In the End

I almost always write these at the first of the month, but now deep in Lent I looked up and realized I missed even the Ides of March! I’m writing this on March 16th. Since the United States and Israel started a war with Iran three weeks ago, there have also been bombings in Lebanon (very extensive), UAE and Jordan, and against U.S. military bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The Middle East is in flames, the Strait of Hormuz is blocked with burnings ships, cities are reduced to rubble with thousands dead (including civilians and some U.S. servicemen) and millions are displaced. It’s inevitable that along with these catastrophes there would be certain (why are they almost always American?) Christians who would trot out tired biblical calculations and predict that we are now in the end times. Once again, all the data points have been fed into one big soup of timelines and maps and come out the other side identifying the present day with the Armageddon of Revelation. Current nations have been exactly identified with biblical actors, and it is all honed down to a date. A day. The last day.  Even as I write this, there are Christian “influencers” trotting out their guesses to their eager followers, dredging up the rapture they will enjoy while others will not.

Sigh. This has happened so many times before. In every century, every generation, even every decade since 33 AD people have made predictions on how and when the end would come. The “how” part usually involves the predictor’s tribe somehow being spared tribulation. The “when” part is put forth with the prognosticator’s exact prediction. So far, for 21 centuries, they have been 100% wrong. Every. Single. Time. Have you ever noticed how those high-profile predictions of the end are never apologized for when they are proved wrong?! Now, don’t misunderstand me–some day the end will come. Some day one of the predictors might even be correct. But in the meantime, it would be great to not have a bunch of Bible “experts” madly posting. Maybe it would be helpful to just post Jesus’ own words (Matt. 24:36): “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” If even Jesus doesn’t know, it seems a teensy bit arrogant for someone to be so certain that they do. I’ll stick with Jesus on this one.

All of this bewildering speculation about the end of time has me thinking about things much more important and concrete regarding endings. Many of you (Anne & me as well) are dealing with parents, family members and friends heading toward the end of their lives. A number of folks we know have lost loved ones recently. Wendell Berry, one of America’s finest poets, novelists, and essayists now sees the end of his own life in view at age 91. He’s still writing, though, and I ran across a little poem this week in which, with a slight turn, he highlights a redemptive side of loss: 

“No more as if I picture them

lighted mid-breath on a black page,

now the dead pass out of time.

The ones I loved are present to me

as living souls, and I to them,

as once in time we used to be

without my even guessing so.

Don’t comfort me. Against age and time,

by missing them I keep them with me.”

I like that thought–that one aspect of grieving, missing people…is actually a way they can remain with us. It doesn’t “solve” the grief of losing people, but it reshapes it a bit.

Eugene Peterson used to say that his job as a pastor was to:

a)      teach people how to pray, and

b)      teach people to die a good death.

I like that too…and not just for pastors–especially if helping folks die a good death means they are not fearful or anxious, because they have met and walked with Jesus in life. A good life. Therefore, they can entrust themselves into his hands at the end of life. Everything then moves towards that ending, right? The need for good relational evangelism means everything. The call for deep spiritual formation contributes. Experiencing God in worship is formative. I’d like to give myself to those things instead of debating the month and day of God dropping the curtain.

I don’t know when the end of the world will come. I do know that we are all mortal and finite, and our end will come at some point. For followers of Jesus that does not finish the story. In fact, it’s only the beginning. I’ll stick with Jesus on this one too.

Peace of Christ,

Dan Baumgartner

Dan Baumgartner is the senior pastor at The Cove in Santa Rosa CA and currently serves on The Fellowship Community Board.

These are the expressed views of Dan Baumgartner and not necessarily broader views of The Fellowship Community.