Who needs a metanarrative?

The metanarrative (grand story) of the Judeo-Christian faith begins in Genesis and if we don't take the time to understand the beginnings how can we even begin to understand the final book in the Bible. For a long time Christians have been obsessed about what will be and many trees have sacrificed for the cause of understanding. The Bible is one of the few books I know of that anyone would pick up and read the final chapter without bothering with the first chapter of the story. In this way, Christians have more to do with the loss of metanarrative than the postmodern philosophers. We have completely neglected to immerse ourselves in the story of our faith.

Is the question, how did the world get where it is today less important than the question of what is the ultimate destiny? If we bothered more to understand the care with which God made the world in the first place in order to make it the perfect environment for our lives, we might read the final chapter of the story (Revelation) with great sadness rather than with any sense of triumph. Ultimately, God has to destroy His own creation in order to redeem it.

I have made one piece of furniture in my life and it isn't particularly well-made and we don't actually use it in our house but if Suzanne ever tried to toss it out I would feel an incredible sense of loss. We have been so focused on the ending of the story: destruction of the earth in the end in preparation for the new heavens and new earth that we have neglected to concern ourselves with the preservation of the creation, our original task. The metanarrative that begins in Genesis is important stuff if we are to understand our place in creation, caretakers.