The Rapture

I drove to Wellpinit this afternoon thinking about the rapture.

Of course, news reports have given an extraordinary amount of attention to the preachings of Harold Camping who predicted that rolling earthquakes would spread across the globe on Friday night (tonight), followed by the rapture of true believers at 6:00 pm Saturday night, May 21, 2011. Some people have an enduring fascination with apocalyptic theology, while many others look on with curiosity, if not ridicule.

But why the rapture? Why all the attention? Why all the doomsaying? What is it about the world that makes people long for another place? Yeah, I understand that humans have made a pretty big mess - wars, bloodshed, violence, injustice, ecological destruction - you name it. But if you step outside and see the beauty of the creation, how can one fail to see that the earth is truly a paradise? As I look upon the blue skies, the flowing river, and the green grass, I feel gratitude and love. Why would I want to leave all this behind? Instead of abandoning the world in some kind of cataclysmic end times scenario, why can't we reconcile ourselves instead?

The emphasis on rapture and deliverance seems misplaced. When Jesus taught his followers to pray, he did not tell them to seek some other world, but rather declared, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." When I see the awesome power of nature, I think that kingdom is already here, if only we have eyes to see.

The Spokane River spilled over Nine Mile Dam with impressive force.

A couple of views from the Spokane Reservation.