“The Future”
Revelation 21:1-6
May the words of my
mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my Rock
and my Redeemer.
Amen
The year was
1965. In
In his book The
Applause of Heaven, Max Lucado observes that the
“golden age of technology” was expected to usher in a
“gleaming array of advances that would do our work for us and stabilize the
economy.” Predicting the future is not easy.
Lucado
suggests that the Senate Committee may have overlooked a few things: first even
technology cannot create more time. In addition they underestimated the appetite of the consumer:
how much we are willing to work to have still more things.
It is ironic that
technology did not make us relax, work less and retire earlier as hoped in
1965, but in reality made us run faster. In 2009, we still try to outwit time.
As Gods people
though, we look to Him, the author of time, and remember Genesis, “In the
beginning … darkness covered the face of the deep, and a wind from God swept
over the face of the waters and God said, Let there be light…. and God saw that
it was good and there was morning and evening the first day.” And so it remains
one day at a time.
And
we look to God’s son who redeemed time and us, “For God so loved the world that
He gave his only son that we who believe in him may not perish but have eternal
life.”
We hear in the
scripture today a call, not to outwit, but appreciate time and to consider not
just creation but a time when all will be changed:
recreated in God’s image for eternity.
This morning we heard
a description of divine time and there could be no better perspective for us as
we begin our ministry together. “See I am making all things new,
write this for these words are trustworthy and true.”
The author of The
Book of Revelation, John the Divine, is both a disciple and an artist. He records
a vision of the future that he saw while in exile on the
The most remarkable
thing about visions is that despite the clarity of the vision linear time
vanishes. Instead
the vision merges fields of past, present and future into one collage of life.
The work was composed in a literary code to disguise a
message that would have been perceived as treasonous. Without a knowledge of the almost 500 Old Testament allusions to
Daniel, Zechariah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and others, the 404 verses elude our grasp.
The Book of
Revelation is often called “The Apocalypse,” a word
taken from the Greek apoka lup
sis meaning to reveal, disclose or unveil. While this type of literature was
prevalent in the ancient world this is the only book
of that genre in the New Testament. Like
the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, another apocalyptic book, it requires
we imagine what we cannot predict.
Most of the text
describes the end times when Jesus will return to claim his kingdom and execute
justice for those that opposed God’s plan. For some, this is
the book that gets even for every assault against a disciple.
The advent of
dispensationalists in the 1800’s introduced a new word
into the text: rapture. The word does
not appear in the text and the interpretation is controversial. The Rev. Peter Gomes offers insight on this
phenomenon made popular in the “Left Behind” series. “Left behind is to the Book of Revelations
and the scholarship on it what The Da Vinci Code is
to the four gospels and the teaching traditions of the church. …but the books
make their mark.” We ought to be grateful to study this book for it has good
news to offer us: a vision of heaven that will steady
us on earth.
I am indebted to Rev.
Peter Gomes for introducing me to the work of New Testament scholar Barbara Rossing in his book The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus. She
offers us offers us a whole new way to understand “The
Revelation to John.” She counters the conventional wisdom that Revelation is a
doomsday scenario of
terror fueled by the apocalyptic fantasies of
And
there is no more hopeful excerpt from the Book of Revelation than chapter 21
verse 1-6. This second to last chapter
is a glimpse of a new heaven and a new earth after 20 chapters of struggle and
violence.
It is a testament to
God’s mercy. “See I am making all things new, write
this for these words are trustworthy and true.” Scholar William Pender reminds
us that God does not say I am making new things. He says, I am making all things new and that
includes us.
Once we grasp John’s vision we can make that future hope part of our present
reality. And so
we gather together here just as we are aware that we miss the mark over and
again but that in Christ we can be made new and even love one another as Jesus
loved us.
God does not say I am
making all things perfect either. He says I am making all things new. God
declares I am the Alpha and the Omega he who created order out of chaos and I
made a spring of life giving water for you that thirst. We are not called to be
perfect, we are called to admit we thirst for
perfection but need God: the living waters of his love and mercy.
Let me give you an
example, a man died and found himself at the gate of heaven. As St. Peter
looked for his name and began calculating the man could not help but ask how
many – points – for he knew 1,000 was the cut off.
He felt a little
impatient with St. Peter’s tabulations and said, “I was an elder and I served
on Session and many committees over the years, went on mission trips and tithed
my whole life.” “Ah yes, I see, that is 200 points.” “Two-hundred?” said the man with surprise.
“That’s right, we expect that.”
Thinking fast the man
added, “Well there is my work all those years in that firm - no matter the cost
to me, and there was a cost- I kept my integrity.” “MM mph,” said Peter as his
hands flew over the keys. Now down right nervous the man began to ramble, “And
I loved my family in good times and bad.
“Yes,” came the reply, “That’s 250.”
Now panicked to see
that his life exchange rate calculated at 450 he blurted out without thinking,
“Oh God have mercy what can I do?”
“That’s it,” said Peter – “1,000 points right there. Welcome to the
kingdom!”
Mercy.
It is incorruptible, unforgettable and powerful. “The home of God is among
mortals. He will dwell with them,” says
John and so He does. And that creates moments of
heaven on earth. The question to consider this week is are we thirsty enough to
seek out God’s mercy that we too may stand in his grace like those we so love
who have gone on before us and beckon us forward in Christ on this All Saints
Day?
Let us pray:
O God of creation and
redemption transform us into your people that we may seek you first, serve you
always and love one another trusting in your amazing grace not our own. Amen.
The Rev. Elizabeth
Kuehl
All Saint’s Day