Escapology is about removing Jesus from our waiting and watching, whereas Jesus is the reason for eschatology.

Witnesses for the Advent Light are called to a waiting experience. Henri Nouwen said, “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.” Witnesses for the Advent Light engage in a ‘time of waiting – when we learn more about Jesus who came to set us free from slavery to sin.’ Our waiting and watching in this context is called eschatology.

According to Gordon Giles, Canon Chancellor of Rochester Cathedral, ‘escapology is the opposite of eschatology. Escapology, or rather escapism, is what Christmas has become, whereas eschatology is about what it all means: waiting and watching for the Second Coming of Jesus. Witnesses for the Advent Light beyond cultural norms are realists for eschatology, not escapologists. Escapology is about removing Jesus from our waiting and watching, whereas Jesus is the reason for eschatology.

Prayer: `Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility, that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and forever, Amen.’ – Book of Common Prayer