The Rapture that never was...

Well…Harold Camping got it wrong.  Jesus didn’t come back yesterday.

Shocker.

I decided not to blog in the run-up to the proposed Rapture date, as there was so much flying around that anything I had to say would have gotten lost in the maelstrom. But I have to admit that the Pre-Rapture Ramp-Up gave me much joy as some excellent Twitter funny-people kept me amused with various Rapture Prank Suggestions, End of the World Confessions and handy hints on how to survive the coming events…

Peas & Cougars came up with a great flowchart:

Ship of Fools (www.shipoffools.com) were all over it:

@shipoffoolscom: On Saturday, take your old clothes and shoes and leave them arranged on sidewalks and lawns around town. #Raptureprank

@shipoffoolscom: "He will come again to judge the living and the dead." Will you be able to say the creed with a straight face this Sunday? #rapturefail

@shipoffoolscom: Donating their clothes to the poor as they awaited the Big Moment now seemed just a tad hasty:

(apologies for the naked old ladies - it was just too good not to post!)

Check out this website for some proper ‘crazy’ from some dedicated Christian Pet Owners: http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/

The ever funny Emma Kennedy suggested:

If I was a man who looked vaguely like Jesus, I'd totally dress up tomorrow, knock on people's doors and say "I'm here. Get your things"

And, I emailed a friend who is currently in Jerusalem to ask what the ‘crazy count’ was out there, suggesting that he was in the right place as it’s purported that Jesus will hit Jerusalem first upon His return.

He replied:

Automated out-of-office message:

Khristo has been raptured. All the best if you've been left behind. Bye!

Ha!

It was all very jolly and we were all getting a kick out of the silly people who believed Jesus was going to come back based on the suggestions of a seemingly addled old chap who had a record of getting these things wrong, rather spectacularly.  I mean, there’s no real room for being ‘half-right’ on this one is there – either the Trumpet Sounds and Jesus rocks up, or He doesn’t.

But then, as it became apparent that maybe the Old Chap had somewhat ‘mis-calculated’ the return of our Saviour, the articles about those people who HAD chosen to believe Camping’s assertions started to flow.

And, rather than making me chuckle, they made me rather sad.

Not just because skeptics and A-Thiests had been having a field day with ‘those crazy Christians and their stupid ideas’. 

Not just because people like Camping make it harder for those of us who DO believe that God, through Jesus, is reconciling all things to Himself and will one day bring about the fullness of New Creation and Heaven on Earth, to share the truth of this Jesus and Kingdom life without sounding like ‘those crazy Christians and their stupid ideas’.

But because there are real people involved. Real people who had spent months warning the world of the trials to come on the 21st May.  Real people who had given away earthly belongings, taken long journeys to be with loved ones, those who drained their savings, quit jobs and generally dismantled their lives as they knew them on the word of (to quote the ‘A’ Team) a Crazy Fool.

An article from AP had this quote in it:

"I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God," said Keith Bauer — who hopped in his minivan in Maryland and drove his family 3,000 miles to California for the Rapture.

He started his day in the bright morning sun outside the gated Camping's Oakland headquarters of Family Radio International.

"I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth," said Bauer, a tractor-trailer driver who began the voyage west last week, figuring that if he "worked last week, I wouldn't have gotten paid anyway, if the Rapture did happen."

.

I think the saddest line in the article was Bauer saying: "I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth."

It made me sad because it sounds like he is a chap with a hard life, and it made me MAD because it reminded me of all the bad bad BAD Theology surrounding this life-in-all-its-fullness that Jesus calls us to, and how very small it makes the Cross when we make Jesus into nothing more than a 'Sky-Wizard' (to quote some of my A-Thiest friends).

Yes, Jesus will come again.

Yes, this world is not as God intended it to be.

Yes, Heaven will be the fullness of all God intends.

But...

We’re not called to ‘Evacuation Theology.’

We’re not called to preach a Gospel that’s only about ‘what happens when you die.’

We’re not called to offer people heavenly life-insurance policies.

In fact, if I can be so bold, I think that God’s not all that concerned with communicating with us about the After-Life, as Jesus seems to talk an awful lot about what life should look like NOW, in our present reality, and says that God offers us the opportunity to step into that Eternity in the HERE & NOW.  We don’t have to wait around, eternity begins the moment you step into the life that Jesus offers.

He commands us to pray, ‘Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be done ON EARTH as it is IN HEAVEN.’

The slogan of the organisation Christian Aid sums it up for me:

‘We believe in life BEFORE death.’

‘Turn or Burn’ never did it for me.

I don’t think it does it for a lot of people.

Scratch that.

MOST people.

But what does excite me is that there is an Adventure of Life that God calls me to in the here and now.  That I can join God in all He’s doing to bring about the Heaven-On-Earth reality of the reconciliation of all things that has been accomplished through Jesus. 

So, you can keep your Rapture Predictions.

I’m excited about the Adventure of NOW.

Jesus will take care of the rest.