Sent to me from a minister friend...I clipped out only the first 2 paragraphs...if you want more... Apocalyptic and the Beauty of God Isaiah 65. 17–25; Revelation 21.9–27 a sermon at Harvard Memorial Church, October 22 2006 by the William Belden Noble Lecturer, Bishop N. T. Wright (Bishop of Durham) ‘And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.’ You might well suppose that this would be the reaction of the delighted Englishman, arriving once more in Harvard and gazing at the beauty all around, drinking in the fresh wisdom from lively young minds, thrilled with the energy of a youthful country after the weary cynicism of the tired old world the other side of the Atlantic. And I do indeed sense something of that, as I find myself here again and am delighted and honoured to be invited to occupy this pulpit almost exactly seven years since the last time. There is something perennially appealing about a place that manages to combine historic roots with fresh life, and I thank God for this place and for the privilege of having a tiny share in its life and story. Maybe not exactly a new heaven and new earth, then, but at least a place with newness in its bones and in its air; which fact presents a challenge as well as an opportunity. I lay before you this morning three puzzles; and I’m going to suggest that the way to solve all three is to put them together and to allow them to solve one another. The first is this: that the notion of apocalyptic, of a great cataclysm through which God’s ultimate purpose will come to fruition, has become in our day the weapon – the metaphor is apt – of a particular and highly influential school of thought not least in this country. The puzzle of apocalyptic, for any serious Christian, any thoughtful reader of the New Testament, is whether, and if so how, ‘apocalyptic’ can be rescued from the ‘Left Behind’ school of thought, whose adherents anticipate the ‘Rapture’ in which they will be snatched up to heaven, leaving this world behind once and for all. Those who take this view have no reason to worry about the condition of the present world, and issues like global warming or acid rain; indeed, they sometimes take pride in their pollution, since the world is not their home, they’re just a-passing through, and if they can hasten its demise so much the better. And this careless attitude to creation goes with an eager desire for war, especially certain types of wars with certain types of enemies, particularly the war that will lead to the great Armageddon. You will know better than I how influential this brand of theology has become in our world, and in your country. Can the whole biblical notion of ‘apocalyptic’ be rescued from those who read it this way? Or must we declare, with the liberal theologians of yesterday and the liberal politicians of today, that the whole thing is outdated nonsense, and that if that’s what the Bible says the less we read it the better?
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 08:26:10 +0000
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