There are a few places in the world where the past is in
league with the present, creating a transcendent unification of time. Westminster Abbey is one such place. Standing in her nave and gazing into her
Gothic vault, you are in solidarity with this thousand year old worshipping community.
Benedictine monks venerated this site during the 10th century and
the present building was begun in 1245 by King Henry III. William the Conqueror, Edward the Confessor,
Richard II and Elizabeth I all left their mark on this Royal Peculiar. It’s one of my favorite spots on the planet. Another similar place is Yorktown,
Virginia. Several hundred years the
Abbey’s younger, she still entreats her visitor to experience a different world.
It was here on October 19, 1781, following a five-day siege
by the Continentals, that General Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending
the Revolutionary War. Burdened by pride
and years of superiority, Cornwallis could not bring himself personally to
surrender, sending an inferior officer out in his stead. The officer, not wishing to lower himself by capitulating
to the colonials, first tried to concede victory to the Comte de Rochambeau,
who directed him to General Washington, who in turn pointed him to his
subordinate, General Lincoln. On this
spot, and on that day, two worlds collided.
The old world of aristocracy, privilege, hierarchy and paternalism gave
way convincingly to a new world characterized by liberty, meritocracy, economic
mobility and classical republican ideology.
As Cornwallis’ Regulars marched out of Yorktown for the last time,
legend has it a British band played the song, “The World Turned Upside Down”,
commemorating this watershed event.
“If ponies rode men and grass ate cows,
And cats were chased into holes by the mouse…
If summer were spring and the other way round,
What a
strange world this would be. Stranger
still, the thought of heaven coming down to earth to regenerate our fallen planet. How would such an apocalyptic event change
our mundane lives? For starters, imagine
power and position used for service rather than self-promotion, picture
authentic relationships built on mutual understanding and trust rather than manipulation,
dream of work that fulfills and flourishes, envision economics that resist the
temptation to stock pile wealth in the hands of the few, but rather divides her
surplus equally, experience equality over against hierarchy and privilege, and tables of welcome open to all who choose
to join in the feast. What a radical
world this would be.
At the heart
of the Gospel message is this hope, and we don’t have to wait until death to
experience it. Christ mobilizes his
followers to join Him in His work to redeem all of creation here and now, to take
part in the flourishing of his good earth and to restore all things into right
relationship with Him. His 2,000 year
old prophecy rings in our modern ears, “Behold,
I am making ALL things new!”[ii]
Make no
mistake, this is not the re-packaging of the doctrine of inevitable progress,
that theory died on Flanders Fields and was burned in the crematoria of
Auschwitz. In its place is the belief
that a new creation has already dawned with the life, ministry, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Jesus
event ushered in a new world, a new creation that is being fulfilled daily
relationship by relationship, economy by economy, village by village and will
ultimately find its completion with his parousia. Our call is to join the disciples, not
standing gazing into heaven wishing for instant kingdom culmination, but rather
in their work restoring relationships, binding broken hearts, welcoming
outcasts and setting the addicts free. Wherever we find the Nazerene toiling for
peace, justice and righteousness, we join him.
And in joining our lives, passions and gifts with His, we help bring the
present rushing forward into the ultimate consummation of His future, when God
will be all in all as the waters cover the sea.[iii]
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