Participatory Eschatology

Brian McLaren in his book, A New Kind of Christianity, describes his view of the future as being "participatory eschatology," by which he means that we have a hand in shaping the future with God.  He writes that because of this view of the future,

"...we are not frantic to get this world and its history over with as soon as possible, so a perfect forever can begin, any more than a musician is frantic to get to the last note of a beautiful song; we understand that every note of the song is precious and should be played with all we can give it.  The point of history, like a song, is not in the ending or finishing of it, but in the passionate playing of it, every moment." (p. 199)

"I have a dream ..."  Dr. M. L. King, 1963

McLaren goes on to say that if we accept that we are participating in establishing the Kingdom of God as a future, this-world reality, we are inspired by the Spirit with a passion to do good.  We are inspired with courage because we trust that the Spirit will bring the Kingdom to completion.  We are inspired with a sense of urgency because we have a stake in the Kingdom.  We are inspired, finally, with humility and kindness because we realize our own shortcomings in bringing the Kingdom to fruition. (p. 200)

In other words, the prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," is not just so many pious words.  It, rather, gives us our purpose in life as Christians.  It gives us hope.  It gives us a vision for the future.  It lies, in sum, at the heart of our faith.  Amen

Note: the word  "eschatology" means the study of end times and usually includes the Kingdom of God, the Second Coming, and the end of the world as we know it.