Monday, April 29, 2013
April 28th, 2012 Revelation 21:1-6
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Revelation 21:1-6
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away."
And the one who was seated on the throne said,
"See, I am making all things new."
Also he said,
"Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."
Then he said to me,
"It is done!
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end.
To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life."
I can’t tell you what heaven looks like, and I tend to disbelieve anyone who claims to
know for sure. To me stories of St. Peter and the pearly gate seem more fitting in bad jokes and
bad theology. Likewise, to read Revelation as a literal translation of what is to come seems a
shallow approach. Because there is so much more to this text then a literal interpretation. There
is a holy imagination, that invites our faithful imagination in this present time. And before you
literal readers out there, who somehow found yourself at a Presbyterian Church, get crosswise,
I am not saying imagination meaning untrue, or some hocus-pocus. I mean imagination as the
great depth to which we are invited to interpret and witness the scriptures. It is the same holy
and faithful imagination with which John wrote the book of Revelation. Of this imagination,
Biblical Scholar, Walter Brueggeman wrote,
***
“The Bible is an act of faithful imagination. It is not a package of
certitudes. It is an act of imagination that invites our faithful
imagination that makes it possible to live faithfully. The Bible is an
act of imagination that is rooted in memory but that presses always
toward a new possibility that is in front of us,” Living The
Questions.
The scripture is always putting forth new possibilities, it is not set in stone. It takes our
imagination to see the scripture alive.
It is alive; Revelation is not this dead thing that was written long ago and will happen
sometime in future. When we read Revelation we ought to remember that time is different.
That we sit, and the author John sat, in an in between time, between Christ having come, and
Christ coming again, between what is already, and what is not yet, between the Alpha and
Omega. In this present time, there are elements of both the beginning and the end, just as there
were in the writing of Revelation. John writes, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the
first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” John both saw something from before, and
imagines something that is to come. He saw creation, and he saw the new creation, a a new
heaven and a new earth for the first had passed away. This place in between is what I think is
the most important. I could care less about how the earth was created, apologies to our
geologists and creationist in the room. Likewise, I could care less about some judgement day,
or what Jesus actually looks like. For me, what is important is neither the first heaven, nor the
heaven to come, but the heaven that is now. The heaven in this in between time, in the midst of
suffering, in the beauty of our joy.
The scripture writes, “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God.” And notice the direction, it is not people being snatched up into heaven at
some future rapture, it is heaven coming down, and settling on earth. And I look around and I
see, Heaven is now. The fields are turning green, lupine is bursting forth, and Eastern Oregon is
beautiful. This week I watched a calf just minutes after it was born, mother licking it, baby
struggling, then standing, then finding its mother’s milk. This wonder of instinct and nature.
Heaven is now. I see it all the time. Do you? The other week I asked, “Where have you seen
God this week?” and I told you I was going to keep asking you. Well seeing heaven is like that,
because heaven reaches down and touches the earth. Can you open your imagination enough to
see heaven on earth? Where is it touching down?
The scripture writes,
““See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as
their God; they will be his peoples, and God will be with them; God will
wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and
crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.””
It might be hard in recent weeks to see heaven touching down in places like Boston,
but perhaps when we can’t see it, we’re not looking for the right things. Presbyterian
Minister, Rev. Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers, wrote, “When I was a boy and
I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the
helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” In Boston there were people
tying tourniquets on the wounded, common people, regular people, not nurses or
doctors but regular people helping. Heaven touches down, even in the midst of
mourning and crying. Death still happens, but it is not the final answer. Where have you
seen the helpers? In my own life just this week, two parishioners intentionally offered
kind words and and advice about divorce. Months later, you as a congregation are still
the helpers to me your pastor. Who have been your helpers? I have no doubt many of
them sit in these pews. The home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them,
they will be his people’s and God will be with them. God dwells here now. I see it all
the time. God is making all things new.
The scripture closes by saying,
"Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."
Then he said to me,
"It is done!
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end.
To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life."
It is done my friends, God is the beginning and the end, God is here, heaven is touching down.
And I am going to ask you, just like scripture asks, to write it down too. I am going to ask you,
on little sheets of paper in the pews, to write, how you imagine heaven touching down. If it was
important enough for John to write Revelation, it is likewise important for us to write down the
ways we imagine heaven touching down on earth. We must imagine because the scripture is
alive in this in between time. God is with us, and heaven is touching down.
