Surprised By Hope

I just began reading theologian N.T. Wright's latest book: "Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church". In it he has a great illustration of what one's life looks like in response to the Kingdom of God.

A rich old member gives to a college a wonderful, glorious painting that simply won't fit any of the spaces available in the college and that is so magnificent that eventually the college decides to pull itself down and rebuild itself around this great and unexpected gift, discovering as it does so that all the best things about the college are thereby enhanced within the new structure and all the problems of which people had been aware are thereby dealt with. And the key thing about that illustration, inadequate though it is, is that there must be some point at which the painting is received by the existing college, some epistemological point of overlap to enable the college officers to make their momentous decision. The donor doesn't just come along, blow up the college unasked, present the painting, and then say, "Now figure out what to do."

This illustration serves as a reminder that following Jesus calls us to completely re-orient our way to the Kingdom of God. We don't ask God's "gift" to fit our current structure, but rather are compelled to let go of the old that something new may be built. In light of this illustration I have a lot of deconstruction to do.