Introduction
Growing up in the 80’s was a special time—when toys were toys, cartoons were cartoons, and fashion was… eccentric. Still, it had its challenges.
The Cold War was being waged and I can personally recall how the thought of a nuclear attacked loomed large in the back of my mind. But not to worry! If an attack was launched I had only to retreat to the boy’s locker room of Edgewood Jr. High School as it was a designated fallout shelter—as stated by the aluminum sign posted on the cement block wall.
The 1983 movie War Games, starring Matthew Broderick taught me that when an attack is launched I have just enough time to gather supplies and have my parents drive my family to the school. That was the extent of my doomsday prepping in the 1980’s.
Of course emergency preparedness and doomsday prepping were happening long before the 80’s, and even before President Kennedy spoke about the possibility of nuclear war in the early 60’s, calling for the stocking of fallout shelters with food, water, first-aid kits and other minimum essentials.
The book of Revelation, sometimes called “the apocalypse”, has been used for generations as a sort of guidebook for spiritual doomsday prepping because it speaks of the uncovering of God’s plan for the climax of human history. Apocalypse is a Greek word which sounds ominous, but it simply means “uncovering” or “revelation.”
And even the Apostle Paul got into the prepping efforts, doing a bit of uncovering in his first letter to the Thessalonians, which is probably the earliest of his letters to the rising Christian churches. Paul had to flee the Greek city of Thessalonica because of persecution, and so he wrote his letters to the Thessalonians to prepare them for the return of Jesus Christ.
You “know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” Paul says. The “day of the Lord” was the moment Christ would return to act as judge over the world, bringing God’s work to completion. “When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’” warns Paul, “then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!” Sudden destruction! Labor pains! No escape! These are apocalyptic images as frightening as trying to survive a nuclear war a Jr. High locker room.
Fortunately, Paul gives his followers guidance on how to prepare for the end in this first letter/guidebook on emergency preparedness, and it is one we need to read and implement today because many Americans are already doing their own doomsday prepping for these perilous times. But the prepping many are doing is based in anxiety and fear, and not faith, hope, and love.
Move 1
Let’s face it, in times such as today, many people today are prepping for the apocalypse—or at least some version of it. And some aren’t the kind of rugged survivalists who define “running water” as a locker room shower—prepping far beyond the minimum essentials for survival.
Point in case… sales of luxury bunkers and high-end shelters costing more than $500,000 have increased 700 percent in one year. One model includes a gym, a workshop, a rec room, a greenhouse and a car depot.
Others however are opting for survival communities, like the 700-acre development in Texas that will include 600 condominiums, each with a waterfront view—but will still be 90 percent underground. There will not only be armed security personnel guarding the surrounding wall and helipads for coming and going, there will also be an athletic center, a golf course and polo fields.
Jeff Schlegelmilch, an expert in disaster preparedness at Columbia University says, “This luxury-bunker trend includes not just a couple of fringe groups. There is real money behind it—hundreds of millions of dollars. Lots of people are motivated by anxieties about nuclear war or civil unrest. Others fear climate change, disease, terrorism or extremism from the far-left and far-right. Survivalists now include liberals, right along with conservatives.”
All of which leads to the questions: How should we be prepping during these perilous days? How should those of us who are not ultra-rich be prepping during these perilous days? But more importantly, how should faithful followers of Christ be prepping for these perilous days?
Move 2
In the face of the “day of the Lord”, the Apostle Paul encourages being in community, however, he does not recommend building a bunker with a gym, a workshop, a rec room, a car depot, and definitely not polo fields. Instead, Paul wants us to be “preppers” who “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”
Paul certainly wants us to be safe in difficult times, but he doesn’t suggest we seek the protection of a walled compound patrolled by armed security. Instead, he recommends a suit made of faith, hope and love because these qualities are gifts of God that will endure until the very end of time, until we see God face to face.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that “faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (13:13). So when God gives us a suit of armor, God wants it to be made of the most durable materials available. That is why God says make it of faith, hope and love because these are that which can safe life and bring forth life that thrives—no matter the varied circumstances of life, no matter how bad or perilous the world gets.
Move 3
Presbyterian pastor, Jeff Krehbiel was wearing this suit of armor for 30 years as he did urban ministry and community organizing, always showing deep faith in God and in the people around him. With a passion for biblical story-telling, Pastor Krehled worship services that were full of creative and interactive experiences that shared the Good News of Jesus.
Instead of retreating into a bunker, Pastor Krehbiel lived with hope. He worked hard to change the world around him, moving it slowly and surely toward the kingdom of God by caring for others, by treating others with kindness, compassion, empathy, generosity, and dignity. And through it all, he always had an abundance of love—love for his church members, his colleagues and the residents of the city he served.
Pastor Krehbiel wore the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet he had the hope of salvation. This equipment helped him live out his calling by prepping not for the end of the world, but for the world to live and thrive, on earth as it is in heaven.
And for those he worked with, such was the case. Those he worked with and for found in him and his church a message of faith and love, along with the chance to have their lives made better through kindness, compassion, empathy, generosity, dignity, and hope.
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Paul challenges us to step out into the world with confidence, determined to live by our Christian core values—go to those who are needing an encounter with the divine and give it to them in the ways we have been gifted and blessed to give.
We are to do this because we are, as Paul says “children of light and children of the day” (v. 5), people who leave the darkness of underground bunkers and go into the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus by sharing and living a message of kindness, compassion, empathy, generosity, dignity and hope.
Conclusion
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” When we live by our core Christian values, we shine light into dim places and put love in the place of hate.
In apocalyptic times, in perilous times —even in self isolating pandemic times—Christians are not supposed to hide in a bunker. That’s a defensive posture, one that is adopted by people motivated by anxiety and fear. Yes we are to be safe, and follow pandemic precautions and guidelines, staying in our homes as needed, but nonetheless, we are still to take an offensive posture, and bravely be a presence to the world to show active kindness, compassion, empathy, generosity, and dignity—active hope faith, hope and love. And we are to do this because our calling is always to build up instead of building down.
Yes, it is tempting to dig a hole in the ground and construct a luxury bunker— especially when we fear climate change, disease, terrorism or extremism. But Paul calls us to “encourage one another and build up each other.”
Paul could have dug himself a hole when he was facing persecution in Thessalonica, but he didn’t. He chose to build up his friends, and the church, instead of building down into the ground. In numerous letters to his fellow Christians, Paul says that building up means “speaking the truth in love,” instead of avoiding difficult topics. (Ephesians 4:15) Encouraging one another means that we “please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.” (Romans 15:2) Instead of focusing on our own talents and abilities, we should see that God is working through members of the entire Christian community. “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-5)
This is the kind of doomsday prepping for these perilous days followers of Christ are called to do.
Jesus does not want us to prep for the apocalypse by hiding in a bunker. Instead, he wants us to put our gifts and resources to use in ways that are far more constructive and lasting—ways that will share a message of active kindness, compassion, empathy, generosity, and dignity — active hope faith, hope and love.
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So let us put on the breastplate of faith and love, the helmet of salvation. Let us step out into the light and be the children of light and day we are made to be. Let us encourage, and build one another up to serve our world with faith, hope and love. For there is no better doomsday prepping—there is no better way to prepare for the “day of the Lord” than to be light that drives out darkness, love that drives out hate.
Let this be our doomsday prepping for these perilous days. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, October 18, 2020
Loving God, you lead the world and all humanity to their destiny in You; You are present and near; and You are beyond our words and our understanding. Help us to remember that You are at once infinite, boundless, timeless and eternal, but at the same time intimately entwined with our lives. You are with us no matter where we find ourselves.
So when we have forgotten You, Lord, have mercy.
When we have failed to speak words of love, Christ, have mercy.
When we have neglected the need of another, Lord, have mercy.
God of all, we are living in a time when there is so much anxiety and fear, and it is being expressed in ways that clearly have forgotten You, fail to express hope, and neglect sharing love to others. Instead the anxiety and fears come out as accusations and attacks, judgement and the demeaning of others.
We know this is not the way you have shown. We know this cannot be the way to lead others to you. So we pray…
Give to the leaders of the world and of our country a vision of the future that is imaginative, hopeful, and respectful of human rights and dignity.
Help us to bear witness in everyday life to the values of the Gospel and to be involved in the work of freedom, integrity, and justice.
Empower us to build up communities that foreshadow our heavenly homeland, where all are treated as equals, with kindness, compassion, and empathy.
Bless us in these ways, for these are the ways through anxiety and fear, to faith, love, and salvation.
Loving God, you are present and near, so help us to recognize Your presence and nearness with us each day, and help us to share your presence in any way we can that will show others around us the faith, hope, and love, you give to all.
We have in our hearts prayers that need lifted to you. So hear them now, as we know you do, in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”