Parousia, the Coming of the Lord, will be a total surprise.
Fifty Years ago.
I did some soul searching this past week. Fifty years ago, January 1975, I made a radical decision: I decided to leave our comfortable 2,000 square feet, home with built-in office, in St, Catharines, Ontario, located on a major city thoroughfare, and move away. This also entailed selling my General Insurance business, surrendering my Real Estate Brokerage, intending to relocate some 300 km east, halfway between Toronto and Ottawa, with the intention to join a ‘Christian’ community there.
It was my decision, mine only (male dominance at work): My wife and my five children were hardly consulted in the matter, the oldest already in university. I did give hints: I do remember that my wife and I visited there before moving.
Why?
Several reasons, one, being disaffected with my minister, who later left the denomination. He wanted to apply church censure to me, because I had refused to send my children to Catechism, disagreeing with his right-wing views. Also, after 20 years of selling insurance, I was fed up with the increasing detail work. Then my excellent secretary left.
Then, as now, the times were testing, with the global upheaval of the early 1970s, with wars raging from the Middle East to Vietnam, and an oil crisis looming: an era of tension and uncertainty.
There were spiritual reasons as well. In 1975, I was an idealist. I imagine I also was naïve, perhaps stupid to leave good security to face uncertainty, not having any manual skills, yet set out to build an energy-efficient home, passive solar, intending to live closer to ‘nature’ within a group of dedicated, though unconventional Christians, all of similar Dutch Reformed Christian background, well educated, 2 having been school principals.
That small group had earlier acquired a 200-acres working farm in Tweed, Ontario, and I bought 50 acres from them. I also promised them $10,000 to kickstart a communal enterprise.
Why: again.
Well, in early 1972 I had submitted a 5,000 words article to the Real Estate Institute of Canada JOURNAL. Every year it held a contest selecting the best article related to Real Estate, for publication in their Journal, offering a substantial money prize and a free trip to their annual convention, that year held in Vancouver. My article was entitled, THE CITY KEY TO SURVIVAL, an Essay on Ecology and Urban Living. To my great surprise, in a Canada-wide contest, including universities, my submission was selected.
In retrospect, I believe that this award influenced my thinking on leaving the city and trying to live a more ‘creation-friendly’, ecologically responsible life.
Back to 1975-80.
For my wife and me, the change was a challenge. The community and the house church lasted 5 years, the break-up caused by disagreement on basic matters.
So, in 1980, we joined the local Presbyterian Church which now has aged, the services basically unaltered for decades, even though the world has changed radically.
All is well that ends well.
My ‘early’ retirement – in 1975 I was in my 48th year – gave me the opportunity to re-educate myself to become a Commercial Real Estate Appraisal. I took several university courses, and prepared the required three 100 pages proof appraisals on (1) a single family dwelling, (2) a 12 units apartment building, and (3) a commercial complex.
I attained my designation in 1978, and launched a new company called, HASTINGS APPRAISAL SERVICES, covering the entire county of Hastings, an area ranging from Lake Ontario to the Algonquin Park, some 150 km, with suboffices in the North and South, while centrally located Tweed became the administration office, with a former bank manager in charge.
I sold the business in 1993 when I turned 65.
In my 50 years in Tweed, I have learned that the village is a civil place, with a lot of good people, but with a fading religious faith – two churches closed, two more are struggling – the Christian commitment more historical than based on personal relationships with the divine. In that the area differs little from the urban population: by and large, the Christian church is basically comatose, with no vision on eternity.
Now what?
Next month I am going back to my home denomination. Will I find it changed? Will I find deeper thinking there, based on eternity?
Over the years I have learned to be more defined in my views, more understanding of the reigning tendencies in society.
I do believe that there is a growing awareness of the coming collapse of the current system, yet there still exists a baseless faith that human ingenuity will triumph.
I have come to believe that the church ought to prepare us for eternity, lived here on God’s renewed earth. The major challenge today is the swiftly changing climate, and our total inability to stop its rapid march to human oblivion. Yes, I believe that the End is near. Trump will not triumph: The evil he is doing will speed up earth’s destruction and hasten the Lord’s return.
That’s why Parousia, the Coming of the Lord, will be a total surprise.