Christ saves the world even now from judgment and preserves it moment-by-moment for the potential salvation of many and, ultimately, the created order itself.
During the last days, among the faithful, the resurrected Jesus is present in self-donation to assure the baptized that we ourselves are already participating in the new creation through Holy Baptism.
Whatever conclusions one may have regarding the earth and redemption, they must be understood as a consequence of the ongoing work and reality of the incarnate Son of God.
There is a better way to preach the End Times that has nothing to do with Left Behind series scenarios. The key is no secret at all. Follow where Christology leads.
Authentic proclamation, then, is the love of Christ for our souls, which we have seen and experienced through the under-shepherd’s pastoral care put into the words of Christ Himself.
By making a big deal of every baptism, of every confirmation, of every rite of matrimony, the Church takes a stand against the intrusion of consumerism, secularism, identity politics, subversive subcultures, gender dysphoria, and the like.
Hymns were a means by which people were brought into direct contact with the Gospel that brought justifying faith. Set to music, they could readily memorize it, take it home with them, and rehearse its messages around the hearth and at work.
The pastor, then, possesses the prerogative of calling the children to himself, in the stead of Christ and after the manner of Christ, to particularly bless them with the Word.
Preaching the Word made flesh liberates the imagination from this world’s false and crippling vision of reality, and once again brings the imagination into an encounter with the one and only true and living God through Immanuel: “God with us.”
In the Church, the cry is, “He loves,” and it is that message which transforms our worldviews from taking to giving, from radical individualism to trans-demographic inclusivism, from selfishness to selflessness, from “tolerate my rights” to “loving rightly together.”