I've been reading N.T. Wright again and, as before, he's got me thinking. I just finished "Surprised By Hope" in which Wright lays out his argument for what Christian hope is really all about. His arguments have the ring of truth about them, particularly since they shed new light on many puzzling statements in scripture and make sense out of them. In any event I find his conclusions profound and excit-ing. They illustrate to me the importance of having our theology straight because it tends to work itself out in how we think and act. Its hard to summarize a complex book in just a few paragraphs but here is my attempt. The assertions in this book that I find most significant are: 1) that the fundamental hope of our Christian life is not to "go to Heaven when I die" but rather to look past that to the resurrected physical life in the renewed creation; 2) that the Kingdom of God is already appearing in the present world; and that 3) all of our Spirit-led efforts to usher in the Kingdom of God in this life have profound value in the next. I think these are important statements, even though they seem somewhat different than "conventional" statements of the faith. Here's a slightly closer look at each.
The resurrected life and the new creation: familiar, yet different; better. Instead of standing around on clouds playing harps or existing in some disembodied spiritual form we will have real bodies and will having meaningful work to do as stewards of a real physical world, the new creation which will be born from the old. Through scriptural and historical references Wright shows that Jesus' resurrection is the model for ours and for the renewal of creation: real, tangible, familiar and yet tantalizingly different. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize the resurrected Jesus at first but after hearing him explain scripture and seeing him break bread they suddenly saw that lo and behold it was Jesus! Alive and able to eat and drink. Also able to walk through walls. And still bearing the marks of his passion. This is a life I can relate to (mostly because there's food involved). This is a hope I can get excited about. This changes the way I think about aging and dying. This is something I want to understand more deeply because I feel that I need to be able to explain this to everyone!
Wright says that Jesus initiated the process of renewal (the coming of the Kingdom of God) and that that process is ongoing, ultimately successful and can be clearly seen from time to time all around us ("he who has eyes to see...", "creation has been groaning...", "whatever is true, noble...think about such things"). So rather than waiting impatiently for the Second Coming as a singular cataclysmic event, I need to change my perception and look for where God is working in me and all around me. I suspect this is what most of us need in our spiritual lives – some encouragement that the master plan is progressing and that all is on track. Yet if we read scripture correctly, this evidence is all around us. I need to develop the habit of looking for these things and giving thanks for them, rather than continually bemoaning all that is not yet right.
If we were to believe that this world and everything in it will permanently perish then what would be the sense of laboring in the Lord? Why bother trying to preserve, improve or rescue the natural world around us? Would there be any ultimate value in Christian service? Why bother to help the poor or the oppressed? Why strive for justice? Instead, Paul assures us in 1 Corinthians 15:58 that we can participate in God's great plan of redemption and that our efforts, although insufficient in and of themselves, have eternal value. God builds His new creation and new world order in part through the efforts of His creatures – us! This gives me a renewed sense of energy about our church and our mission. This is God's church. We are God's people. Together we can change the world!
So our hope is in both a process which we can witness and in which we are called to participate, and an event which will be awesome, wonderful and transformational. There is much more in this book that neither space nor my limited writing ability will permit. Nonetheless I highly recommend it and think it would be helpful if we were to start working out the implications of this new but an-cient formulation of hope in our lives together.
