What comes in the middle?

Beloved, by Linda Crossan*

     This Sunday marks the last in our 9-month series going through the Bible. We began in Genesis and then chronologically worked our way through until now we end with Revelation. As we think about the whole of The Story it has been a wonderful experience to see the thread of God's salvific work throughout the entirety of scripture. And now that we are ending, it seems as if we are only at the beginning again.
     As you recall, way back in Genesis, God created. The earth was chaotic, and into the dark chaos God spoke life and light. In that life and light God saw goodness and splendor. God 'walked in the garden' with those first humans. God's home was with them and they were God's people. Though it didn't take long for those people to go astray and trust in themselves rather than God and God's goodness. From then on in scripture we have the story of God's attempts to be in relationship with creation. From the Exodus story, God worked to bring salvation to the world through a chosen people, Israel. Eventually it became clear that though the people wanted salvation, they didn't want the relationship that naturally came with it. So God promised that a savior would come to restore Israel (and thus all of creation) and that the savior would be a descendant of David.
     Jesus comes into the picture as a baby - born of a young Jewish woman in the least auspicious circumstances. He lives a life of relative poverty, learning the carpentry trade from his earthly father Joseph. He grows up and performs miracles, gains popularity and following, and proclaims that God's kingdom is here - that he is himself God's Son, and that he has come to bring forgiveness of sin and new life. Yet as had been the pattern since the beginning of time, even though people wanted salvation, they wanted it on their terms; they rejected Christ as God's son and crucified him. His closest friends and followers were lost, except that when the funeral preparations began, his body was gone. Angels were there and told the women that he had been raised, just as Jesus said.
     Thus began a movement that changed history. Early participants in the movement were called followers of "The Way" and they dedicated their lives to living as Jesus taught and sharing about him to all they met. The early church suffered from persecution, from false pastors who taught messages antithetical to Christ, and from general disorganization and disunity. Yet despite all these, the church persevered and God's Spirit moved so that today, nearly 2000 years later, the church still exists and worships God, believes that Jesus is God's Son, and that through him salvation has come to all creation.
     Our reading for Sunday gives a glimpse of the end of the story. In a way the story ended Easter morning, when death and the devil were conquered through Christ's resurrection. But we have also spent the last couple of weeks talking about how that reality is in the already/not-yet paradox. Sunday's lesson from Revelation 20 and 21 is about the end. The VERY end.
     And as I said before, the end starts at the beginning. God once again sees the chaos and darkness on earth. Our reading is often described as God's hymn to us, words of hope and promise, words of life and salvation. Heaven comes to us at the end, which is how it has always been - God's movement of love toward us. At this last juncture, God will make all things new, a second creation story. In this creation, there will be no crying or death, pain or mourning. Everyone will live in right relationship with God and with each other, and salvation will finally and fully become reality.
     So it seems we end where we began: God's goodness. From God's goodness comes creation, comes relationship, comes salvation. As Easter people, we know the ending. The challenge we have, then, is living in the not-yet right now and sharing the already with those who still live in darkness. We have come full circle. All things will be made new. God is the beginning and the end. The mystery I ponder this week has everything to do with the middle. If everything starts and ends with God's salvation for all creation, how do we live in the middle?

*Crossan, Linda. Beloved, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55303 [retrieved May 13, 2014]. Original source: Linda Crossan, Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN.