The End of the Story

Ever wonder what's so good about the good news the church proclaims?
Today at Sunday worship at Church on the Corner, Mark gave a sermon in his "Chaos Theology" series on Meaning. Lots of really good stuff - there should be a link soon on his blog (he's probably just getting home from the evening service now). One of the things he said is that in sharing the "good news" with people, the church tends to focus on the mechanism of salvation, without giving much time to the end or the goal. In other words, we talk a lot about the death/resurrection of Jesus (maybe also about his life if we have the extra time) - but then we leave it at that. We tend not to take people to the end of the story of redemption, where God makes all things new.
Here's one practical example of where this might go...bear with me, please, because I'm still working this out and would love your thoughts:
Last night we had lots of storms moving through the area. My children were afraid of the thunder. As they went to bed, we read the story of Jesus in the boat with his disciples. Jesus falls asleep, a storm comes up, and the disciples wake him up in a panic. With a word, Jesus calms the wind and the waves. Jesus is in control of the storms, I told my girls, and he loves you and is here with you now.
Now, everything we read and talked about is true, and I don't necessarily think I should have said any more to them last night. But the story of redemption doesn't end with Jesus calming the storm. And it doesn't even end with him reconciling us to God. It ends with him re-creating the heavens and earth. That picture in Revelation 21 of a new heaven and earth is an unbelievable ending to the story of history. It says that storms - fear, chaos, destruction - are not the final word. Not only are they under Jesus' control, but they don't have the final say. There is a day coming when all that chaos and destruction are gone.
I'm very hesitant to bring it up, but how do you think a story like this might play in New Orleans? I mean, I don't think there's a whole lot of comfort in saying "the storm is under God's control" and "God is good so we have to trust his goodness in the midst of this". O.k., I realize that there's probably some comfort there. I also realize that churches in the surrounding area aren't offering words...they're busy taking care of people, and that's way better than any words at this point. But I think at some point, the church needs to finish the story and say "You know what? This storm sucked. The government's response may have sucked. But all that destruction, all that chaos - they don't have the final say. There is a day coming when there will be no more sea to flood our cities and brew up monster storms. Those storms have their day, but they are not the final word."
[update] I just read this great post by Adam and it helped solidify the vague feeling I had that something was missing in what I said here. It's this: All that help the church is giving people - that's the concrete demonstration that God is making all things new. It's the tangible evidence that the new creation is coming, because it's the new creation entering now. It's the "proof" if you will, that the story isn't over yet.