Quote for the Day
Every bit of the creation is sustained by the life of God, is sacrament, and is engaged with the whole of creation. Each moment of life can be and, if we are committed to the humility of Christ, must be Eucharist. The early Syrian church recognized this fact and allowed all who wished it to receive the Eucharist, whether or not they were baptized. This church understood that in Eucharist sacred time and linear time coinhere, and the parousia is now. Sacraments of the Christian churches must not be allowed to exclude or devalue our interrelatedness with the creation. On the contrary, sacramental life should enhance reverence for and relatedness within the creation.
— Maggie Ross, Pillars of Flame: Power,
Priesthood and Spiritual Maturity
Jon
I didn’t know that about the Syrian church! I’ve long been fascinated by the Oriental Orthodox churches. I had the pleasure of visiting an Ethiopian Orthodox Church in DC a couple of years ago.
The parousia is now… that realization was what showed me that the “Rapture” theory of Evangelicalism is completely wrong. Christ is ever-present and ever-coming. Completely inexhaustible.
Liz
It’s wonderful to hear about the Syrian church. I’m Roman Catholic but have always been conflicted about the teaching that excludes people from other faiths from the Eucharist. While I understand a bit of the argument for the need for proper understanding, it just seems that if we really believe what we say we believe, we’d be wildly encouraging everyone we met to join us for the Eucharist.
Thank you for sharing this.
Peter
Yes! Yes! The parousia is now!!
That blows away a lot of the chaff of spurious eschatology, and opens the way for spontaneous, sovereign epiphanies or revelations of grace “whenever He will”–frees us from a lot of baggage or obstacles we might otherwise have in the way of Divine encounter.
I always suspected (and avoided) “prophetic interpretation conferences” where they try to parse (usually hyper-literally) the biblical clues to the unfolding of end-time events. I chose years ago to believe that the best kind of interpretaion of the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation) is the kind offered by Madame Guyon (as offered in modern language by Gene Edwards), a spiritual interpretation minimizing politics and placing the great end-time dramas within the soul of the saints.
But “the parousia is now”–that is a lightning-bolt insight that will greatly enrich my understanding–and, I hope, my practice of the Christian life.
Thank you!