The 4th Sunday in Lent: Even So Lord Jesus Come -- Converted Over and Over Again In New Ways: A Conversation About Apocalypse Then and Now

/

Jim Wallis writes, “When I first read Matthew 25 as a student activist, I felt it was the most radical thing I had ever encountered.” He goes on to say that “Matthew 25 has continued to convert me over and over again in new ways.” I find it striking that with all of the talk about apocalypse and the “second coming” rising again in Christian Nationalist circles in the U.S., with our undeclared war upon and bombing of Iran, that this scripture is never mentioned or used in the conversation.

Yet this very apocalyptic scripture about judgment is directly from the mouth and teachings of Jesus. What does Matthew 25:31–45 say about Jesus’s spirituality? What does Jesus want us to know is important in this evocative scripture about “the least of these” and our responsibilities toward them? Does (this scary word) apocalypse mean what we think it means?

Join us this Sunday as we continue our Lenten series about Jesus’ spirituality with “Even So, Lord Jesus, Come: Converted Over and Over Again in New Ways — A Conversation About Apocalypse (Apokalupsis: ἀποκάλυψις), Then and Now.”

I look forward to being with you on Zoom and livestream on our Lenten journey.
—Rev. Jeanne

GREEK WORDS IMPORTANT IN OUR CONVERSATION TODAY:

  1. Apokalupsis: ἀποκάλυψις ah-po-KAH-loo-psis: revealing, disclosure, through what is concealed. A manifestation of what is hidden. The book of Revelation in the biblical canon

  2. xenos: ξένος KSEH-nos stranger, alien, foreigner, the root from which we get our word Xenophobia.

  3. aiónios: αἰώνιος ahee-OH-nee-os eternal, eternity, forever. perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well) (aiṓnios) does not focus on the future per se, but rather on the quality of the age or aiṓn) it relates to. Thus believers live in "eternal life" right now, experiencing this quality of God's life now as a present possession.