“From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present.” - Jürgen Moltmann
That which we believe about the future has deeply formative power over the present. And it is, therefore, why Christians, whose faith is utterly forward looking, must embody a posture of hope, seeking too manifest that which is to come. To live in the present with our vision fixed firmly on the future means that we take up two distinct postures: waiting and hastening.
The Posture of Waiting
This waiting is not a passive waiting but is an active waiting that embodies the coming hope in the present, it is an active expectation of the arrival of Jesus and the consummation of the inaugurated Kingdom of God. Because we live in light of the now-and-not-yet Kingdom of God, to wait always means not conforming to this world of injustice and violence. Rather, active waiting builds for the Kingdom of God, now. It means resisting the threats and seductions of the present, and failing to conform to the failures of our present day.
The Posture of Hastening
To hasten is to live from the future, to anticipate and bring about - to the best of our abilities - the coming reality of the Kingdom of God. It is to live from the “end.” Naturally, therefore, we work for justice, preach the arrival of the Kingdom of God, bring hope to the broken. All of this work is our calling, because in doing this work we partner with God in bringing about the Kingdom of God “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Prayer of Saint Francis:
Lord, may we be instruments of your hope
Where there is hatred, let us bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
And may we go in the light and hope of your impending return. Amen.