Children, it is the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.
Thus we know this is the last hour
2021 has been a helluva year in the United States. A year ago, even as we thought we might be turning the corner on the Covid 19 epidemic, an enraged president called for a mob to overwhelm the Congress of the United States and subvert the November 2020 election. We have yet to agree upon what happened and what it means.
We seem to be enduring a prolonged last hour as we decide whether we should continue the American experiment, a collective project which can always fail and never succeed.
In his book, The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton describes the bewilderment of the world in which we live. They cannot believe in the Gospel because it encourages more joy than anyone should have, and more freedom than they can imagine. Because their god is a monotheistic, unimaginative deity which created the universe for no particular reason and then forgot about it, they have never known the Spirit of God. They cannot imagine a world without coercion and threats to protect their illusions of freedom.
Jesus promised the crowd in John 8: “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (31-32)
Many people believe freedom is the ability to create their own facts and live in a world of their own fantasy. Their world has no epidemic so there's no need for masks or quarantines. Their minds are entirely spiritual and their bodies do not die so they can play with stimulants and intoxicants without fear of consequence. Their world suffers no limits so they can exhaust its resources with neither discipline nor restraint. Poor people are other people in their world, and never their own people. Because they know none of that is true, they live with an abiding dread.
Jesus offers his people the freedom of giving to others, of trusting his spirit, of living in the confidence that life is good, holy, and meaningful. God travels with us and knows our distress even as he leads us out of it.
As a new year begins we ask the Spirit to guide us where we cannot see; and to help us give what we cannot afford to lose.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.