I want to do the RIGHT thing, but sometimes I just need to do SOMEthing. (Brent Musser)

 

Bird's Eye View of Passenger Pigeons Nesting, Lewis Lumen Cross.

I started Stanley Grenz's Theology for the Community of God months ago and just finished today. In the concluding section, I found a few ideas that articulate some of the things I have been thinking about as we engage these issues.

"In the in-between time, the era between the two advents of Christ, the message of God's future ought to lift us above the mood of our times to true biblical living."

"We wait for the Lord's return, . . . but ours is an active waiting. Because we are certain that God will bring his plan to completion, we become actively involved in that program. In this way, hopeful living means living hopefully."

Insofar as the future is open, God summons humans to participate in his program in creating that future."

"Eschatological living . . . includes realistic engagement. . . our activity is both effective and penultimate."

 I  want to do the RIGHT thing, but sometimes I just need to do SOMEthing. Signing a petition is something, one thing among the things others may be doing, that can help our lawmakers consider action related to food availability, whether they follow our advice or maybe come up with something better as they interact with our suggestion. 

I also want to be mindful of less direct ways to make the world better, by living in light of God's eschatological reality, creating relationships the future results of which I might not be able to predict, but which will foster systems influenced by love and prevent some possible outcomes like the fires raging in our world now. For all the problems in our world, I am thankful for what signs of stability and shalom there are because of people who lived eschatologically. Acting immediately and acting with longer-term outcomes in mind are both difficult. I think I am learning that wisdom is figuring out where I have the power to act effectively and immediately and where I have the power to invest in future outcomes.

Brent Musser

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