Revelation 19:6-10 - David serve communion
"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb."
And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God." For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
I graduated from University at the worst possible time anyone could graduate. We were at the very top of the recession and there were no jobs for graduates to have. My best friend from High School had studied at a better school, had focused on her classes much more than I did, and had already sent out hundreds of job applications with no success. She had been interviewed dozens of times - but she hadn't received a single job offer.
My degree was in Ethnology - a field so unemployable that most Americans don't even know what Ethnology is. I would have had a better job of finding a job if my degree had been in underwater basket weaving (knitting seven sacks of barley cotton) or English Philology. I think many of you understand where I'm coming from.
It was April and I still hadn't applied for a single job. I don't really know what I was thinking at the time. I had never applied for a job before - they had just come to me in the past. I was talking with a friend one day when I finally realized that I was absolutely terrified. I genuinely considered purchasing a trailer and just living on the road until I got a job offer. I could see myself holding a sign that read: "Degree in Ethnology. Will work for food."
I was immobilized by fear. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't act, and I was certain that things wouldn't get any better. I would begin to think about my future options and I would become so overwhelmed that I would shut down.
We are not captive to our fears, but rather we are set free by the promises God has made to his children. We have much to rejoice over.
I decided that I needed to lower my expectations. I probably wouldn't start at my dream job the day after graduation. I probably wouldn't make much money and I would probably have to delay my dream of being financially independent from my parents. I needed to realize that everything would work out. I began thanking God every morning that everything would work out and that I was part of God's great plan for the world.
This freed me for joyful obedience. I wasn't in a prison of my own fears - I was free to follow God's plan for my life. Things fell together and I signed up for a volunteer position with a tiny cost of living stipend. I lived on less and lived frugally and was able to save up enough money to come and volunteer here. You've been able to watch the rest of that story play out in my life. Every day I am so thankful to be here with you and to see God working in your lives.
I've already shared my rocky path toward loving the book of Revelation. My main problem, I discovered, was that I was separating the Book of Revelation from the rest of the Bible, but this book isn't something separate or different. We don't have The Bible over here and The Book of Revelation over here on the other side. This book is just as essential to our faith as the rest of the Bible. This book teaches us who we are and what we are dreaming, hoping, and living for. It is a book of prophecy - a book about the future of the world.
When we think of prophecy, we tend to think of sorcerers and palm readers - crazy magical things that fit better in the hallways of Hogwarts than into the hallways of Ivan Franko. This is a book of prophecy - but we must think of it in terms of active prophecy. This book is a revelation of the future- but just as much it is a call to action. It calls us forth from our slumber.
This is a book of the future - and it is a book of our future. We are the church. We are the bride of Christ. We are present at the great banquet table, we are those clothed in white singing Hallelujah. We are those bowing together to worship Christ.
It's time for us to get ready.
When my rommate's grandmother was younger she worked as a librarian. When Hannya was young and just starting at her job the head librarian was a very stern, strict, and peculiar single lady. Once the head librarian was sick at home and since Hannya was the newest employee, she was chosen to go and visit the head librarian. She showed up with some food and baked goods, but the head librarian refused to open the door. Hannya explained who she was and that she had brought food. The librarian said to leave the food by the door and to go away. Hannya was a little persistent and said that perhaps she could come in and visit for a few minutes since it was her work responsibility to visit. The head librarian left Hannya outside in the hallway for over an hour while she cleaned her apartment and put on makeup before opening the door to reluctantly receive her guest.
When the head librarian was turning sixty, the other librarians teased her that they would throw a surprise birthday party for her and host it at her apartment. They were coming soon and she needed to get ready. She stressed and stressed over the idea of people coming to her apartment. She was terrified. She cleaned every room of her home, but realized that the floor was just too dirty for guests. So she decided that it needed to be painted. The head librarian bought the cheapest paint she could find and began painting her floor. She hadn't read the instructions and didn't open any of her windows. Her coworkers found her dead in her home after she hadn't shown up for work for several days.
This story is so indicative of how so often the church has tried to prepare the world for the end times. We make everything sound so crazy - and we make these beautiful words of hope into something toxic enough to kill faith. This book, more than any other part of the Bible, has the ability to be misused and twisted. If we don't read it in context it is incredibly toxic.
But there is no need for this book to be harmful. This book is the beautiful conclusion to the love letter God has written to his children.
This book points over and over again to the central truth of the Gospel. God has a plan for the redemption of the world - and you are part of that plan.
In the dark days of the great depression US president Franklin Roosevelt told the terrified nation, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." These words apply to our understanding of this book. Although many words, images, and phrases sound confusing or scary - ultimately this book concludes the great love letter God has written for us. These words call us to live out our faith fearlessly. We are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. We are part of God's great plan to redeem the world. We have NOTHING to be afraid of except our own fear.
I hope that as you read the book of Revelation that it doesn't scare you - but that it sets you free for joyful obedience.
Today we will serve communion. This is the "marriage supper of the Lamb" written about in today's passage. You are invited. All are welcome to this table. Through the act of communion we may imagine the resplendent joy waiting for us in reward for a life well lived. This banquet is open to all people, but will only be attended by all people if we choose to live open lives, prepared to share the good news of what Christ has done in our lives.
Here is the brutal truth - if we lived into the good news of the Kingdom of God, and if we spend the rest of our lives living for the redemption of the world ... our lives may be difficult. There are scary images and thoughts in this book because when we live out the good news there are many people who will be unhappy about that. This is the reward that we receive for choosing God over this world. We feast together this day to remind us of the banquet that God has waiting for us.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Fearless - 2nd sermon in a series of 4 on the book of Revelation
This is my 666th post on blogspot. I genuinely considered posting a blank post in order to avoid having one of my posts be number 666 ... but, oddly enough, that mentality gets to the heart of this entire sermon series. The book of Revelation has been misused and misinterpreted to scare people into line - but Revelation is part of the canon and it is a continuation of the great love letter from God to God's people. We are unafraid.
Revelation 7:9-14
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
I didn't start reading the Bible until I was a teenager. I read the gospels and some of the shorter books first. I was really enjoying reading through the Bible. Then I figured I should read the final book. I made it past the first few pages before I stopped.
It was like going to the movie theater to watch Titanic and part way through Saw II starts showing instead. In Swahili. What was that? Really? What is that even supposed to mean?
I finished reading the book of Revelation eventually. I didn't enjoy it and I didn't learn from it. It was bizarre and frightening somehow.
It wasn't until I was in my twenties that I had a really wonderful pastor explain Revelation to me in a way I could understand. She stated very clearly, "Revelation was written as a book of hope for a persecuted church."
One of my favorite movies involves a court scene. The two defendents have been accused of murder and their non-traditional attorney is trying to prove that they are innocent. The evidence against them is overwhelming. There are several eyewitnesses who saw them fleeing the scene of the crime.
Their attorney discredits each of the witnesses one by one. He proves that one witness needs glasses by moving to the back of the courtroom and asking her how many fingers he is holding up. He discredits another witness by showing the layers of obstacles between his house and the scene of the crime. He showed how dirty his windows were, and all the trees and bushes blocking his view.
When we read the book of Revelation, our view is blocked substantially. We have two thousand years of time seperating us from the cultural, political, and ethnographic climate of the time. Not only have we never been to the places mentioned in this book, we don't know the people or even how they really lived. We don't understand the politics in play. And perhaps most importantly we don't understand the level of persecution the church was experiencing at the time.
That same pastor explained that "When comfortable Christians get their hands on this book - they do incredibly frightening and strange things with it."
As 21st century Christians, we have seen this book be exploited to prove all sorts of falsehoods. We have seen corrupt leaders use fear to coerce people by highlighting terrifying passages. They have taken images out of context and have tried to scare people into believing in Jesus. They have tried to gain more power for themselves by manipulating the more confusing parts of this book.
I was at a gathering of young people - it was hosted by a church and the man preaching had pretty extreme views. He preached for thirty minutes from the book of Revelation and he highlighted all the parts about Hell and damnation. He mentioned politicians that he didn't like and compared them to the whore of Babylon, the anti-Christ, and other evil players from this book. He mentioned the names of politicians he did like and he compared them to the two witnesses and the victorious in this book. And he continued on with the text and ensured the terrified group of young people that the end of times was any day now - and choosing one narrow, new interpretation of the final events of the Bible he screamed at those young people that Muslims and Atheists were taking over Americ and that soon we would be asked if we believed in Jesus and if we answered, "Yes" that our new leaders would kill us for this answer. He closed out his sermon by asking the frightened group to stand up if they would be willing to die, right now, for believing in Jesus.
The faithful from his small church quickly jumped to their feet - they were used to being terrified during sermons and they knew the right response. The rest of the youth slowly got to their feet - they were partially terrified of giving the wrong answer, partially terrified that the nutjob at the front of the room was going to start actually killing people, and partially afraid that their friends who were watching would think they weren't good enough Christians. The preacher really pushed and he said, "I want you to sit down if you don't really mean it. If you're not 100% sure that you would be willing to die for Christ right now - then I want you to sit back down."
Of course no one was going to be the first to sit back down and prove that they aren't a strong enough Christian. I was one of the leaders - and although I knew at the time that my honest answer would have been "I don't know!"; I kept on standing because I felt that I needed my students to think I was a great Christian.
As I think back to that day, I wish I has sat back down. I wish I had shown the courage to be honest with my students and admit that at the time I really wasn't sure if I could be a martyr. But also I wish that someone would have been brave enough to stand up to the bully in the pulpit.
The bully in the pulpit was asking those students the wrong question. Probably, none of those students will ever be put in a position where they must choose to die for Jesus. No one will ever hold a gun to their head and ask them if they believe. But every day they will be faced with the question of whether they will live for Christ.
Most days, Christ isn't calling us to die for him - he's calling us to live for him.
Every day you will face a situation that calls out the question, "Will you live for Christ?" Will you retell that racist joke, join everyone else in laughing at the outcast kid, or will you choose to live for Christ? Will you take a job that goes against your conscience or will you choose to trust Christ?
When I planned out this sermon, I had grand ideas of sharing wonderful stories of people who have died for their faith. I wanted the stories of Father Omelian Kovch, Corrie ten Boom, the apostles, and others who faced the final question and chose Christ over life itself. But as I began to think about things more, I couldn't ask you to compare yourself to those people in those situations.
If the situation came up, I'm not certain that I would be willing to die for my faith. I would like to think that I would, but I can't be certain. Even as a missionary and a leader in the church; I'm not very good at living out my faith. I mess up so very much and ignore my faith and better judgement so often. I would hope that I would be willing to die for my faith - but to prove that to myself I must be willing to live for my faith.
When I was born, there were many complications and my mother almost died. For years she underwent a series of back surgeries. It was unbearably painful for her to stand or sit. Mom had a friend from church named Althea, and every week for those painful years Althea would show up and say, "I'm here to clean the bathrooms." Cleaning the bathrooms would have been an impossibility for my mother, but for Althea it was a joy to come and help my mother as she raised two small children in difficult circumstances. Will we live for Christ?
My friends Bob and Ruth are like my second parents. Bob is a pastor and in his forty years of ministry he has served many churches and ministries very well. His wife, Ruth, is a trained teacher and counselor. She has a very good education. When Bob ended up in our central office building to help administer the life of the church, Ruth decided that she wanted a job where she could connect with young people. Although her training and experience could have landed her any number of high-paying jobs in her field, she took a job as a waitress at a popular restaurant. To many of the young waiters and waitresses Ruth has become the mom or grandma that they never had. She counsels them and helps them understand life. She talks openly about her faith, and many of the young people who had never been connected to faith are interested to hear her story. She doesn't make much money, and the work is pretty terrible - but Ruth is happy to be light in a dark world. Will we live for Christ?
This great cloud of witnesses all dressed in white referenced in today's scripture passage can be compared to being present in a church just filled with icons. All around you will be familiar faces of the faith - the apostles, church fathers, and martyrs of the faith - but also faces so much more familiar to you. We will be surrounded by those who lived out their faith every day. We will be surrounded by friends and family who spoke out on behalf of the poor and the marginalized. We will know the faces on that day of those who took unpopular positions and demanded equality for all people. We will see the faces of heroes of our faith of whom we have never heard.
We will be surrounded by the haloed faces of "God's littlests" - all of those who served, prayed, and loved with all that they had and never received an ounce of thanks or appreciation on this side of heaven.
One day a national politician showed up at Puzata Hata. As he was going through the line, one of the women working gave him a piece of fish that he ordered. He looked at her and said, "That other piece in the pan is much bigger, can I have that one instead? The woman looked at him, set his plate down and began serving the next customer. The politician was indignant. "Do you know who I am? I am a very well known politician. I am very important and serve on several committees. Now do you want to give me that bigger piece of fish?" The woman looked at him and said, "Do you know who I am? I am the woman dishing out the fish."
This world tells us to stand up proudly for who we are - to list our accomplishments and rewards as often as we can. The Gospel teaches us to stand up for whose we are - to point to Christ and to deny ourselves at every opportunity. To be a loud and clear voice for the Kingdom of God, and to use words only when we really have to. God's littlest can't help but have holes in the knees of their jeans - from praying on their knees and stooping to scrub floors in humble service.
Nate Saint, a missionary and a martyr once said, "People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives in Christian service to the world. They forget that they too are expending their lives ... and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."
Dear friends, every action we take / every word we say / every accomplishment we achieve; they all point to the reality of our beliefs. Do we believe that God is real? Do we believe that God is love? Do we believe that God is working through us to redeem the world? Do we believe the Gospel message of Jesus Christ or do we believe the lies of this world? Do we believe that we must work 70 hours a week to have enough money to buy a bigger apartment to fill with stuff that we don't care about to show off to friends we don't really like? Do we believe that or do we believe that God has better for us?
God calls us to live fearlessly. This day I won't ask if you are willing to die for Christ - I will simply ask, Are you willing to live for Christ.
Amen.
Revelation 7:9-14
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
I didn't start reading the Bible until I was a teenager. I read the gospels and some of the shorter books first. I was really enjoying reading through the Bible. Then I figured I should read the final book. I made it past the first few pages before I stopped.
It was like going to the movie theater to watch Titanic and part way through Saw II starts showing instead. In Swahili. What was that? Really? What is that even supposed to mean?
I finished reading the book of Revelation eventually. I didn't enjoy it and I didn't learn from it. It was bizarre and frightening somehow.
It wasn't until I was in my twenties that I had a really wonderful pastor explain Revelation to me in a way I could understand. She stated very clearly, "Revelation was written as a book of hope for a persecuted church."
One of my favorite movies involves a court scene. The two defendents have been accused of murder and their non-traditional attorney is trying to prove that they are innocent. The evidence against them is overwhelming. There are several eyewitnesses who saw them fleeing the scene of the crime.
Their attorney discredits each of the witnesses one by one. He proves that one witness needs glasses by moving to the back of the courtroom and asking her how many fingers he is holding up. He discredits another witness by showing the layers of obstacles between his house and the scene of the crime. He showed how dirty his windows were, and all the trees and bushes blocking his view.
When we read the book of Revelation, our view is blocked substantially. We have two thousand years of time seperating us from the cultural, political, and ethnographic climate of the time. Not only have we never been to the places mentioned in this book, we don't know the people or even how they really lived. We don't understand the politics in play. And perhaps most importantly we don't understand the level of persecution the church was experiencing at the time.
That same pastor explained that "When comfortable Christians get their hands on this book - they do incredibly frightening and strange things with it."
As 21st century Christians, we have seen this book be exploited to prove all sorts of falsehoods. We have seen corrupt leaders use fear to coerce people by highlighting terrifying passages. They have taken images out of context and have tried to scare people into believing in Jesus. They have tried to gain more power for themselves by manipulating the more confusing parts of this book.
I was at a gathering of young people - it was hosted by a church and the man preaching had pretty extreme views. He preached for thirty minutes from the book of Revelation and he highlighted all the parts about Hell and damnation. He mentioned politicians that he didn't like and compared them to the whore of Babylon, the anti-Christ, and other evil players from this book. He mentioned the names of politicians he did like and he compared them to the two witnesses and the victorious in this book. And he continued on with the text and ensured the terrified group of young people that the end of times was any day now - and choosing one narrow, new interpretation of the final events of the Bible he screamed at those young people that Muslims and Atheists were taking over Americ and that soon we would be asked if we believed in Jesus and if we answered, "Yes" that our new leaders would kill us for this answer. He closed out his sermon by asking the frightened group to stand up if they would be willing to die, right now, for believing in Jesus.
The faithful from his small church quickly jumped to their feet - they were used to being terrified during sermons and they knew the right response. The rest of the youth slowly got to their feet - they were partially terrified of giving the wrong answer, partially terrified that the nutjob at the front of the room was going to start actually killing people, and partially afraid that their friends who were watching would think they weren't good enough Christians. The preacher really pushed and he said, "I want you to sit down if you don't really mean it. If you're not 100% sure that you would be willing to die for Christ right now - then I want you to sit back down."
Of course no one was going to be the first to sit back down and prove that they aren't a strong enough Christian. I was one of the leaders - and although I knew at the time that my honest answer would have been "I don't know!"; I kept on standing because I felt that I needed my students to think I was a great Christian.
As I think back to that day, I wish I has sat back down. I wish I had shown the courage to be honest with my students and admit that at the time I really wasn't sure if I could be a martyr. But also I wish that someone would have been brave enough to stand up to the bully in the pulpit.
The bully in the pulpit was asking those students the wrong question. Probably, none of those students will ever be put in a position where they must choose to die for Jesus. No one will ever hold a gun to their head and ask them if they believe. But every day they will be faced with the question of whether they will live for Christ.
Most days, Christ isn't calling us to die for him - he's calling us to live for him.
Every day you will face a situation that calls out the question, "Will you live for Christ?" Will you retell that racist joke, join everyone else in laughing at the outcast kid, or will you choose to live for Christ? Will you take a job that goes against your conscience or will you choose to trust Christ?
When I planned out this sermon, I had grand ideas of sharing wonderful stories of people who have died for their faith. I wanted the stories of Father Omelian Kovch, Corrie ten Boom, the apostles, and others who faced the final question and chose Christ over life itself. But as I began to think about things more, I couldn't ask you to compare yourself to those people in those situations.
If the situation came up, I'm not certain that I would be willing to die for my faith. I would like to think that I would, but I can't be certain. Even as a missionary and a leader in the church; I'm not very good at living out my faith. I mess up so very much and ignore my faith and better judgement so often. I would hope that I would be willing to die for my faith - but to prove that to myself I must be willing to live for my faith.
When I was born, there were many complications and my mother almost died. For years she underwent a series of back surgeries. It was unbearably painful for her to stand or sit. Mom had a friend from church named Althea, and every week for those painful years Althea would show up and say, "I'm here to clean the bathrooms." Cleaning the bathrooms would have been an impossibility for my mother, but for Althea it was a joy to come and help my mother as she raised two small children in difficult circumstances. Will we live for Christ?
My friends Bob and Ruth are like my second parents. Bob is a pastor and in his forty years of ministry he has served many churches and ministries very well. His wife, Ruth, is a trained teacher and counselor. She has a very good education. When Bob ended up in our central office building to help administer the life of the church, Ruth decided that she wanted a job where she could connect with young people. Although her training and experience could have landed her any number of high-paying jobs in her field, she took a job as a waitress at a popular restaurant. To many of the young waiters and waitresses Ruth has become the mom or grandma that they never had. She counsels them and helps them understand life. She talks openly about her faith, and many of the young people who had never been connected to faith are interested to hear her story. She doesn't make much money, and the work is pretty terrible - but Ruth is happy to be light in a dark world. Will we live for Christ?
This great cloud of witnesses all dressed in white referenced in today's scripture passage can be compared to being present in a church just filled with icons. All around you will be familiar faces of the faith - the apostles, church fathers, and martyrs of the faith - but also faces so much more familiar to you. We will be surrounded by those who lived out their faith every day. We will be surrounded by friends and family who spoke out on behalf of the poor and the marginalized. We will know the faces on that day of those who took unpopular positions and demanded equality for all people. We will see the faces of heroes of our faith of whom we have never heard.
We will be surrounded by the haloed faces of "God's littlests" - all of those who served, prayed, and loved with all that they had and never received an ounce of thanks or appreciation on this side of heaven.
One day a national politician showed up at Puzata Hata. As he was going through the line, one of the women working gave him a piece of fish that he ordered. He looked at her and said, "That other piece in the pan is much bigger, can I have that one instead? The woman looked at him, set his plate down and began serving the next customer. The politician was indignant. "Do you know who I am? I am a very well known politician. I am very important and serve on several committees. Now do you want to give me that bigger piece of fish?" The woman looked at him and said, "Do you know who I am? I am the woman dishing out the fish."
This world tells us to stand up proudly for who we are - to list our accomplishments and rewards as often as we can. The Gospel teaches us to stand up for whose we are - to point to Christ and to deny ourselves at every opportunity. To be a loud and clear voice for the Kingdom of God, and to use words only when we really have to. God's littlest can't help but have holes in the knees of their jeans - from praying on their knees and stooping to scrub floors in humble service.
Nate Saint, a missionary and a martyr once said, "People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives in Christian service to the world. They forget that they too are expending their lives ... and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."
Dear friends, every action we take / every word we say / every accomplishment we achieve; they all point to the reality of our beliefs. Do we believe that God is real? Do we believe that God is love? Do we believe that God is working through us to redeem the world? Do we believe the Gospel message of Jesus Christ or do we believe the lies of this world? Do we believe that we must work 70 hours a week to have enough money to buy a bigger apartment to fill with stuff that we don't care about to show off to friends we don't really like? Do we believe that or do we believe that God has better for us?
God calls us to live fearlessly. This day I won't ask if you are willing to die for Christ - I will simply ask, Are you willing to live for Christ.
Amen.
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