Christian people are caught between the shape of this mortal life so much in the present that we think it wise to eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow we shall die. We cling to the Scriptures which can be used to support our fixation with the moment until we no longer hear the voice of God calling us to seek the things that are above, with Him, and in His kingdom without end. As churches we are sure that unless we offer the poor money and power, the hungry food and drink, and naked clothing and housing, and the afflicted healing, we really cannot help them at all. Long ago we gave up on the promise of eternal life and the heavenly things of God. We do not think them fitting substitutes for getting what you want and what you think you deserve in this mortal life. In fact, we have probably come to the great but silent conclusion that unless we get most of what we want today, we are not willing to live for eternity.
For this reason, the ministry of the Church has become so political. We find it nearly impossible not to endorse or encourage voters to those we endorse for political office. We have national governmental offices not simply to keep us informed of what happens in the halls of earthly power but also to influence those halls and make sure it ends up working for us. If someone were to suggest that we ought to be more concerned with the salvation of people, we would laugh them out of our sight with the absurdity of our Lord's willingness to endure the bad things of the present because of the promise of the eternal good.
In contrast to this, we are reminded in God's House that we are already members of the Kingdom of God, adopted into the eternal family of our Savior, and rescued from death to belong to eternal life. Indeed, nearly all the content of our prayers attend to the things of the moment and hardly any of the words we lift to the Father in Jesus' name even acknowledged that we have already passed with Him to the eternal life He has prepared. Jesus says He has gone before to prepare a place for us but we caution Him "Not so fast, Jesus. We have things we need/want to do here and now." Indeed, so few of God's people want Christ to return soon that He would be in danger of us booing if He robbed us of the things we want to accomplish or experience before the day comes to end it all. And that is how we view it. The end of the party. Heaven is really not the longing in us that awaits fulfilling but a consolation prize for not getting what we really want -- a good, long, healthy, happy, rich, and successful life now. Surely it is for this reason that we find liturgical worship so boring or strange. It is clearly focused not on the present but on the eternal, not upon bringing God down to us but raising us up in Christ to focus on the Father and the things eternal.
I am ashamed to admit this and I suspect I am not alone. Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to hear is the call to "seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness." For that implies not simply that the world is not our banana but that the only value of this world lies in its relationship to the Kingdom of God. Nobody needs a sermon on how to focus your life on the things of the moment but we all need to hear over and over again to set our hearts on the things above, the eternal things of God's Kingdom. I remember John Stephenson saying how, when asked to write a volume on eschatology, he did not know anything about it. Of course, he was exaggerating. Indeed, some of his most prescient teaching has been how the only thing in Christian life that is real is eschatology. Jesus says He will not drink of the fruit of the vine until He comes into His Kingdom. In contrast, we would rather drink the fruit of the vine than look with joy to the day when His Kingdom comes in its fullness.
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