When I volunteered to lead morning prayer last Sunday, I had no idea that the subject of the readings would be the apocalypse. The Old Testament reading was from Daniel, chapter 12:

”At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, keep the words secret and the book sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be running back and forth, and evil shall increase.” (Daniel 12:1-5)

and the Gospel reading was from Mark chapter 13:

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:1-8, 12-13)

Until now, I had not really read up on the apocalypse or paid much attention to it, because I hadn’t found it to be really connected to my daily life. Sure, I was curious, but the texts always seemed so difficult and cryptic. But, based on what I learned from preparing for this reflection, my understanding of apocalypse has changed and lately, it doesn’t feel so far away to me. Perhaps the apocalypse is already here.

We certainly are experiencing our share of cataclysmic wars, natural disasters, and the devastation of large parts of the community of life. Extreme weather, due to climate change, is visibly increasing here in the United States. There are more frequent hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and catastrophic flooding on an unprecedented scale. And we are starting to feel the warmer temperatures and more erratic changes in the seasons.

However, as bad as it seems, it is even worse globally, particularly in developing countries, where people are especially vulnerable to catastrophic heat. For example, some countries like Zambia in Africa are experiencing extreme drought that has resulted in crop failures and widespread famine. Some communities will even need to relocate entirely because of a lack of sufficient water. And let’s not forget the coronavirus, a plague that killed millions around the world, and the negative impact of climate change on the habitats of fish and wildlife.

Climate events are increasingly common and severe, so it easily brings to mind apocalyptic end times, like those described in the readings above. Daniel chapter 12 and Mark chapter 13 list some of the signs of apocalypse, so how are we doing? Do we have: a time of anguish – check – many people running back and forth – check – wars – check – nations against nations – check – family members that betray each other – check – unequalled distress – check – earthquakes and famines – check and check. Sounds like an apocalypse to me.

Many of us think of the apocalypse with fear, as the increasingly dark specter of death, destruction and the end of life on earth. But we misunderstand—apocalyptic literature is a common narrative in many ancient religious traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. It arises in times of social and political crisis, as people try to make sense of unprecedented or shocking events. In addition, many biblical scholars think these apocalypse stories are about the destruction of corrupt political systems, rather than literally meaning the rapture at the end of the world.

These writings often consist of a stark, binary or dualistic structure, where there is a clear good & evil, a clear black & white, a clear before & after. These definitive, dualistic messages can be comforting to people who are struggling in a fractured society. And I think we can all agree that our country is very fractured and polarized and that we are experiencing an exhausting overabundance of unprecedented and shocking events.

Some of the earliest apocalyptic writings are found in Jewish scriptures, such as the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. This book was written when Jewish communities were experiencing violent persecution, as the Hellenistic age gave way to the Romans during the second and first centuries BCE. The typical objective of this kind of literature is to reconcile the righteousness of God with the suffering condition of God’s people on Earth.

The word apocalypse is derived from the Greek word ἀποκάλυψις — apokalypsis — meaning unveiling, unfolding, or revealing some hidden reality that could not be known apart from the unveiling. Therefore, an apocalypse is more than a catastrophe of destruction and devastation. It can also have a positive aspect, when the life we take for granted is suddenly unveiled and our eyes are opened in awareness.

So, what is being revealed in our current situation? Maybe we are seeing an unveiling of the fault lines in our cultural reality that have always existed. Perhaps we are only just noticing these fault lines now, because the tears in our social, economic, and political fabric seem so apparent and definitive.

In chapter 13, verse 8 of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said, “This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” The way I hear this is that we need to wake up to what is being revealed and get ready for the birth of something new. So, what is our path forward when everything seems shrouded in darkness? It seems to me that the only way to navigate this change will be to deconstruct what we take for granted to make room for evolution in our lives and in society generally. So, rather than feeling threatened and fearful, we can think of our current apocalypse as a radical rearrangement of reality into something we have not seen before. It’s not the actual end of the world, just the end of our current mental construction of the world. We need to grieve – yes – but also to refuse to yield to sorrow and despair, and instead to courageously bring healing where we can. We are being called to do what we have the power to do. It may be a small thing or it may be large. That doesn’t really matter – doing what we uniquely have the power to do is everything God asks of us.

The apocalyptic readings are a warning for us to awaken and then to remain awake. Mark uses the words “stay awake” four times in the final paragraph of chapter 13. Daniel says that, during hard times, “the wise will shine like the bright heavens, and the leaders of justice like the stars.” We are called to this wisdom. We are invited to learn the lessons that are being unveiled to us and then to stay awake. This is what we need to do to embrace hope. This is how we let hope in. Because when we have hope, even in the chaos, and perhaps especially in times of chaos, we find that Jesus, the great Hope-Bearer is right here with us, closer than we can even imagine. As long as we keep that in mind, we can sustain any season of difficulties.

So, in closing, I would like to share with you some good advice from Steve Garnaas-Holmes, for charting a course during an apocalypse. It’s what I am holding onto in these tumultuous and distressing times.

Take courage; trust grace; stay connected; practice love.  Amen.

Readings: New Standard Revised Version (NSRV).

Reference 1: Dias, Elizabeth, The Apocalypse as an ‘Unveiling’: What Religion Teaches Us About the End Times, The New York Times, April 2, 2020.

Reference 2: Apocalyptic Literature, Wikipedia.

Image 1: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, depicting Revelation 6:1-8, woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, 1498, Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number, 19.73.209, public domain.

Image 2: The Rapture: One at the Mill, from the Bowyer’s Bible, etching by Jan Luyken, 1795, Bolton Museum, Lancashire, England.

Image 3: Apocalypse 21: A Beast With Seven Heads, depicting Revelation 13, by Matthias Scheits, Phillip Medhurst Collection.

Image 4: Apocalypse 14: An Angel and the Great Red Dragon, depicting Revelation 10:12, by Matthias Scheits, Phillip Medhurst Collection.