Some say that the world would be a better place if Jesus were in it just a little more. That's a way of saying that life for most people could be better if more people shared and lived the Christian faith.

Is that true? Some say that we can get along better without Jesus or any suggestions of God. There is a belief that religion is dangerous. According to some authors and bloggers, any God-talk is a danger because it generates fanatical attitudes that lead very quickly to acts of violence against others. If you believe God is on your side, then others could end up on the receiving end of your Inquisition or Islamic Jihad.

On another level, there is the feeling that the world is improving without any involvement of God, or belief in a god if there is none. The prosperity we enjoy appears to come through secular economic and political systems that have jettisoned all connections with religious institutions. Without praying, it seems, we are able to overthrow and kill dictators. The Arab Spring, current student uprisings and the Occupy Movement might be a quest that is more about universal human aspirations toward justice and freedom and a whole lot less about religion — in spite of the apparent revival of Islamic politics and Sharia Law where the Arab Spring continues.

I don't want to pose the question, "What does religion have to do with the future?" because that immediately leads the question, "Which religion?" They are definitely all not "basically the same," as we are so often told. The question has to be much more specific. "What does Mohammed have to do with the future?" or "What does the Buddha have to do with it?"

I'm limiting my question to this: "What does Jesus Christ have to do with the improvement of our lives for the future in this world?"

The response some Christians have to this question can be disappointing. Some believers feel that Jesus' main plan is to take his followers away from this earth to Heaven, and that ultimately, Heaven is the fitting home of those who believe in him. If that's true, this world doesn't have much value and its improvement is not a great priority. This is the kind of view you get, for example, in the very popular Left Behind book series.

Other Christians, especially in the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries, used to take the view that such interventions seemed too crude for God and for Jesus. They surmised that Jesus is intervening in a more sophisticated sense: through human evolution of all kinds, he is helping the world reach utopia. Two barbaric world wars cut away this understanding — though some religious optimists failed to catch on.

What if, though, the Bible's account of Jesus suggests something different? That he is indeed present in some way, especially through his people and his Spirit; but that he is in another sense absent and preparing to come back. His return will not be for the purpose of lifting his own to Heaven, but for the purpose of welcoming Heaven back into our world and into our lives. He will come put all things right. Judgment will happen. But God's judgment in the Bible is always a good thing. It is a judgment in favour of the oppressed and marginalized and a judgment against oppressors of all kinds.

This would mean that his people should be preparing for his return by thinking and acting in hope. Preparing for him does not mean withdrawing into a life of only prayer and devotion waiting for his return. Rather it means getting your hands dirty; it means putting your feet on the ground, looking for ways to demonstrate compassion towards people in trouble right where you are; it means working for justice and fairness in every way that is available to you; it means supporting others who may not share faith in Jesus, but are also on a quest for a world that is more just than it is.

Jesus will return. And in the meantime, his people can be a signpost of hope in a world that is difficult to negotiate. God cares, and the evils that currently trouble all of us will one day, suddenly, fade to black. When he comes back, Heaven's light, grace and redemption will dramatically fill this world, our planetary home.
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