The kingdom of God is at hand. We must not slip into the comfortable complacency of our culture, which assumes the sun will come up tomorrow just as it did yesterday. Today just might be our last Divine Service, the last time we hear the forgiveness of our sins before we stand before the judgment throne of God. That is the urgent reality of the end times, the last days, what the Revelation figuratively calls the thousand years. That's what makes it like a two-minute drill in football.
Salvation is closer now than ever before.
The kingdom of God is near - so near we can almost reach out and touch it. It is as near as Jesus is near, in baptismal water, eucharistic bread and wine, forgiving words, the mouth of the minister. The kingdom of God is at hand. That changes our perspective. The world in its present form is passing away.