The second coming of Christ will be more glorious than the first. I believe there may be a return of Christ, descending in a cloud in the East. A glorious return, with full fanfare. The gospels and epistles tell us this is what we long for. But hearts grow weary! It is contrary to human nature to have hope so strong that it counteracts the basic needs of belonging, to be loved, to be recognized. And what comfort can so vague a reward bring to someone lifting his wrecked child from the twisted remains of car.
‘In His second coming he will be clothed in light as a garment.’ ‘And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple.’ ‘…he comes like a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing.’ ‘…waiting for…the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.’
The mystics talk about Divine Union with God. We emerge from the Cloud of Unknowing into a light that has no shadow. There is radiance and joy, full of love.
To get to that place, we sit and wait for him. Over the years of sitting and waiting, we dwell in an internal space. There we participate in a parade of life, and death. We begin with the uphill struggle of just sitting in the confusion, not running away. How long does it take, before we can unwrap the swirl of thoughts and emotions and learn to just sit there, quietly observing.
Then the parade begins in earnest. We begin to relive past events. Painfully, we observe scenarios that wounded, the source of wounds that drive our external lives out of control. As in a holograph, we see and hear ourselves and another saying and doing hurtful things. In the safety of this internal space, we watch the dynamic with cool detachment, and see what a jerk we really are. Tenderness arises for that poor Other who has been roughly treated.
And so the parade continues through the years, as layer upon layer of images play out over each of the emotions that trap us. Attachment to things and people, and its opposite aversion. Pride driving us to be always first. Sloth quelling the inner voice that taps on the shoulder and whispers, “This is the path, walk ye in it.” Fear and anger, the firestorms that arise from the forces of attachment, aversion, pride, sloth.
Eventually the parade subsides. The forces that drive us are subdued and replaced. We become more like the bareback horse who is so melded to his master that the slightest touch against the withers, a mere leaning this way or that and the horse goes where his Master wills.
Now when we sit in His presence, there is a silence like standing at dawn after a rain, enveloped in a dense fog. We hear the beating of our heart, the whining of neurons firing signals on their paths, the drip of rain from the trees, the cool moist air on the face. We are there in the center of it all, calm, alone, in touch with All and nothing.
And still we sit and wait.
And one day, as awakening from a dream, we see Him as He truly is. In all the splendor and glory of creation, we see His majesty. As love arises from the core to fill and irradiant all of existence, we see things as they really are. Stripped of the illusion of right and wrong, good and bad, we truly understand the judgment and the judge. And then we know, this is His glorious Second Coming, for here we are truly in the presence of our Lord and King.
The Abiding Never Ends
18 years ago
