There was a Congregational Minister, sadly not now much studied, called C. H. Dodd. With others, he proposed a sort of Christian hope that makes a lot of sense. Obviously, it must have an academic title that sounds menacing, it’s called realised eschatology. This is an appreciation.
At this season, we often talk about Christ being born. The incarnation of God. So, we recognise Jesus as God incarnate, that is, we can see what God is like by examining Jesus Christ. Now, today.
Lots of Christians live in the hope that heaven will be there for them when they die.
However, how about considering that we don’t have to wait to see heaven, we already have God with us because of the birth of Christ Jesus? That’s the point of Dodds’ thinking.
In practice, and Congregationalism is all about practice, that means that our hope is not external and so not therefore in the future. That’s because we know what God is like already. God is just like Jesus. We don’t need to die to meet Him.
Two major points immediately arise. The first is that to pursue our living hope, we actually have to put into practice what God in Jesus tells us. That lets us feel, see, and better understand our gift. It also means that we would change this world for the better by our practical efforts. Imagine how things would be if even a few people ‘did to others as they would have others do to them’ [Matthew 7:12]. That instruction, when you consider it, demonstrates that Jesus’ teaching is not about heaven in the future, it’s about the hope of heaven here and now.
The second thing to think about is the damage done by telling people that their hope is only to be found in the intangible future. Regrettably, the churches have often been associated with instructing people that they should be uncomplaining and compliant in their poverty and degradation because that is their route to a glorious afterlife. That’s not what Jesus taught. It is what kept a lot of folk oppressed.
The world of humans is a mess. The season of goodwill has become debauched. Lots of Christians are hoping that their prayers will be answered, and that God will return and bring heaven to us. How about accepting that He already has done that and that the hope that the world awaits is to be found when Jesus’ people practice what they preach?
The gift of Christ seems to be at least twofold. For sure, we will be forever together with the God who loves us because of Him. The other part is that of using the teachings. That will make us all properly pilgrims and mean that we are increasingly in heaven every day as we practice what we have been taught. By living out our hope amongst the peoples of the world, both they and we ourselves are showing that hope alive and well and living in Christ.
John Cartwright
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