Now and Not Yet

Years ago, when I still worked at the VA Hospital, a couple I knew, both of whom worked at the VA, was talking about the future. They were both very conservative Christians, and what they shared with me was that they didn't understand the need to save for retirement because Christ was returning soon, and they wouldn't need pensions.

On another topic, our office is undergoing renovations. The changes - paint, carpet, ceiling replacement - means that we have to pack up much that is in our offices. I had a plan. You can imagine that I have lots of books in my office. I have been consistently packing up a box or two of books each day so that when the need to have the packing done arrived, I wouldn't have to rush around, throwing items in boxes.  The problem is that our landlord came into the office last Thursday to tell us the painters had asked to start painting the next day, and my office was on the list. My careful plan was not finished, and I was not ready for this. I spent the next hour (she told us at 4:00) throwing items in boxes, and not only that, but the many of the smaller boxes I had packed had been stored on my mainly empty bookcases. They were painting the wall behind the bookcases, so all of those boxes had to be moved.  I had to pack up my files, my cabinets, etc. 

I'm reading Amy-Jill Levine's book, The Gospel of Mark. The chapter I'm reading today is about Mark 13 - the little Apocalypse. She writes, "For Jesus, the salient question in not the "when of the end-time, but the "how of living with this expectation."

Moving the question away from the return of Christ, how do we live a life with a careful plan to do the ministry to which we have been called - living a life following Christ, while at the same time being prepared for the spontaneous and unexpected surprises this kind of life will bring? How do we live in the kingdom that is now and the kingdom that is to come. It's a fine balancing act.