Thought for Today
Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
2 Peter 3:1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you 2 that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles.
dystopian - “of, relating to, or being an imagined world or society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives : relating to or characteristic of a dystopia” (www.merriam-webster.com)
I streamed a movie last night that I would categorize as dystopian. I first encountered the word dystopian when our oldest granddaughter began to read some of the ‘young adult’ fiction suggested by her middle school language arts teacher. It seemed at the time and still seems so that much of the young adult fiction we see on bookshelves (more likely on online cites) today is dystopian.
As I searched the internet this morning, I found that definition above. I also read that the word dystopian was first coined in 1962. Long before that, however, I had read a novel that seems to me to be a prime example of dystopian fiction: “Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984) is a dystopian and speculative fiction novel by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final completed book. Thematically, it centres on totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours. Nineteen Eighty-Four has often been regarded as a classic and has been acknowledged for its impact on 20th-century literature.” (en.wikipedia.org)
When I first read 1984 many years ago, I remember being horrified, disgusted, and fearful of what I read. If you haven’t read the novel and plan to do so, know in advance that still today, 77 years after it was published, it offers a very believable and extremely bleak picture of what our world could become. I don’t believe we are there yet; I still see the potential dangers all around us; I continuously pray we never get there.
As a Christian, however, I find comfort and reassurance in the Bible. Neither the word dystopia nor the adjective dystopian appear in the Bible. The history of the Hebrew people as presented in the Bible does reveal that they did understand the potential for and the reality of a society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives. The people of scripture might not have understood much of the background for 1984 or the world in which it is set. They would not have understood the post-WWII world in which Orwell wrote his novel.
Think for a minute, however, about the world in which our faith was formed. Our ancestors-in-the-faith experienced the Flood; they also knew God’s promise, “Genesis 9:12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
Jesus was born into and lived in a world suffering under the heel of Roman occupation. Instead of becoming engulfed in the suffering and misery, the sort of dystopia Orwell later imagined, Jesus spoke to the gospel message of God’s love. Instead of railing in anger and frustration at the world around him, Jesus offered compassion, healing and reconciliation with our Creator God. Maybe most importantly of all, Jesus brought hope to that suffering world.
This morning, as I think about that movie I watched last night, I think about scripture’s promise for the future, “Joel 2:28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”
This morning, I am listening to the words of God’s Spirit; I plan to dream dreams. Dreams of the world for which we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I plan to do my part in advancing the Kingdom of God. I know, “John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Listen to Jesus, live in the light of God’s love, trust God,
Pastor Ray