life and death

I hear a lot these days about the “Rapture” and how God will take his “elect” to heaven while the earth goes through a “time of trial”.  I am sure that this concept is taken from 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 which says as translated in The Message,

And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master's word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they'll be ahead of us.

Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God's trumpet blast! He'll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they'll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master.

Oh, we'll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.

So, what does all this mean for a loving, gracious, merciful God.  From the very beginning of time as recorded in the scriptures, those that we have, we understand our God to be a loving, and continuously creating God who keeps his/her promises.  God created, is creating and will continue to create.  So to me the “Rapture” is in direct conflict with that theological view of the God I know.  The text as translated in “The Message” reveals to me the “dead in Christ” will rise first to meet Jesus as he returns to reconcile the world to God – God’s desire in the first place to have a creation filled with his love and with his children who love him.  Christ came to the cross to effect the way that reconciliation will occur.  

There is no two stage process, God is God, his/her promises are clear and we are given the gift of time to reconcile with each other through the love of Christ.  To me that mission is of paramount importance and we should use what time we have to reach out to those nearest us, to those we encounter and can encounter on a daily basis and share the love of Christ that we know so that others might come to understand what we understand and experience as the Baptized Children of God in this world.

May God guide and protect us and enable us to reconcile with each other while there is still time to experience the joy of sharing the Peace of Christ!