There have been people predicting the end of he world for thousands of years. In Jesus' time there were apocalyptic cults with lots of followers. In scholarly circles, Jesus is often thought of as an apocalytic teacher. He put in a caveat - no one will know when it will happen.
There have been many "teachers" over history who said they knew the time, and who gathered followers together to get ready. Often they took the wealth of the followers and disappeared. It is said that New Year's Eve, December 31, 999 C.E. people slept fearfully in churches, for they were told the world would end that night. In my lifetime, I am aware of a number of times people said the end would be such and such a date. But we are still here.
This morning I awoke with the song, "Waltzing Mathilda" singing in my mind. It always takes me to the movie, 'On the Beach." a movie about the nuclear end of humanity. It has haunted me all these many years.
Then I thought my world IS about to end. My husband has stage 4 peritoneal and appendix cancer. Yesterday the doctors drained 6.5 litersof fluid from his abdomen, and they told us to put him in pallitive care or hospice. My world, the world of us, is about to end.
Then I thought of all of the worlds that have ended for me. My childood ended. My parents died and I became a sort of orphan, although I was very much an adult. Changes, monumental changes kept happening, the world shifted, the way of my life was no longer one way and was thrust to another, endings and beginnings over and over. Some gentle shifts from one world to another, some violent. But endings never cease, along with the promise of new beginnings.
So maybe the fear-mongering shout of "the world is coming to an end", is more personal than tomorrow there will be no actual world. Of course, those in power, with hubris in their hearts, could blow humanity off the planet, but baring that, we will see our personal worlds end, over and over again.
The questions we could ask ourselves -What will I do with this new beginning opportunity? Will I whine and complain on and on about the ending? Or will I look with fresh eyes and bravely walk into the gift of a new beginning?