OK, as I consider this penultimate chapter in my life, I also need to consider the ultimate chapter — death. Death, for me, is not a scary thought. In some ways it will be a chance to rest. When I consider the vastness of the universe, and to date no evidence of life beyond this fragile planet, I find it far more frightening to consider that humanity might succumb to their lesser qualities and actually destroy this fragile expression of life.
When I reflect on the history of humanity, I both marvel at the advances that humans have achieved and am distraught at the capacity of humanity to transform their marvelous advances into the capacity to detroy each other.
My hope, finally rests not in the survival capabilities of humans but in the resurrection quality of the God who I worship. I do believe in resurrection, which finally means for me that God, not death, has the final word. While I know that if humanity defeated itself, God could begin again in some other way to affirm the goodness of life, but I don’t beieve that God will allow that to happen.
My personal death is but a blip on the arc of history, but the death of all humanity is a horror too awful to entertain. I don’t believe that God was an incompetent creator who bungled this experiment in living. Rather I believe, with Paul, that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. I believe that God knew from the beginning the nature of humanity but will not be defeated by it.
I understand that this rests totally on faith but that faith allows me to believe that all acts of goodness contribute to the final act of the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Therefore, even in the bleakness of any given moment, I have hope.
Therefore, I have hope.
