A Post-Apocalypse Party: Or What To Do Now That the Rapture has been Postponed

May 22, 2011  5:45 a.m.

Now that Harold Camping has joined countless others who were mistaken in their dating of the Second Coming and the Rapture of the Saints, what are we to do?  I suspect Camping’s notoriety emerged from his worldwide radio network.  Other doomsayers have predicted alternative dates, but have been unnoticed by the press.  Some of my friends planned “End of the World” and “Rapture” parties, mocking Camping’s Christian numerology.  Others stayed home to pray with their children.  But, now that this crisis is over, what shall we do?

The myth of the end of the world and the rapture of the saints catches our attention because it points to something “true” spiritually even though it isn’t “factual” chronologically.  Even if the end of the world comes in October 2011, as Camping predicts, the two events are connected – the rapture and second coming represent joy for the saints and death for the lost, which includes virtually all of humankind, according to the priests of the apocalypse.  It will be the end of the world spiritually and emotionally for those who are not raptured!  And that is bad news for all of us, even the saints!

We take apocalyptic imagery and chronology seriously because each moment represents both a death and birth.  Our little planet, hurtling around the sun, could somehow shift on its axis, as some have predicted, devastating most of earth’s surface and killing the majority of humankind. And, if we’re honest, we know that we’re not promised the next breath or the next day.  Just two months ago, my brother called me in the middle of the night, saying he was having a panic attack.  He spoke of pressure on his chest and discomfort over the previous twenty four hours.  When I reached his home to bring him over to my place to calm down and have predawn breakfast, I found him lying dead on the floor.  No doubt, when my brother began the day, he had no expectation that this would be his last day on earth.  Life is fragile and calls us to embrace each moment with gusto and gratitude.

End of the world writing is sobering, not because of its chronological accuracy; after all, every prediction has been wrong so far both chronologically and theologically. When I read the purveyors of these predictions, such as Harold Camping, I wonder how many of us really would want to spend eternity with the kind of God he describes, a god who would destroy the Grand Canyon, the Pyramids, the Pacific Coast, and the insights of Bach, Beethoven, and Buddhism, along with innocent children, on a whim and with no apparent remorse

Still, what are we going to do today, and in the future, now that we have a future, at least for awhile?  In the African American church, it is commonplace for believers to give thanks, “I thank you God for waking me up this morning.  You didn’t have to.”  Life is brief, but it is also beautiful.  This acclamation points to the simple wonder of waking up to a new day, filled with possibility and wonder.  You might say a new world dawns with each new day!  And each new day can be an epiphany, a day of rapture and delight.  As Blake noted, “If the doors of perception are cleansed, everything would appear to [us] as it is.  Infinite.”

Harold Camping was wrong.  The earth goes on.  We have been given a new day on earth.  We have risen to new life. What shall we do with it?  This is a question addressed to individuals and communities alike.  I invite you to use this reminder of mortality and finitude as an opportunity for personal transformation that will change your life and the world.  Camping’s failure is a wake up call – things can’t go on as usual; we need personally and corporately to make a quantum leap in consciousness.  We need a new world! We need to be transformed!

Let me hazard my insights, purely from my point of view, as a fifty eight year old, Euro-American theologian, spiritual guide, writer, and healing companion.  On this first day after Camping’s apocalypse, I seek to begin each day with the words of the Psalmist: “This is the day that God has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.”  I will seek to live the new world that has been given me, shaped by these values.

• I will spend my time blessing and not cursing.
• I will seek common ground and not division.
• I will look for the good even in those whose political, religious, and personal views often infuriate me.
• I will commit myself to noticing the beauty of life, especially in surprising and unexpected places.
• I will speak words of love, not hate.
• I will work diligently, but take time to rest.
• I will trust more and worry less. (This one’s difficult for me, since I am in a time of vocational transition.)
• I will take seriously my vocation as a global citizen, finding ways to support the wellbeing of other peoples’ children and grandchildren as well as my own.
• I will visualize and work for an America where diversity is honored, every child and her or his parents have enough food, adequate shelter, good health care, and meaningful work.
• I will see each encounter as an opportunity for healing and beauty.
• I will give thanks to all creatures for their gifts to me.
• I will love my wife and family with all my heart, and also see others as “family” too.
• I will balance good work and good play, seizing the moment in its joy, wonder, and fragility.
• I will send healing energy into the universe, and seek to be God’s conscious partner in the work of tikkun, healing the world.
• I will seek to see Christ coming to me with insights and creative challenges in each moment and every encounter.

Take some time to seize the day imaginatively in your own way.  What values will guide you in the gift of this new day. We can be transformed.  We can be new creations that bring new energy and hope to the world.  We can awaken to this new day ready for adventure in an adventurous universe, fragile and strong, all at the same time.

We can experience Christ in the now, so that we never ever need to worry about a future second coming.  In its beauty and challenge, it’s already here.Today, I’m inviting a group of friends over for a time of remembrance and thanksgiving for my brother’s life.  I want to honor the wonder of his life as difficult as it often was for him and those who loved him.  He lived and, in his own way, called us to see Christ in challenging situations.

Now, I may yet have my own post-apocalypse party, and light a cigar and enjoy a margarita and some guacamole. But, through it all, I will give thanks for the chance each day to begin anew as God’s partner in bringing beauty to this good earth.

Bruce Epperly is a theologian, spiritual guide, healing companion, retreat leader and lecturer, and author of nineteen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living; God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus; and Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry.