Category Archives: Apocalypse

November 15, 2010

Better than a Hallelujah

By marciglass

A sermon preached Nov 14, 2010 at Southminster Presbyterian Church, Boise, Idaho

Isa 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered  accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD—
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Luke 21:1-19
He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury;
he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said,  “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”
And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.”
Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.
This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name.
But not a hair of your head will perish.
By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

We have two very different texts today. The beautiful promise from Isaiah of God’s new heaven and new earth—where children will grow up in peace and health and wholeness to live long and productive lives. A world where their labor will bear fruit for the benefit of their families and their communities—not just be something to be stolen by the powers that carted them off to exile.

This vision seems in contrast to Jesus’ description about the destruction of the temple—where false prophets will rise in God’s name, where nation will rise against nation, where great earthquakes, famines, and plagues shall trouble the people.

Which one seems easier to understand in our world today?

But maybe they aren’t so different, really. After spending time with both of these texts the past few weeks, I found them both to be hopeful.

Let’s start with the Isaiah text. If you were here last week, I preached from Haggai, where he was encouraging the Israelites, recently home from exile, to rebuild the Temple. And this text from Isaiah dates from the same time frame, shortly after the Persians have sent the Israelites home.

People who know about loss, dislocation, and destruction are being offered a beautiful message of reconstruction.

“They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.”
You don’t need to say those verses to people whose lives have been stable. You say those words to people who aren’t sure where they are going to sleep tomorrow, to people who have been relocated so many times that they aren’t even sure where the rest of their friends and family are.

This new creation is also, if you notice, a new community. Animals who never spent time together before, will be hanging out together now. An understanding of community that we’ve never seen before—where the wolf, instead of eating the lamb, will eat together with the lamb. Where the lion, instead of eating the ox, will eat the ox’s straw with the ox. How would our communities be different if we were intentional about sharing a meal with the people we are sure are out to get us?

I take great hope that if lambs can invite wolves over to join them for dinner, then we can figure that out too. For all of the comfort of Isaiah’s message, it isn’t necessarily easy. God doesn’t promise them, “the Idaho Vandal will eat dinner with the Vandal and the BSU fan will have other BSU fans over for brunch.”

I kid, a little.
But the point remains.

Your vision of heaven shouldn’t involve you only spending time with the people you want to see.

And in this vision of new heaven and new earth the lions remain lions and the lambs remain lambs. But somehow they come together, so this passage should give us faith that God has a vision for how we, in our individual particularities, can live together in love, no matter how diverse or different we are.

And it is important to remember that we are to seek this new creation NOW. This isn’t something for which we just look around at the world around us and then say, “this place is a mess. I’m waiting for God to come and fix it”.

God has given us this vision and we are to go about making it so. We are to seek justice so that children will be able to live long and healthy lives. While we are relatively safe and comfortable here this morning, 22,000 children will die today around the world.

22,000.

You can see a “world clock” at this link to get another view of what’s happening around our planet.

Many of those deaths happen because children do not have access to clean drinking water. Because they do not receive routine immunizations.

Because they had the misfortune of being born in a warzone.

Because they happen to be living in a tent city in post-earthquake Haiti when Cholera came to town.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days.

Maybe we can’t save all 22,000 kids each day. But what could we do to make Isaiah’s vision come true in this community and around the world?

Whatever we do, we are called to bring this vision of the world to people who need to hear it and know it.

A young woman who went to Whitworth College and volunteered with the youth at the church where I grew up in Spokane, founded an organization after she graduated from college. Blood:Water Mission was started because some people tried to help alleviate the affects of HIV and AIDS in Subsaharan Africa. Here is some information from their website:

Since its launch, Blood:Water Mission has raised millions of dollars from individuals seeking to make a difference. We have partnered with more than 800 communities in Africa, providing life-saving water and health needs for over 500,000 people. Along the way the 1000 Wells Project has expanded wholistically to include a variety of clean water solutions and sanitation and hygiene training, as well as funding health clinics, community health workers, and support groups, which help in the prevention, treatment, care and support of communities affected by AIDS. We are beginning to incorporate HIV/AIDS-specific programming alongside ongoing water programming in 2009 and onwards.

This woman was 22 when she and others founded this organization. So, what are you going to do to bring about God’s vision of a New Creation?

We are near the end of our liturgical calendar, which is the calendar of the church. Today is actually the last day in what they call “Ordinary Time”. Next week, we will look at the Reign of Christ. And then, on the Sunday after thanksgiving, we begin a new liturgical year with the beginning of Advent.

And the last day in Ordinary Time each year gives us versions of this text from Luke—where Jesus talks about the destruction of the Temple. The poorly behaved part of me wonders if they include this text here just so you won’t feel too cozy and comfortable as you head into Advent, or so pastors will feel uncomfortable.
But I’m sure that’s not it.

I think Luke’s destruction of the Temple story is a continuation of Isaiah, in some ways.

Isaiah’s theme of justice for all is shown in some relief at the beginning of Luke’s story. Before he talks about the Temple, Jesus and his disciples appear to be sitting in front of it, watching people bring their contributions.

“He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury;
he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

But then he talks about the Temple. “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Jesus and his buddies are hanging out by the treasury at the temple, watching people bring their donations. The rich people give out of their abundance. The poor widow gives her two pennies. This passage is often preached as praising the widow for giving so generously out of her poverty, but I’m not sure that is what Jesus is commenting on.

He doesn’t criticize the rich people for their generous sums. But he doesn’t actually praise the poor widow, either. What he observes is that her gift is larger than everyone else’s because she has just given away the money she needed to live on. The “truly I tell you” is one of Jesus’ trademark “pay attention” comments. But he isn’t talking to the widow. He’s talking to the disciples. He’s talking to us.

“Truly I tell you, you have set up a system here at this temple that is ridiculous. You require sacrifices from people that allow the rich people to feel holier than the rest of the world and force the poor widow to go hungry. Do you think this is the sacrifice my Father wants?!”

This system at the Temple is NOT going to bring about the New Creation, with justice for all.

He isn’t saying we shouldn’t give out of our abundance or out of our scarcity, but he is saying that when we give, it shouldn’t be so we can put gold leaf on the walls.

We should give so that we can make sure the poor widow doesn’t only have two pennies. Our giving should be about making peoples lives better.

The text goes on to describe the hardships that the people of God will face. War, famine, earthquakes, persecution.
Sign me up!

This is another one of those passages where Jesus’ PR people were standing there behind him, hanging their heads. “This will never work, Jesus. Nobody wants to sign up for this!”

But I hear hope in this story. These things will give you an opportunity to testify, to witness, to God’s presence in your lives.

“But not a hair of your head will perish.
By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

I have heard some of your testimonies. While we are good at praising God for the good days, when we talk about our faith journeys, it is often the trials that we mention as having brought us to a deeper understanding of God’s love.

I do not think that God causes the difficult things in our lives just so we’ll say nice things about God. But I do think that in the midst of the things that happen to us, God wants us to remember that NONE of it is beyond God’s presence or God’s redemptive powers. Remember the song from the meditation this morning?

We pour out our miseries,
God just hears a melody.
Beautiful the mess we are,
the honest cries of breaking hearts,
are better than a hallelujah.

Friends, we are called to pour out our miseries. To testify to the pain and brokenness in the world. To testify to the grace and the presence of God in the midst of it all.

And the other thing to remember about the Temple passages in the Gospels is that while the story takes place during Jesus life and ministry, by the time the story is written down and read by his followers, some time has past. By the time early Christians are reading this story, the Temple has already fallen. While they are reading about Jesus in front of the Temple, they are looking at a pile of rubble.

And Jesus wants them to know that this isn’t the end.

God isn’t limited to a building.

God became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.

No matter the trials we face in this life, God has experienced it too, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

As we leave “ordinary time” and enter into a new liturgical season of Advent, where we’ll prepare for the birth of God’s own son, remember the uncomfortable-ness of these texts.

Remember that God’s New Heaven and New Earth began with the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

When it seems that the world is falling apart around us, we, as followers of Christ are called to proclaim that God is still in charge.

Temples will fall.

Earthquakes will happen.

People will die.

Yet, through it all, Jesus Christ lives.

Some people think the resurrection matters so that we can get to heaven. I think the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the conquering of human death and pain, matters so we can live NOW, in the midst of the trials of the world, seeking to proclaim God’s NEW Heaven and NEW earth!

And I think that proclaiming God’s presence to a broken world in need of hope is better than a hallelujah sometimes.

Leave a comment | posted in Amy Grant, Apocalypse, Better Than a Hallelujah, Isaiah 65:17-25, Luke 21:1-19

May 2, 2010

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Hospital…

By marciglass

A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian

May 2, 2010

Rev 12:1-6, 13-17

A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.
So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she was nourished for a time, and times, and a half a time. Then from his mouth, the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.

The Book of Revelation occupies an odd place in our culture. There are references to Revelation in movies, books, and even in the news, but few of them are taken in the context of the book. Because a lot of people think they know what Revelation is about, but few of us actually read the book.
And we don’t read it because it is weird. It is a genre of literature with which we are not familiar. It uses imagery that is unfamiliar to us. It talks about things in very visual and allegorical language.
It is NOT a news report. This is not literal history. This isn’t literal anything.
It is also NOT a fortune telling book. This isn’t a book to read like a map, seeking clues to predict the future.

It is a book, perhaps surprisingly, of HOPE. Written for people who need to be reminded of God’s love and care for all of creation, even when the lives they may be living can make it hard to see.
And it is a book that is consistent with the rest of the Bible. You don’t have to agree with me about my interpretation of Revelation, but I do think you need to read it with the rest of the Bible in mind. Because God creates the world and humanity in Genesis and calls it good. God cares enough for humanity to send the son, Jesus Christ, to save the world. And Jesus, in his living, teaching, and dying, tells the world that God’s kingdom is different than the kingdoms of this world. Jesus consistently refuses military power and strength. Jesus consistently shows power in weakness. So, to get to Revelation and then read it as if God is going to demolish the world God so lovingly created? To read Revelation as if Jesus is going to become just like the powers of this world he stood against? I don’t buy it.
The word “Revelation” is the English translation of the Greek word apocalypse. Apocalypse does not mean the end of the world, even though it is used that way in popular culture. Apocalypse means to reveal, to unveil. And it is a particular kind of book. Daniel is also an apocalypse—a book of mystical symbolism meant to give hope and direction to people in pain. The best illustration of apocalypse might be the apostle Paul. According to Acts, he was on the road to Damascus, when he encountered God. And he became blind. And the more he learned about God, the more things were revealed to him, the scales fell from his eyes and things were made clear. In Galatians, Paul describes his conversion as a revelation, an apocalypse.
If you haven’t been coming to Sunday school after worship, I invite you to come for our next few weeks as we finish up a discussion on this book. Because it is worth reading. And it is easier to read, I believe, in community.
So our text this morning is from the middle of Revelation. And if the woman at the well in John’s gospel is my favorite character in scripture, this woman in Revelation is a close runner up.
I don’t know about you, but this was NOT one of the Sunday school lessons I heard as a child. David and Goliath. Noah’s Ark. Jesus and the little children. The woman who gives birth in space while a dragon waits to eat her baby.
We have been offered female “role models” from scripture before. We’re told we can be like Ruth or Esther, fulfilling their destinies as best they are able in a world that denies their full humanity. Or we can be like Mary, the pregnant teenager who ponders all these things in her heart. Or the other Mary, the one who sat at Jesus’ feet. Of course, we can’t be that Mary until we’ve first been Martha and gotten the cassarole in the oven, the table set, and the laundry hung to dry. We’re even told we can be like Christ, as long as we are the suffering servant Christ, emptying ourselves in service to others.

But how come, in all my years, nobody has ever suggested this woman in Revelation, clothed in the sun, as a role model for us?
Because she’s amazing and a model for men as well as women. And here’s why:
She knows how to dress. Stars on her head. The moon at her feet. Actually wearing the sun. She’s got style.
She’s strong. How do I know that? Well, for starters, she is giving birth.  in space. Additionally, she’s giving birth, even though there is a seven headed dragon standing there, just waiting to EAT her baby.
That also shows the woman has courage. Dragon, schmagon. She is bringing a child to life who will rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

Which means she has faith. Faith that the dragon she sees in front of her will not have the final word.
She is resourceful. While the cosmic forces are conspiring against her, she commandeers the moon, sun and stars as clothing. She flies with the wings of the great eagle. She gets the earth to come to her aid, swallowing up the flood.
I don’t know everything about the symbolism of Revelation, but I recognize a strong woman when I see one. Which was why I was surprised when I read a commentary and the author called the woman “passive”.
I don’t know anything about the author, but I would be willing to bet he has never seen a woman give birth. passive. Honestly, I find it hard to believe he’s ever seen a woman.
Here are his words:

“On the other hand, John depicts the woman of chapter 12 as a passive figure. She is the subject only of the verbs connected with birthing and fleeing. It is perhaps fair to say that she does not usually act in this text but rather is acted upon. She is threatened by the beast, and consequently she has to flee into the wilderness, to a place which had been prepared for her by God. The next part of the scene reinforces the passive nature of the woman. In the wilderness, the woman is fed and protected by God. Later in the text she is pursued, again by the beast, and again she is saved, this time by the earth. Note that the active roles in this text belong to the beast, the deity, and the earth.” (Paul B. Duff “Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing” in Reading the Book of Revelation: A Resource for Students edited by David Barr (Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2003) p. 73-4.)

Is that what it means to be passive? To have life happen to you and to react to save yourself, save the ones you love, and trust that God will provide?
What he calls “passive”, I call living your life.
Because, you know what? Some days there are seven headed dragons standing at your door. Some days you have to flee to the wilderness to be nourished. Some days you have to use all of your wits to escape the beast and the flood he’s sending your way. She flies away on eagles’ wings and convinces the earth to swallow the flood and he calls her passive?
What he calls passive, I call not being in total control.
I’m certain that if this woman had choices about how she was going to bring her baby into the world, it would not have involved the moon and a dragon. She might have wanted a quiet, candle lit room, attended by midwives, with her partner holding her hand and supporting her through the experience.
But that wasn’t what she got. She ended up as a cosmic figure giving birth in front of a dragon.
Which cable channel is it that has the show about birth stories? TLC? Discovery channel?
In any case, can you imagine the promo for the episode that told this birth story?

Tonight! 8 pm eastern. Woman gives birth in space! Watch the doctor be eaten as he asks a seven headed dragon to leave the room! Will the baby make it? Does the woman need an epidural or does zero gravity alleviate the pain? Tune in tonight to find out.

Because what TV shows like that illustrate is that no matter how much you plan, no matter how well you prepare, you can’t control everything that happens to you. Women don’t give birth in taxis on purpose, after all. We are not as in control as we pretend to be.
Another reality about birth stories is that not all experiences are the same. Women giving birth today in Darfur or in Haiti during an earthquake as their hospital was being evacuated certainly know more than I what it is like to give birth in the presence of a dragon and without control.
But, whether or not we’ve given birth to babies, our lives are like this. We are not in control. Life happens to us. And this doesn’t make us passive.
I don’t know what the seven headed dragon looks like in your life. Cancer or health problems, maybe. Or financial insecurity because of the economy. Family problems.
But there are days, and sometimes years, when we think we have it all in place. We think we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, being good Christian people, and then a funny thing happens on the way to the hospital and you’re giving birth in space. With dragons.
The Book of Revelation was written for people like that, for people like us. People who do their best to follow God and end up being persecuted by Rome. People who live the best lives they know how to live and are waking up today in Nashville and across the South to discover that their churches and communities flooded because of horrible storms this weekend. People who wear their seatbelts and obey the laws, but are killed in a car accident because the other driver was typing a text message on their phone while they drove down the highway.
Life is not in our control. And we don’t like it.

We get hung up on the vagueness of John’s language in this book. Only rarely does it feel as if anything is being “unveiled” or “revealed”. Who is the seven headed dragon, we wonder? Why does it have 10 horns? What does it all mean????
But I wonder if the author used such highly unusual images so that we’d be able to find ourselves in the story. Rather than saying, “the bad emperor in Rome is afflicting God’s people”, the author gives us language that allows us to interpret our own situations in light of the text.

So, back to my new role model. What does she do after she gives birth in the presence of a dragon? In space?
She hands the baby over to God, who snatches him away and keeps him safe at the throne. A dragon may show up on the moon, but even a seven headed beast KNOWS he can’t get at the baby in the throne room.
Then the woman flees to the wilderness, where God has provided for her. She will be there for a time, for times, for a half a time.  And Jesus went to the wilderness as well, remember. After Jesus is baptized, as soon as God says, “you are my beloved child, in you I am well pleased”, Jesus is whisked away for temptation in the wilderness.
I find some comfort in the fact that Jesus was God’s beloved and was still sent into the wilderness. By the Spirit, no less. And it was the beasts and the angels who took care of him.
So, the wilderness is the place we wander for 40 years, or only 40 days if you’re Jesus. But the wilderness is also the place we are intentionally sent by God for our own safety and for our nourishment. For a time, and times, and a half a time.
And I recognize that what is wilderness to me might be someone else’s walk in the park. But whether our wilderness is the relatively tame foothills of Boise or the untamed deadly parched earth of Somalia, God is with us. Perhaps that is easier for me to say than for some others, but it is none the less what I know to be true.
As the writer of Revelation shown us, in his somewhat metaphorical way, there is a battle being waged. In the cosmos. On earth. And that battle has been won. Not by us. Not by our brilliant thoughts or plans, but by Christ. We may not be in control. But God is.

I know this to be true. And the rest of the book of Revelation will show this to be true as well.
You may or may not feel as if you are located in a wilderness today, but whenever you do find yourself there, I pray that you will feel nourished and cared for. I pray that you will not see your time there as a time of passivity, but as a time of life. While life happens to you, may the hope that comes from Christ give you the strength to face your dragons. For a time, and times, and half a time.

Leave a comment | posted in Apocalypse, Bad Birth Stories, Revelation 12, Uncategorized

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