rapture

Today, is one of those days when the world is going to end. There have been quite a few of them and for myself, I am a little dubious that the world will not be here tomorrow- preferring to stick to the idea that we will not know the time or hour. Jesus seemed to encourage his disciples not to fall into too much idle speculation about things which they would not find the answer to and which really did not matter that much.
So whilst I am not convinced that today is the day for the Rapture I do have a vaguely uneasy feeling that if Jesus did turn up in clouds of glory I might feel a little uncomfotable in answering for exactly how well I am contributing to the spread of the Gospel. For whilst I do not think I can save the world single handed (and that has been done anyway) I think, in common with most people, and even as a priest, I suffer from moments of sheer lack of courage or worse of apathy.
This is where I would shrink a little to meet Jesus today - in those times where I know I have not done as well as I could, not said the thing that put myself on the line for the Gospel, or decided that I was just too tired (when perhaps I wasn't!).
There is a steadiness which is required in the Christian life, we cannot all run around frantically all the time - apart from anything else that would only seek to make us all look vaguely insane. But at the same time, I think most of us could step up a little bit more and a little more often. We don't like this fact and give ourselves a "good enough" clause. But what if Jesus did turn up at the dinner table - would you be happy with good enough?
I do not think of God as an old man in the sky with a big stick, neither do I give much credence to the rapture talkers - but I do know that one day I will meet my Saviour and I know that the vague uneasiness I feel about giving account of myself is not so much about fear of judgement - God is extremely merciful - but more a prompt not to sit back and allow - it is a call to continual action, to a real living in Christ.