Saturday, August 21, 2021

It is the 21st of August 2021. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Happy Saturday (if you are listening to this on its release date)- today this show will not be following its usual format. And instead of the standard unscheduled mailbag, this is a kind of mailbag that will address the topic of the most common question/comment I receive.

Of everything I have ever done, or made, or taught there is one thing that people seem to respond to more than anything else: the benediction at the end of this program: Everything Is Going to Be Ok. X It started as a throw away line at the end of one episode of my old podcast about 7 years ago. I was depressed. But I was talking about the Gospel. The cognitive dissonance resulted in me ending the show with “everything is going to be ok?”. My former partner and I made that the sign off on that show and then I brought it over here.

1. I record the intro and the outro fresh every episode. It would be easier not to, but I have had to say the benediction to myself over 850 times in the past 2 and half years.
2. The “rumor of” line is stolen from Peter Berger’s “A Rumor Of Angels”. In it he argues that the transcendent- the Gospel- has a way of showing itself in sometimes mundane, sometimes amazing ways. He suggests one picture of this is the comfort a mother can give when she holds her scared child and says “it’s alright” or a cognate of “everything is going to be ok”
3. If I may, let me break down the EGBOK with verses

“Everything: means Everything. Not some things. This is the redemption of all things. Think Ephesians 1 “As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”.

“Is Going to be” tells us that all is not yet redeemed. It’s pessimistic (things suck!) but hopeful- “Is going to be” is advent talk. Check Romans 8:

I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us. The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters. Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice—it was the choice of the one who subjected it—but in the hope that the creation itself will be set free from slavery to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

And lastly, “Ok”. Shouldn’t that be something like “Awesome”? Why just “ok?”.

The etymology of the word is disputed, but it seems to have been popularized as an early abbreviation and joke, kind of like our “LOL” etc… O.K. was a dockworkers abbreviation for “All Clear”. And this before standardized spellings, and this in the North East. “Oll Kleer” became O.K.

If you’ve ever been in turbulence, or in a hospital emergency, there are perhaps no greater words than the pilot, or the doctor saying that everything is “OK”. It was once a SNAFU- the worst possible! And now it is clear. Everything is OK.

One more note: one of my favorite bands is Rilo Kiley. They have a song (and album) called the Execution of All Things. It’s not a happy song necessarily, but I love the cadence with which Jenny Lewis sings. She hits the beat “the execution of all things” with which I find myself copying.

A last final note from Dan.

The last word for today comes from Revelation 22

22 Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water,[a] shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb 2 through the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life, which produces twelve crops of fruit, bearing its fruit each month. The tree’s leaves are for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 21st of August 2021 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by Christoper LOL, JK, ICYMI, NVM, TL;DR Gillespie

The show is written and read by Dan van Voorhis who knows, as do you, that Shohei should walk away with the AL MVP

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.