This American Apocalypse
unsettled times reveal who we really are
Hi friend. I’m so glad you’re here.
This week even a casual perusal of the news could lead a Christian to wonder if we are approaching the end times. Much of what I see reminds me of those ‘Left Behind’ books that a lot of our parents read back in the day - natural disasters, governments in chaos, charismatic leaders that people are unwittingly following into evil, false prophets, a twisting of religious messages, wars, widespread mistreatment of people – all of this unfortunately readily found in a scan of each day’s headlines.
And whether what we’re looking at here is truly the start of the end of all things, of course, I can’t say. As Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, “no one knows the day or the hour.” But any time of undoing is a good time for professed Christians to take a look at our beliefs, words, and actions and see how they line up with the Gospel that Jesus actually taught. There are contradictions and logical fallacies everywhere we look today; about how a representative democracy is supposed to work under the Constitution, and about how a Christian should respond to ‘the least of these’, but this week I came face to face with a conflict in my own thinking that really tripped me up, and maybe it does you too, so let’s get into it.
I say I believe in and trust an all-knowing, all-powerful God, but I’ve trembled at the idea of the most insecure, naked emperors ruining the world as I know it.
Hmm.
The truth is, of course, that both things are true. God is all-knowing and history shows us that insecure naked emperors really do ruin things: communities, democracies, economies, whole groups of people. It’s happened before and if it’s happening now in the United States, it’s only unprecedented because it’s never happened here before (except for those few times1…)
Well, this is the first time it’s happened to me.
This week I was on my way home from teaching a music class when I felt a physical pull to turn around, backtrack and attend a midday mass on the campus of a local Catholic college. I’m so glad I did. At the end of the Gospel reading was a sentence that compelled me to stay long after mass and talk it through with the Lord. Here’s the reading (Mark 6:1-6):
“Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
‘Where did this man get these things?’ they asked. ‘What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’ He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Now, I don’t know about you, but no matter what kind of time we’re living in, I want Jesus to be amazed at my faith, not my lack of it, and this means I have to put things in right order. I need to acknowledge my fears, process them, and then remind myself about what I actually believe. I have to leave room for what a very big God will do and to allow Him to act even in small ways through me. I have to compare my stated beliefs to the ones which are apparently driving the bus of my nervous system (which is oh so nervous, tbh), and then I have to lovingly, faithfully let God who is bigger than all of this remind me about Who and Whose I am.
The word ‘apocalypse’ comes from the Greek word ‘apokalupsis,’ which means to ‘uncover’ or ‘reveal.’ And it’s just demonstrably true that this is a time which is revealing not only politicians, business leaders and clergy, but we individual people for who we really are and what we really value.
Is it money? Jesus has something to say about that in Matthew 6:24:
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Is it comfort? Matthew 6:28-34:
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Is it power and honor (or the delicious feeling of being right)? Jesus has some stuff to say about that, too, in Matthew 23:11-12:
“The greatest among you shall be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Is it other people we’re concerned about? Jesus is pretty clear in Matthew 25 that whatever we do or don’t do to least of these, we are doing directly to Him. Notice He did not frame this idea as an allegory, saying “it’s like what you would do to me,” but as a direct statement. Our actions toward the least of these are what we do to Jesus. Full stop.2
And this was always true, but in this time of apocalyptic revealing, I do hope it causes us to take a look at just who we want to be and what work we undertake in this time. This kind of clarity is happening for me (or to me, I guess) in a way that I’ve not experienced before. This time of undoing is making me want to be better and truer and more kind and compassionate to all of God’s people, and in that way apocalypse is maybe one of the best things that can ever happen to us, I guess.
Upheaval as we Americans have experienced in times of war, terrorist attack and pandemic reveals who we are and how God will find us at work. Times like this are the subject of every apocalyptic story Jesus ever told: the virgins and the oil, the sheep and the goats, the talents, the weeds and the wheat. Now’s a time for clarity and truth and it is a time for choosing, too.
As author Annie Dillard said, “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” How are we spending ours today?
Raised Catholic rewind:
Raised Catholic 138: New Wineskins - transcript with link to episode
What I’m reading/listening to/recommending:
song: The New Country, by Amanda Cook
substack: Letters from Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert
song: Ring Them Bells, by Sarah Jarosz
Prayer:
Oh God who sees and discerns every motive of every heart, we belong to you. As a dear friend used to say, “You steer and we will row.” Amen.
Not sure what I’m referring to? Ask a Native American, African American, or Japanese American, to name a few…
And if that doesn’t make you quake in your boots as it does me, I don’t know what would.