Five Thousand Words - Soft Launch

After a few months, here is the soft launch.

Five Thousand Words Website

Realized Eschatology AKA - "End Times Now"

Realized Eschatology is a theological idea that seems to be reoccurring in a number of circles that I have encountered the past several months. And this post is a direct result and my summary of a conversation I heard at the Five Day Academy for Spiritual Formation. It is one of those things that I forget how "radical" it is to people when I am in a room when this is brought to light.

For many Eschatology is something that is all about the "end times" of this age. So there are a ton of books and studies out there that try to convince people the proof of different "prophecies" and even to the point of setting dates as to the end of the world. So much of our culture's fetish on the future is fed by Christian and not Christian sources that for many "the End Times" has become a code for determine who among us is "that kind of people".

Here is the rub though, Jesus spoke a lot about the end times. There are many writings and teachings about the eschatological mission of Jesus. Read the Gospels and you will find Jesus speaking of the "end" rather often. To be clear, I am not convinced that Jesus' notion of the "end" is anything that we might consider today. Put another way, it is clear to me the "End Times" of the Left Behind and John Hagee is not what Jesus meant when he spoke of the end.

Realized Eschatology is perhaps closer to what Jesus was getting at in his teaching. The end is here - right now - among us all the time. We just need to look.

When there is peace - Realized Eschatology.
Where there is justice - Realized Eschatology.
Where there is reconciliation - Realized Eschatology.

All of these things happen here and now. Realized Eschatology is what happens when we are able to see the "end" in the present.

You might ask, "How can the end be in the present?"

I would ask, How can the first be last and the last be first? How can Christ be fully God and fully human? How can we live by dying? How can light be a wave and a particle? How can two particles be connected even when they are miles apart?

We live in a world full of paradoxes and "the end is present" is another one to consider.

Digital Natives and Immigrants - request to stop ignoring the others

In many respects, I feel like I am a digital native; that is I grew up with computers and the digital age and feel very at home in the “digital” world. Others might identify themselves as digital immigrants, in which they had to move from one world into the digital world.

And like the stories I read of immigrants moving to the United States, there is a strong desire of the “old world” customs and language and traditions to be upheld, respected and practiced. Those who emigrate from, say Mexico, and do not speak English will often desire their children to practice the traditions and language of Mexico. And it is very admirable, but it is also very difficult to navigate.

Building on this example, it is often the case too that the children surpass their parents in the use of the English language. This quickly turns the tables in the relationship. It is now the parent who is dependent upon the child to communicate to the teacher or to the soccer coach. The child is forced to live in two worlds – one they are born into (America) and one that is expected of them to live into (Mexican).

In many ways the digital native/immigrant is much the same thing. Often children surpass their parents in knowledge of how the internet and technology work. Adults are dependent upon the child to set up Facebook accounts or explain Twitter or even run a DVD/TV.

I surely not the first to point this out by any stretch of the imagination, but it is becoming very real in the UMC that the younger clergy are being asked to live in two worlds. We are asked to live in the “old world” with the customs and expectations that are a part of that and then we are expected to also be fluent in the world were born into which sometimes does not even speak the same language of our parents (search “L337 speak” and you will get the picture).

And so to my “old world” friends, do not decry the lack of respect of the “new world” or hint at how technology, while okay, is really the root of so much evil.

And to my “new world” friends, do not admonish the tradition and wisdom of the “old world” or hint at how older people, while okay, really are an obstacle to “progress”.

We are all learning together.