Theme 8: Realized Eschatology: A New Sense of Time
p. 103 - If you don't break your ropes while you are alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?
I found this funny yet poignant. Yes, I daily fight to keep the ropes that have been broken to stay broken and not bind me up or trip me up. I continue to break the ropes as I find them. I have no Biblical ground to stand on in this belief that we continue on participating deeply in personal growth; but I think in the after-life that God will give us the dignity to continue to break off the ropes -- those things that hinder us from knowing him fully and loving others as He loves us - to having full and holistic relationships.
Would we even recognize ourselves if we had such an instant change from struggling with those things that bind us to total freedom? Maybe I'm visualizing God as too small; but I can't imagine such a huge switch without a loss of identity. Yes, my identity is in God, but part of my identity is based on my strength (bestowed by God) to be an over-comer. BE an over-comer not WAS an over-comer. Maybe that's the difference? If we got to heaven and nobody knew who they were, would that be heaven or hell? Would it be like a mob of saints with mass amnesia? I am grappling with things too big for me. I will let it go and let the scholars figure it out and I will trust in God's love. Back to the topic:
With the millions of people who never think of God, I think every little movement towards God and of becoming free of those things that hold us back from Him and others - brings God much joy. He probably sits on the throne and pokes Jesus in the ribs and says,"Hey, Son, look at that... did you notice that Debbie talked to me before she talked to others? I just love that woman I created." And Jesus will smile into Father's eyes, look at his scared hands and say, "I love her, too." Then with a boyish smile say, "Let's pour out a blessing for her." God replies, "What about another bucket of joy; she really enjoys that." And the Holy Spirit joyfully pours out that joy into me. I didn't "earn" that joy - I "earned" or "learned" a new skill that if repeated will become a natural pattern. But God, through his grace, chose to bless me.
p. 105 - Realized eschatology is the experience that Now is the time; Now is the place; Now is the occasion; Now is the bringing together of the best of the past and of the future.... We have already died--that is what Paul teaches baptism is about in his letter to the Romans. Therefore heaven has already burst forth into human and cosmic times; it has burst forth--believe it or not--in the person of ourselves.
I have been taught this concept since the early 1980s but did not have a proper term for it: realized eschatology. I wonder if having a name for it will help it grow in new dimensions? Will my understanding of Revelations and some of the Old Testament prophets (like Daniel) change because of it? Interesting - I like change; not for the sake of change but for the sake of growth.
p. 106 - The creation-centered spiritual tradition talks about redemption as reminding. For the Hebrew, salvation comes from remembering-- "Do this in memory of me." Jesus said at the Last Supper. The paschal meal is about making the past present.
Back when I went to a charismatic church that had prophecies, it often surprised and confused me how many times it started with "Remember the time...... " Yet, how many times the Hebrews encouraged each other with remembering back to when they were close to God and the blessings fell like rain... usually starting with when God delivered them from Egypt. There are also a lot of "Forget not" in the Bible.
Even bringing the "remember when's" and the "forget not's" is healthy in relationships, especially in marriage. Remembering and cherishing those key times helps keep relationships fresh and purposeful. It helps us have gratitude for what was and hope for what will be.
p. 107 - A healthy meditation of letting go of images and not one of adding to images will help many persons to experience the reality of time suspended, which also becomes time resurrected and reborn.
I like that but I do not understand it. I will try to understand it:
In meditation I let go of images, thoughts, emotions - as my priest says to think of myself on a mountain and when the clouds (images, thoughts, emotions) come, to accept them and let them float on by without trying to keep them there.
Adding images could mean not adding judgments, evaluations or try to change them into being something more acceptable to ego.
Experience the reality of time suspended. Yes, in contemplation... at least the times when I can let go and not add... time is suspended and it is like floating in the womb of God - loved, cherished, protected and wanted.
Becoming time resurrected and reborn. Yes, when I leave contemplation, life feels new, fresh and exciting and it looses that as I start analyzing or warping thoughts with my own skew of what life should be. Maybe that could be worded, when I start playing God with my inner reality instead of just letting life float by and participating in a simpler way.
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