-Thou Relationships

Those of us who have read theology or, perhaps, those who are people of faith and are old enough might well recognize this title as a reminder of the late Jewish philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber.   I remember reading Buber’s book, I and Thou , when I was in college in the 1960s.   It was already a famous book by then.   I am not sure I fully understood it, but that would not be the last time I read it.   It has been a while since I looked at the book.             Buber came up in a conversation with a friend who asked if I had seen the recent article by David Brooks?   I had not seen it, but when I was told about it, I knew I would quickly locate and read that piece.   I very much like what Brooks decides to write about and what he contributes to societal conversation.   I wish more people read him and took him seriously.             Brooks’ article focused on the 2016 contentious election.   He provocatively suggests, “Read Buber, Not the Polls!”   I think Brooks puts
1 comment
Read more

Spiritual Commitment

I was reading along in a very nice little book and hit these lines about commitment.   The author, Mitch Albom, uses the voice of one of the main characters of his nonfiction book about faith to reflect on commitment.   The voice belongs to Albom’s old rabbi of the Jewish synagogue where he went until his college days.   The old rabbi, Albert Lewis, says “the word ‘commitment’ has lost its meaning.”    The rabbi continues in a way that surely would have many people saying, “Amen!”   About commitment he says, “I’m old enough when it used to be a positive.   A committed person was someone to be admired.   He was loyal and steady.   Now a commitment is something you avoid.   You don’t want to tie yourself down.”   I also think I am old enough to know that commitment was usually a positive word.   I can think of a range of situations in which commitment would have been seen to be positive.   For example, growing up was full of sports for me.   Commitment would have been presupposed t
6 comments
Read more

Inward Journey and Outward Pilgrimage

There are so many different ways to think about the spiritual life.   And of course, in our country there are so many different variations of religious experiences.   There are liberals and conservatives.   There are fundamentalists and Pentecostals.   Besides the dizzying variety of Christian traditions, there are many different non-Christian traditions.   There are the major traditions, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on.   There are the slightly more obscure traditions, such as Sikhism, Jainism, etc.   And then there are more fringe groups and, even, pseudo-religions.   There are defining doctrines and religious practices.   Some of these are specific to a particular tradition or a few traditions, such as the koan , which is used in Zen Buddhism for example.   Other defining doctrines or practices are common across the religious board.   Something like meditation would be a good example.   Christians meditate; Buddhists meditate.   And other groups practice this spiri
3 comments
Read more