The second coming

I grew up in the country and visited a small local school. We read books about little boys called Lucifer who got away with stealing a cooky in chapter one, and were riddled with guilt for the rest of the book.

We started every day with a story from the bible and I listened mesmerized when that mean Delila betrayed Samson and made him get a really bad hair cut giving a whole new meaning to 'a bad hair day'. And how poor Eli broke his neck when he keeled over in his chair. From then on I made sure I didn't lean too far back!

On a gloomy day in January our teacher showed us a newspaper clipping picturing the the Shroud of Turin telling us about the promise of Jesus' return. I was all excited expecting Jesus back any day. Every day I looked at the sky to see if he was coming, and on beautiful sunny days, when the sky was a beautiful Teletubby blue I was sure: this is the day Jesus is coming back! In my mind I saw him descending on the same cloud he left on.

Now I'm almost forty years old, and sometimes I still scan the sky looking for Jesus, but I also feel a strong connection to spiritual christianity, the way it's described by Anneke Pokerman in her book 'Letting go of the church'.

Spiritual Christianity emphasises Jesus as a guide, helping us find our inner spirit, the Christ within us. And maybe the long awaited return of Jesus isn't far and away and everywhere all at once, but personal. He may be coming back to every person individually, when that person is able to recognize and meet him.