Much of the New Testament is written from the perspective of the end of history. After Jesus was executed some of his followers believed that he would soon return to usher in the reign of God on earth. We now know, of course, that history did not end. Apocalyptic predictions of the end of history always end up embarrassing the prophets of doom. On the other hand, predictions of the end of the world as we know it, are another matter. There are times when history presents human beings with life conditions that are so threatening and so challenging that in order to meet these challenges, a new human being is summoned.  We are living in such a time.

 

 "Now concerning the times and the season, brothers and sisters, you do not need anything written to you”, Paul writes to the Thessalonians. “When they say, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)!

 

The age we are living through feels like the “time” and the “season” Paul is describing. For those who associated peace and security with a rising real estate market and a secure retirement plan, “sudden destruction” came in the form of a global economic meltdown. It looks as though it could be more severe than anybody initially imagined. Time will tell if the continued infusion of money from governments all over the world will stem the collapse. I received an email from a friend this past week part of which referred Robert Reich’s take on what’s happening. You may remember that he was the Secretary of Labour under President Clinton. It’s taken from Buddhist scholar, Joanna Macy's, website.

 

His analysis suggests that this economic failure is the price of moral failure. The top 1 percent of American earners take home about 20 percent of total national income. Reich says the last time that happened was 1928; after that the economy caved in. The underlying problem of such imbalance in earnings has been masked for years: first by sending more women into the work force, till working mothers with school-age children almost doubled since 1970 to more than 70 percent. The second coping mechanism was working more hours, till Americans became veritable workaholics, putting in 350 more hours a year than the average European. Then came a third way of coping:  to borrow... But now with the bursting of the housing bubble, we've reached the end of our ability to borrow, just as lenders have reached the end of their capacity to lend.

 

We don’t know what kind of changes this economic crisis will bring about – nobody really knows. But our collective peace and security have been shaken to the core. Something new is being born and like all births it is bound to be painful.

 

The analysis of Robert Reich refers primarily to the American context. But the widening disparity is even more egregious on a global level. The recent kidnapping of Canadian journalist, Melissa Fung, was not religiously or ideologically motivated. It was a family business, a way to make some money in a devastated economy. The wonder is not that this kind of thing happens. It is that it doesn’t happen more. Entrenched poverty has a way of eroding morality. These are the times and the seasons of our age.

 

Our time and our season are also characterized by the collapse of another system that is the basis of our financial system: our planetary bio-system. I’ve been talking about this for quite some time now, but the disconnect between the health of the planet’s bio-system and our economic system now threatens life on earth. The mad scramble to save our existing economic system in its present form is misguided. Economic growth must be correlated first and foremost to the capacity of our soil, water, and air to sustain the growth. Natural capital is the foundation of financial capital. Financial capital is an abstraction when it is disconnected from natural capital.

 

At the end of the day – at the end of the “season” – it is the only real capital. When it is exhausted, the source of all wealth run dries. My point is simply that if all the Kings horses and all the Queen’s men intend to do with these infusions of billions of dollars is to prop up an economic system that has outstripped the carrying capacity of the planet, then we will have missed a tremendous opportunity to reinvent an economic system grounded in a deep awareness of the earth as the source of all wealth. Australia just closed one of their deserts because of prolonged drought. Southern California is fighting yet another fire this weekend. The earth is speaking.

 

An old order is already over. It’s done. Leonard Cohen, our national poet and prophet, got it right in his song The Future:

 

            Things are going to slide, slide in all directions

Won't be nothing

Nothing you can measure anymore

The blizzard, the blizzard of the world

has crossed the threshold

and it has overturned the order of the soul.

 

These are the times and this is the season. We cannot continue plundering the earth at this rate. The disparity between the very rich and very poor will end in increasing violence. And we cannot buy our way out of the collapsing order or into a new order. Over consumption is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Fancy new investment vehicles wont’ get us to a new world order. Only the emergence of a new humanity, a new and higher order of the soul will save us.

 

The parable of the talents spoke to the early church about how to deal with the interim period between Jesus’ death and his return to inaugurate the reign of God. They were waiting for his return, and needed to know how they should wait. The master leaves, but not before entrusting his estate to his servants or slaves. He gives differing amounts of money to three servants, to each according to their ability. The first two immediately take what has been entrusted to them and trade it. Both double their money, which pleases the master greatly. They “enter into his joy”. The third, however, is afraid. His fear causes him to bury his one talent, so that he at least won’t lose it. He’s hanging on for dear life, and the master is not happy. The metaphorical punishment is harsh – his single talent is taken from him and given to the first servant. And then Matthew ends with his own macabre twist – so typical of Matthew. He throws the guy into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew must have been the life of the party. It’s a metaphorical presentation intended to dramatically contrast the joy of the other two with the third servant.

 

This parable is not a justification of laissez-faire economics. The G-20 is meeting as we gather to debate how to regulate the market, not to give it freer reign. And it’s not about trade being the salvation of humanity – although there is nothing intrinsically wrong with economic trade. The parable is about how the church should act in the in-between days and seasons – the times when one world order is collapsing and a new one is painfully being born. By the time the parable was written down it was clear that the church could be waiting quite a while. The “times” and the “season” required resolute and creative action – to multiply what had been entrusted to the church by Jesus – a vision of a world in right relationship with God; a world that did not forget the orphan, the widow, and the homeless; a community that practiced forgiveness and compassion; a church that intentionally fostered an alternative community that could withstand the coming blizzard by caring for one another.

 

What is clearly unacceptable is to allow fear of the future to paralyze creativity and initiative. Fear causes isolation. It causes us to dig a metaphorical hole and not only bury our possessions to keep them safe – it tempts us to jump in ourselves and regress to an ethic of every man for himself. In the film, Blindness, a virus which infects all of humanity causes blindness. In the ensuing fear and panic, anarchy reigns and people regress to sub-human coping behaviours. One woman retains her sight, which she keeps a secret. She leads a small community of people who are able to survive the crisis with dignity, by maintaining a contract of decency and humanity.

 

Humanity moves in and out of states of metaphorical blindness, especially at times such as this one. But the vision of the Christ remains constant. It is a vision that expands and becomes more comprehensive at precisely those times when we’re tempted by fear to regress. In the midst of isolation, the Christ sees a universe of radical interconnectedness. In the midst of being tempted to make decisions based on narrow self-interest, the Christ is the presence of sacred wisdom, encouraging us to expand our circle of concern in our decision-making. When fear is the virus that causes us to disconnect even from God, Christ leads us beside still waters and calms our soul. Paul writes about this Christ as “one who holds all things together”. Christ is our liberator, our guide through the blizzard, the one who reminds us that the worse things get, the better off we’ll be if we serve each other.

 

The Christ can be our vision until the blindness of fear passes. And then it is our time to act – to take what has been entrusted to us, all goodness of the heart of the divine, and trade it up for a better world. We are called to be “children of light” even in the midst of dark times. Friends, let us enter into the joy of the Christ.