Mtr Kelli Joyce

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.”

Dear Friends in Christ,

For the last several weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of leading a Thursday morning study over Zoom. The topic has been “doctrines we love to hate,” and we’ve had a wonderful time reflecting on difficult and controversial aspects of our faith. This Thursday will be our last session, and so it’s fitting that our topic will be “the last judgment and the end of the world.”

Of course, that’s also sort of the topic for all of Advent, isn’t it? In today’s reading and in our Sunday readings, the themes of Christ’s return and God’s coming judgment of the living and the dead loom large.

You’ve all heard me talk about this before. You know how compelling I find the Christian theology of the end times. I’ll try to spare you a rehashing if what I’ve said before. But I do want to reflect a little on the implication of what Jesus says here.

Christianity teaches that this world is going to end, suddenly, with the return of Jesus to earth. And this isn’t just indulgent supernatural speculation, or an excuse to dismiss the concerns of this life. In fact, today’s reading makes it clear that it’s the opposite. Our belief that Christ will return at an unknown day and in an unknown hour is meant to have everything to do with our ethical conduct during our lives on earth. Yes, it’s true that we’re not to be consumed by the cares of this life. But we are to live justly and with a deep awareness that we are to be prepared when our Lord returns.

When he comes back, I want him to find me living a life that honors him more than it honors the powers of this world. When he comes back, I want him to find in me a person who has been yearning for and seeking after his Kingdom, rather than the kingdoms of the earth. When he comes back, I want to be about the work of justice and righteousness, so that he can say to me “well done, thou good and faithful servant.” I don’t have to know when he’s coming for my belief in it to change how I live my life. Thanks be to God.

In peace,
Mtr. Kelli