Hey folks! Our current unit in the kids curriculum is about the Apostle's Creed. We'll be in this unit until the beginning of Advent!
This week we’re going to talk about the promise of Jesus’ return.
The older I get, the more I am convinced that one of the of the most important things to emphasize on our pilgrimage through this life—in all of our thinking and praying and living and serving and loving and everything else—is the dissonance of life between Pentecost (the birth of the Church) and Parousia (the return of Christ).
This dissonance is the result of “when” we are, living as we do in what has been called the “time between the Times.”
The life of the Church and all her members is carried out on the way between the arrival of God’s Kingdom in and through the work of Christ, and the yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of his renewal of All Things.
This means we experience goodness and grace in this life in fits and starts, and if we’re not prepared for that, we’re going to have a really, really hard time.
Jesus has ascended to his rightful place as the King of Kings, but will not be bringing His Kingdom in its fullness until be returns, with all Heaven in tow. For now, we wait (“How long, O Lord?”).
This is where Hope enters the picture of Christian virtue, along with Faith and Love: to be a Christian is to be a person who Hopes, and who therefore trusts in the promise(s) of God.
In the end, we Hope via trust that Heaven and Earth will one day be fully reconciled. Until then, we expect that there will be ups and downs, that sin and grace will both present themselves before us and will flow from us frustratingly but not perpetually.
This is indeed the mystery of Faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.
Scripture to consider:
John 3:16
John 20:1-18
Revelation 21:1-7
Questions for your kids
What might it mean that Jesus will make all things new?
Is everything new already? How can you tell?
Do you ever find it hard to wait?
Holy Imagination
Learning the faith isn't just about memorizing facts. It's about seeing the world as it really is: "charged with the grandeur of God."
Talk to your kids about how a thousand years is for the Lord like one day, and a day like one thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). Ask them how it feels to wait, and what makes it hard. Ask also what it might mean for us in our waiting that to God, it's only been two days since he ascended into heaven!
Peace,
Danny+