This Changes Everything
“The afterlife, whether it is a Darwinian determinism which leads to a tragic pessimism, the strange mix of New Age religion and postmodern pop-psychology that fills daytime television, the philosophical nihilism that advocates unbridled hedonism as life’s only purpose, the Marxist or materialist vision that says the best we can hope for is an economic utopia, or even the competing eschatologies of Islam and Buddhism. We need to be aware of the fears, hopes, and dreams about death and afterlife that swirl around in our culture, so that we can meaningfully address them with the good news about how God the father ‘in his great mercy . . . has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade’.” — The New Testament in its World, N. T. Wright & Michael F. Bird p.295
“The afterlife, whether it is a Darwinian determinism which leads to a tragic pessimism, the strange mix of New Age religion and postmodern pop-psychology that fills daytime television, the philosophical nihilism that advocates unbridled hedonism as life’s only purpose, the Marxist or materialist vision that says the best we can hope for is an economic utopia, or even the competing eschatologies of Islam and Buddhism. We need to be aware of the fears, hopes, and dreams about death and afterlife that swirl around in our culture, so that we can meaningfully address them with the good news about how God the father ‘in his great mercy . . . has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade’.” — The New Testament in its World, N. T. Wright & Michael F. Bird p.295
The cross changed everything.
The pause pulled in everything.
AND
The morning brought everything.
It is my hope.
It is my dream.
It is my anticipation.
It is my victory.
It is my joy.
It is my anguish when we lose those we know and love. When we sit by the graveside or let the ashes flow through our fingers. The deafening silence is overwhelming – until we speak. For in our words, our love lives on in the blessed hope.
That we do not save.
That we do not control.
That we rest with them in faith and hope eternal for that new day.
Jesus. (full-stop) All. (full-stop)
The pause pulled in everything.
AND
The morning brought everything.
It is my hope.
It is my dream.
It is my anticipation.
It is my victory.
It is my joy.
It is my anguish when we lose those we know and love. When we sit by the graveside or let the ashes flow through our fingers. The deafening silence is overwhelming – until we speak. For in our words, our love lives on in the blessed hope.
That we do not save.
That we do not control.
That we rest with them in faith and hope eternal for that new day.
Jesus. (full-stop) All. (full-stop)
By Japhet De Oliveira
Listen to a reflection on this topic from the One project gathering in Seattle, 2016
A Special Episode of the Saltworks Podcast
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