Fr. Richard Rohr speaks of two equally
    unsatisfactory approaches to faith:

(1) religion as nostalgia,
    in which we look backwards
        to a fondly remembered (though perhaps imaginary) time
            when things were so much better–
                God was God,
                   and we all knew how to properly respond,

or

(2) religion as carrot on a stick,
    in which we solely focus on obtaining
        our final reward at some point in the future
            when our earthly trials are done,
                ignoring the call to transform the world.

Both approaches share one thing in common:
    they deny the reality of the present moment–
        the only moment in which God lives,
            the only moment in which we can be fully alive,
                fully engaged with being, now, the people of God,
                   loving and serving others,
                        working to be the Kingdom we intrinsically are.

Eternity is now,
    not back then,
        not in the future,
            but now.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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