As followers of Jesus, our life in this present world is shaped by three horizons.
First, we, along with everyone else, recognize the present creation is filled with violence and suffering; it is filled with evil. This world is far from ideal as racism, homophobia, sexism, murder, and injustice appear everywhere. In the physical world tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, extreme heat and cold, tornadoes, and hurricanes result in destruction. As Paul put it, the creation is subjected to futility or frustration. Creation lives in a bondage given over to decay. And so creation itself, along with all humanity, groans for liberation; it groans for redemption.
At the same time, though groaning with the creation, followers of Jesus also experience joy and hope because the new creation has already begun and we now enjoy the fruit of God’s redemptive work. We already experience redemption through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. By the presence of the Spirit, we already participate in the new creation. The Holy Spirit groans with us with the hope of redemption and liberation for all of creation. Yes, we groan over the brokenness and violence that is still part of the present creation, but we also know peace, joy, and hope by the presence of the Spirit in our hearts.
We hope for the fullness of new creation when God will renew the present creation and rid it of its evils, sufferings, and chaos. While we have not yet experienced this future, it is our hope. Because God has raised Jesus from the dead and poured the Spirit into our hearts, we wait in hopeful expectation for that future.
And so we wait. That is the difficult part. We have just come through the season of Advent - which is about waiting. Waiting involves endurance because our hopes and dreams are not immediately realized. Sometimes it seems like they are illusions, the product of self-deception and wishful thinking. Waiting is a process of endurance drawn from the witness of the Spirit in our hearts who orients us to the future God is preparing for us. But waiting is hard.
And so as followers of Jesus we live under three horizons.
First, we, along with everyone else, recognize the present creation is filled with violence and suffering; it is filled with evil. This world is far from ideal as racism, homophobia, sexism, murder, and injustice appear everywhere. In the physical world tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, extreme heat and cold, tornadoes, and hurricanes result in destruction. As Paul put it, the creation is subjected to futility or frustration. Creation lives in a bondage given over to decay. And so creation itself, along with all humanity, groans for liberation; it groans for redemption.
At the same time, though groaning with the creation, followers of Jesus also experience joy and hope because the new creation has already begun and we now enjoy the fruit of God’s redemptive work. We already experience redemption through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. By the presence of the Spirit, we already participate in the new creation. The Holy Spirit groans with us with the hope of redemption and liberation for all of creation. Yes, we groan over the brokenness and violence that is still part of the present creation, but we also know peace, joy, and hope by the presence of the Spirit in our hearts.
We hope for the fullness of new creation when God will renew the present creation and rid it of its evils, sufferings, and chaos. While we have not yet experienced this future, it is our hope. Because God has raised Jesus from the dead and poured the Spirit into our hearts, we wait in hopeful expectation for that future.
And so we wait. That is the difficult part. We have just come through the season of Advent - which is about waiting. Waiting involves endurance because our hopes and dreams are not immediately realized. Sometimes it seems like they are illusions, the product of self-deception and wishful thinking. Waiting is a process of endurance drawn from the witness of the Spirit in our hearts who orients us to the future God is preparing for us. But waiting is hard.
And so as followers of Jesus we live under three horizons.
- On the one hand, we acknowledge the reality of the present evil age, and we suffer because of it.
- On the other hand, we already know the joy of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, which enables our endurance.
- But, and this is the third horizon, we do not yet fully experience what God has in store for us. We live in-between the times. We name the evil of the age, while we, at the same time, know the joy of the Spirit as we await the future.
As we move into 2020, my prayer is that we don't get stuck in (1), nor do we end up with a false imagination of (2) but that all three horizons are part of our understanding... already but not yet.
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