By Father Casey

Back in 2011, a Christian radio broadcaster named Harold Camping proclaimed that the world would end that year on May 21. All true believers would be raptured to heaven, he predicted, and the wheels of the end-times would begin to turn. There is no shortage of apocalyptic prognosticators out there, but this one caught my attention in part because of the significant media attention he received, and in part because May 21 is my wedding anniversary – nothing helps you remember your anniversary quite like waiting to see if Christ is coming back!

Obviously, the Lord did not return on May 21, 2011, nor did he come back on the next date Camping proposed. He eventually released a statement of apology and remorse, but the damage had already been done. He and his community became a popular punch line, but it went beyond jokes. The episode also fed a deeper cynicism about the Christian faith that is always lurking, both around and within us. Churches like ours have little in common with Christians like Harold Camping, yet we fall in the shadow they create when they say and do outrageous things. Evangelism would be somehow easier if we could spend more time talking about the beauty and goodness of the gospel of Jesus, and less time apologizing for the behavior of our distant Christian siblings.

And yet, all these years later, I've been thinking about Harold Camping and wondering if I, if we, have more in common with him than I previously realized. What were he and his community doing, after all, but looking around at a world run amok and then turning to the pages of the Bible for reassurance that God would one day notice and come to the rescue? What were they doing but looking up to heaven and yearning for the power of God to erupt in a broken world? I realize that some doomsdayers seem to take a twisted pleasure in the idea of apocalypse, but behind all that lies an understandable desire to believe that God is not ignoring the suffering and sin of the world. "Aren't you paying attention, Lord? When are you going to do something about all this mess?" And who hasn't thought something like that?

It would seem that Christians have been looking up, wondering when Jesus would return, since the beginning. The Book of Acts tells the story of the risen Jesus leading the disciples up the Mount of Olives some forty days after his resurrection. He must have been giving off "I'm up to something" vibes, because one of the disciples asked him – and I'm paraphrasing – "Is it finally time for you to save the day and fix everything?" It seems they never did quite let go of the hope that Jesus would eventually get around to crushing their enemies and putting them in charge. But rather than explain yet again what it was all about, he just ascended out of their sight, like a ship disappearing over the horizon.

Acts says they stood there in shock, jaws agape, staring up at the sky, and the truth is that we've been following their lead ever since – looking up and wondering when he's coming back to fix everything. We may not be picking dates for it to happen and smacking them on billboards all over the country, but there is a way in which all of us are hanging out on that hillside with Harold Camping and the disciples, waiting for Jesus to come back to do what we have convinced ourselves we can't possibly do on our own.

After the disciples had watched the feet of Jesus finally slip beyond the clouds, two angels appeared to them. "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" Lower your gaze, they are saying. Look around at the here and now. Stop waiting for someone else to do the work of the kingdom of God for you. Sure, he's going to come back one day, as he promised, but until then, he thinks you're plenty capable of doing what he taught you. Loving your neighbor as yourself is pretty simple when it comes right down to it. Don't overthink it.

Last week, I came across a quote from Saint Augustine that seems to speak to this. "Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying, but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times."

It's strange but true: Jesus has trusted us enough to leave us here to do his work in the world. No one else will do it for us. We can't save the world or bring the kingdom to its fullness on our own – for that, we really will have to wait for his return – but in the meantime, we can practice what we long to see around us. We can be what we hope for. For such as we are, such will be the times we help create.

Fr. Casey+