Cross Country Ski Trip and Other Stuff...

Heather and I took off yesterday for the wilds of Mt. Rainier. We had a great afternoon cross country skiing! The snow was really deep and powdery so it wasn't fast skiing but it was fun.

I have some picts to post but, of course, I don't have them with me right now. I'll put them up soon.

I'm preaching on Sunday, which is the beginning of Advent. The gospel reading for this Sunday, Matt. 24: 36-44 is on of the primary stories for the "Left Behind" book series. It is about the necessity for watchfulness. "two will be in the field, one will be taken and one will be left."
One way to interpret that is to say that the one who was left was an "unbeliever" and the one taken was a "believer" saved from the rapture. Interestingly, earlier in the story Jesus draws a parallel between this "left behind event" and the story of Noah and the flood.

He says, "For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away..."

If we take that parallel seriously we notice that it was Noah and his family who were essentially "left behind" in the flood, it was all the "wicked" ones who were taken away.
There is also no reason given for one being taken and one being left behind. Jesus doesn't say that one believed and the other did not.

This apocalyptic text is truly ambiguous, but does have a life giving voice to us today. If we suspend the rapture theology conversation momentarily, we can read this story as a story of being aware of God's action in our world. Each day we have is a gift from God, and we are commended to live each day to the fullest. What would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow? Martin Luther is quoted as saying something like this, "I'd plant a tree."

In the end times, or the now times we have to trust in God's ongoing, creative, and life giving power. We really don't know what the last days will look like, and truly it doesn't matter. Living each day in faith, trusting in the good news is really all we've got. A friend of mine used to joke, "when people ask me if I'm a Pre-Trib or Post-Trib kinda guy I always respond, 'I'm a pan-trib guy, I figure it will all pan out in the end.'"