actually it IS the end of the world [as we know it]

as depicted so well in my previous post by Stephan Pastis of Pearls Before Swine cartoon fame, R.E.M. had something when they came up with their hit song that 73% of people know the two words “Leonard Bernstein” [but is it pronounced Steen or Styn? another mystery] to – It’s the end of the world as we know it.

with Australia and Americaland being on different days for a huge portion of any 24 hour period, it was always going to be a bit of a feat for the Apocalypse to arrive on precisely one calendar day only and presumably by the time your Australian friend stopped replying to your frenetic “are we there yet?” “are we there yet?” “are we there yet?” messages, you probably wouldn’t even have time to reach for your closest can of beans.

and so, no, the world hasn’t ended.

but it has ended as we know it. in fact it does that every day. unless there was some way for it to be completely frozen in every possible manner of time, energy and space, the day we wake up to is not the day we left behind. the world has changed. and more importantly our world has changed.

the question we have to ask ourselves [well maybe ‘have’ is a strong word cos i imagine most people don’t] is, ‘Is the world a better place today because of how i lived yesterday?’ and the more relevant question of ‘Will the world be a better place tomorrow because of how i choose to live today?’

this is a question of selflessness, service and Love vs. ego, pride and selfishness

it’s a question of community, congregation and fellowship vs. individualism, materialism and consumption

and it is a question of how am i involved in reaching out to those who are marginalised and lonely, considered by the world to be ‘the least of these’?

Jesus seemed to have a very strong opinion on that… and so if you call yourself a Jesus follower, this is quite probably something you should take note of:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

[Matthew 25.31-46]

i guess, the question is, as far as you are concerned… it is the end of the world, as you know it. do you feel fine?

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 41

this is a tough little one – david whining about his enemies some more and calling on God for some ensmitement… i don’t think i have ever gotten that hectic so i can’t really relate but possibly the strongest i have gotten in enemy prayer is ‘please God, make them go away’- i don’t know, maybe not even that. i don’t tend to hold on to enemy definition. sure, there have been some prime candidates in my life – people who told me my passion for God was a phase i was going through and when i grew all up [like he clearly had] it would go away and i would be normal [and boring, complacent, passionless] like he was… people who publically accused me of things or rejected me from leadership or seemed to take me on as a personal mission on facebook or my blog because i didn’t like some group they wanted to join or made some statement they misinterpreted or something… but i guess i just never saw the benefit in having enemies and for the most part tried to pursue peace with those people and even when they were not interested kept on trying to send love and encouragement and always hope that the relationships could be restored… i am okay with people not liking me, but at the same time i do like people to like me so i don’t think it’s a need i have [everyone MUST LIKE BRETT!!!] but it is a like i have [everyone in the world holding hands doing the worlds biggest ‘ring a ring of roses’ together trying hard to forget that the original song emerged from the black plague or something…

my point being this is a difficult psalm to find much to relate to so i think i will just focus on the first verse which says, ‘Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble. The Lord protects and preserves them — they are counted among the blessed in the land — He does not give them over to the desire of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.’ [first 3 verses actually!]

i don’t know that i agree with all David’s prosperity doctrine type sentiments in terms of getting to be sick-free if you are nice to the weak but i really think that ‘Blessed are those who have regard for the weak’ is an anthem that God is completely behind as demonstrated by how Jesus lived and what He spoke when He was here.

it is Matthew 25 sheep and goats stuff and the question to ponder as i read this psalm is what is the name of the person [or group] who might be viewed as weak in this world, that i am having regard for? if i can’t name a person or group, what decision am i going to make today that will get me one step closer to being able to?

[To return to the Intro page and be connected to any of the other Psalms i have walked through before now, click here]