Richard Dawson, 6 January 2016

I don’t know about you but the more I read about the future the less enthusiastic I am to get there. From global over-heating to national over-eating everything seems rather gloomy if you read the newspaper at all. Old people seem worried about how young people are behaving and young people don’t seem to like the world the old people made. Many think oil is bad but the other half don’t want wind mills for increased electricity production either. In the words of an old English sit-com—’We’re a rum lot really aren’t we!’ (Trans. ‘The human race is silly’) ‘Rum’ we may be but the future need not be nearly so dark. One of the great things about the Christian faith is that it places the future firmly in God’s hands and by this I don’t mean to refer to some imminent global disaster where all the good people get whisked away by God’s power. The future as predicted by Isaiah is quite different. It is a future marked by a spirit of reconciliation where even natural enemies lie down together… “6The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” This is the future of God’s making, the future of ‘many mansions,’ the future of reward for faith and the future of the renewal of all things. It is not a fear-filled future but one marked by joy, peace and the wonderful Presence of God. Above all it is a future where death will no longer part us from the ones we love.  This is the vision of the vision God raises for us in the Bible… “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Rev 21)