End of Days at Shove Council

 

This week, at a very special Shove Council, we discussed Apocalypse and End of Days narratives. It was a wonderful, thriving discussion about what it means to talk about the end of the world. We spanned a broad range of topics, from sensationalist Hollywood Apocalypse stories and the eventual heat death of the universe to personal epiphanies and the clarity that comes from ending a story.

People of every generation seem to have their own Apocalypse narratives, whether it be impending nuclear armageddon or inevitable climate change. Things become even more complicated when you consider what the “end of the world” entails. The end of our personal experience of the world (death)? Or the end of a certain world (what’s the difference between the collapse of the United States versus the collapses of many other countries that seem to already be happening)? Additionally, what happens when we consider apocalypses that may already have happened? The one species of mammal that survived an otherwise mass extinction. The Jewish community that was forced to reevaluate its relationship to God after the destruction of the 2nd Temple. The early Christians who were told Jesus would come back in their generation and then had to re imagine what all those stories had meant.

On a smaller scale, how do we envision our time here as an apocalypse? With every 4th week comes a certain kind of “end of days.” With every block break, a utopia. And then the cycle starts again.

In this week, may each of your own apocalypses bring the clarity that only comes with an ending.

Cheers,

Ben Grund, Chaplain’s Intern.