The Rapture

I walk through about one hundred and fifty yards of commuter parking on my way to the gym. One day I noticed a bumper sticker which I particularly liked: “Come the Rapture, can I have your car?”

I’m not a person who puts stickers on cars, but I do survey them a bit, and mostly I am disappointed. Whether political or not, on the main they tend toward simple declarations, and I have a soft spot for the ones which say more and get me thinking.

I’m pretty sure that Rapture bumper sticker was spawned by another sticker which I’ve seen a lot more often: “Warning: when the Rapture comes this car will be unoccupied.”

When I see that one I feel an impulse to motion that person over and give ‘em a hug. It doesn’t sound like they’re finding much joy in the here and now of faith. Sounds more like they’re looking forward to being liberated, at last having their exalted status recognized in horror by all those folks who went on having a good time. I’m not totally dismissing the possibility of the occasional reader who will see that bumper sticker and think something along the lines of ‘that person knows something I want to know’, but it seems more likely that the reader will begin to form an impression of a faith that exults at the hope of being vindicated, a resolution with winners and losers, rather than a faith where the first shall be last and the humble lifted up.

I fear there is a thread of Christian community which wishes to find justification for exercising a good old-fashioned smote. You know, hell fire, total destruction as a definitive rebuke. We have a societal remnant of that in the death penalty: you are so bad we’re going to end your life. But hear this: we don’t think ending a life is right, unless it is the ultimate statement of societal disapproval. Don’t do this at home. But I digress...

Unconditional love, grace, compassion, mercy, these are counter-cultural words at the center of understanding God’s love for us. These are practices which must be embodied by followers if we are to fully live faith, and pass on faith rather than cultural bias. Unconditional love, grace, compassion and mercy must be practiced as counter-balances to any of our opposing impulses.

Formation in God’s methods is foundational those who seek to follow the will and way of God. Ours is not a faith which calls us to be ready to act faithfully at some future moment, not after we have prevailed, but rather to employ faith qualities and practices as a means to witness whose we are, in the midst of all moments; when we do this beautifully it is very persuasive.

And it just might become a faith which never wants to operate a car without filling the car’s seats with new friends.