A Utopian Vision: Believe and Don’t be Afraid

Those who follow my blog may have noticed its been a while since I posted anything new. I’ve been immersed recently in a new project, writing and recording an exciting audio drama hopefully destined for broadcast on radio. Working with a group of talented actors in a Chicago studio last weekend, we laid down the tracks for the first two of four initial episodes. I can hardly wait to finish and preview the drama here at www.Christianheartbeat.org.

I mention this not to make excuses or explain why I’ve been away from the blog, but because the drama, Adventures on New Eden, reflects a path I’ve found myself following of late: partly utopian, as on the distant planet dubbed New Eden by the earth colonists of a future century, and partly apocalyptic, as in the eleventh chapter of the novel Which One of You? -- which will be posted this weekend. In both cases I feel God tugging me toward of vision of discipleship which can only be described as radical.

In the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes, “When I was a child I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.”

Yes, some might say, and what’s more childish than to believe in utopian dreams, or to think some apocalyptic moment is going to put an end to the suffering world we now know and usher in the glorious new age described in Revelation -- a new Jerusalem here on earth. Is it any wonder so many, lacking the faith to believe such things, interpret Revelation’s New Jerusalem as representing the next life, or fashion fanciful tales of Christ returning to earth in the flesh to lead a great conquering army?

So we continue practicing the faith in the limited way we always have: as an organizational structure, as a set of moral principles to live by, as a promise of a reward in the next life for allegiance here to the name of Christ.

But lets take Paul at his word … “When I was a child I spoke, thought and reasoned as a child …” What do we know about Paul prior to that fateful moment on the road to Damascus? We know he advocated a religion that emphasized obedience to an organizational structure and a set of moral principles. When he became an adult he realized that “faith” holds the center of the spiritual universe. And what is faith but the belief that when God created the world and said “it is good,” God meant every word. God created the world as a kind of utopia, mosquitoes included, that exceeds any utopia described in the fiction of humanity.

In the eleventh chapter of Which One of You? Pastor Dietrich gives this definition of apocalypse: “The end of an age marked by man’s values and the beginning of a new age marked by God’s, separated by a wall of fire.” Paul found himself in the middle of that wall of fire and often spoke of the suffering he gladly endured to reach the promised land on the far side -- a place where God’s values flourish. He describes our new earth, our new Jerusalem with the word “grace.” Jesus calls it “the kingdom of heaven.” In either case faith is the garment we wear to pass through the fire without burning up.

As is usually the case in scripture, what seems wise is actually foolish and vice versa. The first shall be last, we are told. And what would seem the conventional “adult” way of thinking, Paul calls the reasoning of a child.

We’ve been promised a utopia, a kingdom of heaven, a graceland here on earth. It’s up to us to claim the promise. Put on the garment of faith. Become an adult. Believe and don’t be afraid.