Here or Later

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without you nothing is strong, nothing is holy. Embrace us with your mercy, that with you as our ruler and guide, we may live through what is temporary without losing what is eternal, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. - Prayer of the Day for Sunday, November 14

This prayer came to me as a little bundle of grace as I sat in front of my altarcito at home. I actually stopped speaking mid-prayer to let it sink in: “that we may live through what is temporary without losing what is eternal”.

Being faithful in our time and place requires double vision. We see the world we live in, with its ups and downs, good days and bad, things we can control and things we cannot. In the US we look at the world through privileged lenses, still able to see what isn’t quite right but not in too much danger of it setting up shop in our own living rooms.

But we are also called to see the world as God sees it, which we glimpse through scripture and from experience, but we have to imagine a lot, admittedly. I believe God has both a vision OF the world and a vision FOR the world, and invites us to see both. God knows how we suffer, how we sin, how we hurt; when and why we rejoice and are well. But God also sees how things could be, if we lived differently with and among one another; God sees a world that gives life rather than taking it or wasting it through war, hunger, disease.

So on our way through “what is temporary”, we could get discouraged and wait for that land of milk and honey, the city of gold with the pearly gates, and simply bide our time here. But why wait? God gives us a vision of the way things could be, and we can see how we could be instrumental in getting them there. It’s one thing I love about being an ELCA Lutheran: we focus so much on being saved by grace already, so we don’t have to worry about that--we can spend our energy in this life not getting to God but getting into what God is doing here, now, among us, in this life, this world. It takes balance: seeing what’s and who’s around us for what it is, seeing what God calls us to be as communities, seeing what heaven might look like so we can build it here on earth. Why do the hungry have to wait to die to be satisfied, when we have the resources right now to eradicate hunger around the world? Why do people have to live in sickness when there is clean water running in springs below their feet? Geography is a blessing to us, but not an exclusive privilege. We are called to BE the body of Christ, which means to live as Christ lived. It isn’t easy, but it’s the right thing to do.