Revelation - a simple guide…

 

I wrote these notes for our worship leaders and preachers tackling Revelation for Bible Month. Feel free to use them. 

“About this Book of the Revelation of John, I leave everyone free to hold his own opinions. I would not have anyone bound to my opinion or judgment. I say what I feel. I miss more than one thing in this book, and it makes me consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic.

 

They are supposed to be blessed who keep what is written in this book; and yet no one knows what that is, to say nothing of keeping it. This is just the same as if we did not have the book at all. And there are many far better books available for us to keep.”

 

Martin Luther isn’t too keen on Revelation! 

 

My college principal Graham Slater told us Luther also said it either finds you mad or drives you mad but I can’t find that quote but it might be true he said it. But is he being unfair? Don’t we need a proper ending? Where is this Christianity thing heading?

 

So think about how something you have recently read, say a novel, or a film, end. Did the end satisfy you or shock you? I went to see a film recently and it was billed as a comedy and feel good happy ending film. It didn’t end as anyone there expected. The lad behind the kiosk asked me what I thought. The ending was a surprise. There are other dramas we invest in and watch them as box sets. I’ve been known to scream at the tv “you can’t finish it like that!” Apparently they are doing another Line of Duty as everyone was disappointed how it finished. 

 

So how does the Bible end? We used to sing this in Sunday School:

“God has given us a book full of stories which was made for his people of old, it begins with a tale of a garden and ends with a city of gold.” I love that Billy Graham quote “it’s okay. I’ve read the last page of the Bible. We win.” 

 

 Mother Julian of Norwich wrote: “Here I was taught by the grace of God that I should steadfastly hold me in the Faith ... and that ... I should take my stand on and earnestly believe in ... that ‘all manner of thing shall be well”’ (The Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter 32)

 

Let’s reflect on what the Bible month material on the Methodist website says:

 

“Revelation is one of those biblical books we can be tempted to avoid. It has a bit of a history and reputation for being misused, abused and misconstrued. Its odd and even disturbing imagery can make it quite an uncomfortable and perplexing read. But this pastoral letter, written by an elder sage to a diverse group of committed yet messy, tired, hurting and confused churches can actually offer us a lot of comfort and instruction about how to live hopefully, faithfully and lovingly as God's people today, however challenging a time and place we might find ourselves in.”

 

Learn this paragraph!

 

“The book of Revelation opens with a series of visions in which Jesus appears to a prophet and tells him what's going to happen soon, and then the prophet says he goes up into heaven and sees the throne of God and is told by angels the course of future history, which includes four horsemen of the apocalypse coming, each one representing disaster on Earth.

One brings war that kills a third of the inhabitants of the Earth. Another one brings famine and plague and catastrophe all over the world. These visions talk about cosmic war, in which the forces of evil seem to have taken over the world, and claim that God's power is now going to come and challenge those forces, and there will be cataclysmic battles of monsters until finally Jesus returns with armies of angels and destroys all the forces of evil and creates an entirely new world.”

Got it!

So let’s begin by asking what we know about Revelation as preachers and worship leaders. What are its promises? No cheating. In groups quote each other some promises of Revelation. (10 minutes)

 

 1. 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

- Revelation 19:6-7

2. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!”

- Revelation 5:13

3. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

- Revelation 21:5

 4. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

Revelation 4:10-11

5. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

 

Revelation 7: 6 – 7

 

6. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

- Revelation 3:8

 7. Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

- Revelation 1:17-18

8. 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, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

- Revelation 21:1-2

9. And 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 from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

- Revelation 21:6-7

10. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

- Revelation 21:4

11. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

- Revelation 22:5

12. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

13. I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

- Revelation 1:8

14. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

- Revelation 2:10——

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place.” (1:1)

So begins the book of Revelation. The word “revelation” in the Greek is apokalupsis, which means “an uncovering” or “unveiling.” It is therefore a book designed to uncover or unveil. 

The Purpose Of The Book

Its purpose is clearly stated at the beginning and end of the book (cf. 1:1,3; 22:6,10): To reveal “things which must shortly come to pass”

In particular, it is a revelation from Christ Himself of the judgment to come upon those who were persecuting His people (6:9-11; 16:5-7). 

This judgment was directed especially toward those who had been deceived by Satan to attack the Church of Christ. As stated by Philip Schaff:

“Undoubtedly he had in view primarily the overthrow of Jerusalem and heathen Rome, the two great foes of Christianity at that time.”

Again, I would suggest that the purpose of the book is to reveal how Christ was going to bring judgment on Jerusalem and Rome for rejecting God and persecuting His people. This judgment occurred with the destruction of Jerusalem in the fall of 70 A.D., and with the final cessation of persecution by Rome in 313 A.D. when Constantine became an emperor supportive of Christianity.

In fulfilling this purpose, the book is designed to warn and comfort. For erring disciples, it is a book of warning (“repent” or else, cf. 2:5,16). For faithful disciples, it is a book of comfort (“blessed” are those who “overcome”, cf. 1:3; 2:7; 3:21; 14:13; 22:14).”

Key Verse: If there is one verse that summarises the theme of the book of Revelation, it is this one: “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” ( 17:14) and it’s been a tool to use at times of more persecution and exile and political domination. Remember Hitler said “I will crush Christianity under my boot like a poisonous toad…” 

Who is John?

John of Patmos is the name given to the author of the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse of John) in the New Testament. According to the text, the author, who gives his name as "John," was living in exile on the Greek island of Patmos. He writes to the seven Christian churches in Asia to warn them of various challenges and temptations that confront them, which have been revealed to him in a vision. He then relates several additional powerful visions concerning the Last Days and the Second Coming of Christ.

John of Patmos is traditionally identified with John the Apostle and is also known as John the Divine, as well as the author of the Gospel of John and the letters attributed to him in the New Testament. 

However, many modern scholars—as well as a number of the early Church Fathers—hold that John of Patmos was a different person from the other writers of the Johannine literature. In terms of his self-identification, he says simply that he is "your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus." (1:9)Before his exile one tradition says he was  immersed in a cauldron of boiling oil. According to the Golden Legend, during the persecution of the Christians under the Roman emperor Domitian, John was thrown into a vat of boiling oil. He emerged miraculously unharmed, even rejuvenated. He sat naked in the pot, his hands joined in prayer, while his executioners applied bellows to the fire and ladled oil over his head.

Where is Patmos? Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. John was a leader of the church at Ephesus. 

Eventually, he was captured in a persecution campaign by the Roman Emperor Domitian. John was ultimately sentenced to Patmos (Revelation 1:9). 

Patmos was a small, rocky and barren area where many criminals of Rome were sent to serve out their prison terms in harsh conditions. There were mines on the island that the criminals were forced to work. 

John was sent to the island for the same reasons because the early Christians were considered a strange cult group who were known for causing trouble within the Empire. 

Some historians and scholars claim that John died while on Patmos and others say that he was freed from the island before his death. No one is certain when or where he died.

It’s impossible for me to cover the whole book tonight so I encourage you to read the excellent booklet produced for Bible Month. During June on Thursdays 15, 22 and 29 June I’ll be doing some study evenings in the church at Allhallowgate 7 to 8.30pm and all are welcome. For the rest of tonight I want to focus on three chapters, which might help you focus as you prepare worship and find the hope in the text. Don’t tie your congregations up in knots about codes and beasts and dragons so that they leave with a migraine, find your message and tell them it – holding on to wait for better things. So let’s do some chapter 7 and chapter 14 and chapter 21 and 22… 

 Here are some questions to consider for each passage:

1. What key words of hope and promise do you see in the passage? 

2. What was John trying to say to his initial readers and what is he saying to us?

3. How might you preach or lead worship on this passage for a context locally? What is it you send your congregation out to remember and live? 

Before we do the passages – a bit about the 144,000…

Ever had an encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness about this? .When taken at face value, Revelation 7:4 seems to speak of 144,000 actual people living during the end-times tribulation. Nothing in the passage leads to interpreting the 144,000 as anything but a literal number of Jews—12,000 taken from every tribe of the children of Israel. 144,000 are “sealed Jews,” protected from the wrath of the Antichrist during the tribulation period.  This group of people will evangelise the world during this period.  In Revelation 7, John does not see the 144,000; he only hears their number (Rev 7:4). But when he looks, he sees the innumerable multitude from every nation (Rev 7:9-12). Literally read, the two groups are unrelated, but the hear/see combination implies that the 144,000 and the multitude are two perspectives on God’s people. The 144,000 represents God’s people on earth living during the end-time conflict. But later there is an  innumerable multitude. It’s not about some being more blessed than others. Ask a JW how many are in the JWs today…

Revelation 7 identifies the 144,000 as being 12,000 from each tribe of Israel with the exception of the tribe of Dan. Two significant points to note here include the fact that the descendants of the ancient nation of Israel are still important to God and that salvation is not limited to this group.

In addition to the 144,000, another innumerable multitude will likewise stand before God in “white robes” (Revelation 7:9, 13), symbolizing righteous living (Revelation 3:4-5).

This great multitude will include people from “all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues [languages]” (Revelation 7:9). As they stand before the Lamb (Christ), a question is asked about who these people are and where they came from.

The answer is: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (verse 14). Because of their response to God, they will serve “before the throne of God” (verse 15).

Revelation 7: 9 – 17 

Revelation 7:9-17 is a passage with broad implications. In contrast to the first eight verses in this chapter which depict a specific number of worshipers (144,000), Revelation 7:9 casts a larger and more general vision for those who are able to worship around the throne of the Lamb. Beginning with verse 9, the writer describes a great multitude that is countless, numbering those from every tribe and people, and language. There is no limit to the scope of this multitude, be it geographic, ethnic, numeric, linguistic, economic, and on and on the list goes. This multitude is a blow-your-mind kind of multitude that no one can fully grasp. (verses 9-10).

Moreover, this multitude is seen and heard(verse 9). The multitude is clad in white, it is waving palm branches, and it is crying hymns of praise in a loud voice. While much of this imagery parallels the Triumphal Entry scene as depicted in the gospels, it should be noted that this multitude certifiably pledges itself to the Lamb. Unlike the multitude in the Triumphal Entry scene that later turns its back on the Messiah, this multitude will remain faithful to the Lamb “forever and ever.”1

Not only is this particular multitude to be known for its loyalty, this multitude is to be known as an active group. This group is comprised of individuals who have washed their robes. They are not passive, but active. They do not wait to be served by God, but they actively seek to serve God regularly. It is John who paints a clear picture of this group living out their vocation of worship and praise.

When asked by one in power, John describes not only their current actions but the results of their actions. They remain loyal to the Lamb, they wash their robes, and they worship in the temple (verses 13-15). As a result, they are sheltered, they are fed, they are quenched, they are protected (verses 15-17). Summed up, it might be said that this multitude has found freedom in the One they worship.

Revelation 14

To understand who Revelation 14 says we are, we need to ‘do the math’. John does his theology through maths and numbers, which will make some hearts sink—but others rejoice! It is clear from chapter 7 that the 144,000 are neither a special group of martyrs, nor an elite group of end-times Jewish evangelists (as some have argued) but the whole people of God. 

Revelation 14 tells us who we are, but it also immediately tells us where we live, and offers us two answers. First, if we are God’s temple, where would you expect to find us? If you asked anyone in ancient Israel, they would not hesitate to answer you: in the holy city, on Mount Zion. The centre of Israel has a spine of hill country, running between the coastal plain on the West and the Jordan Valley to the East, and so you would always literally have to ‘go up’ to Jerusalem. But this was not just a physical ascent; it was also a spiritual ascent, culminating in the praises of God (singing the ‘Psalms of Ascent’) as you climbed the final steps up into the temple precinct. And in the prophets, this because a hope for the whole world—that Mount Zion would become a great high mountain to which all the nations would be drawn to the presence of God (Is 2.2, 60.3). As the new temple of God, we are the fulfilment of that hope, as Jesus describes us as a ‘city built on a hill’ whose light can be seen by all (Matt 5.14).

 

But, paradoxically, we are not only located on Mount Zion in the presence of God; we are also living in Babylon, under a regime opposed to everything that God requires. In the previous chapter, John describes God’s people as ‘those who dwell in heaven’ but who are also blasphemed and trample by ‘the beast’, the political and social system opposed to God’s purposes. We live in two worlds, and though there are pressures to conform to one way of living, our true allegiance is to another set of values, another reality, and a different king.

We might gather in the reality of Mount Zion on a Sunday, but we then need to live out our lives in ‘Babylon’ from Monday to Saturday. We are reminded that, in all this we ‘stand before the lamb’; his view of us is the only one that matters! And what’s our response to Jesus? We sing! We have a song—and what a song we have to sing! We, who were lost in our woundedness and our sin and our pride—we have been ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven! We who were far off have been brought near! We who had no hope in the world have had the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and filled with hope! What a song we have to sing! Come let us join our cheerful songs with angels round the throne. 

 

Revelation 21 and 22

At the end of the Bible we see another wonderful picture. This picture is of a holy city, New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2). The centre of this city is the throne of God from which flows the river of water of life. On each side of the river grows the tree of life (Revelation 22:1-2). This is a city which is full of life. This is a city saturated with the life of God, and in which man has been filled with the life of God (Revelation 21:10-11). In this city, God andhumanity, humanity and God, are completely united, mingled and incorporated for eternity (Revelation 22:17).

And there’s an expectation Jesus will return – soon. Here’s a bit from BBC Bitesize GCSE RE revision notes! 

Many Christians believe that the world as we know it will come to an end in the Apocalypse. The Earth will give way to a new world – the Kingdom of God, which will be a place of peace and happiness where the faithful and righteous will be granted eternal life.

The last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, explains what might happen when the world ends. It contains lots of dramatic and disturbing imagery, including a seven-headed beast. Many Christians understand these descriptions as metaphors. Some people believe that the Book of Revelation is an expression of its author’s anger at the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

Parousia – the Second Coming

Most Christians believe in Parousia - the idea that Jesus will return to judge everyone who has lived and died. Often this is called the Second Coming.

Jesus himself explained that he would return. In the Gospelof John, before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus comforts his disciples: Do not let your hearts be troubled … I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1–3)

At the ascension of Jesus, angels explain to his disciples, This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11)

 

 

Early Church beliefs about the Apocalypse

The early Church and even Jesus’ disciples firmly believed that he would return to make his final judgement shortly after he had ascended into Heaven. Jesus had said to his disciples: Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man [Jesus] coming in his kingdom (Matthew 16:28)

St Paul told two of the early Christian communities that some of them would live to see the return of Jesus and the end of the world. The belief that the Apocalypse could happen soon made it urgent for these early Christians to follow God’s laws and spread Jesus’ message.

When did you last lead worship about the second coming? In Advent we think it’s about Christmas but actually if we follow the readings it’s about judgment and expectation he’s coming again – look lively! Invite me back for an Advent study day on the parousia! 

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again! Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus. 

 

A little girl in an essay wrote this “the last book of the Bible is called Revolution.” Perhaps there’s some inspiration in her mistake. We need to understand these visions come from a situation of desperation and persecution. And yet out of that place come a confidence and a hope these things cannot and will not have the last word. Our worship and preaching therefore should be optimistic. Using this book our folk might be being persecuted but most congregations will include people who through struggles and issues and even keeping the church going with everyone getting older as a group of stewards summoned me to tell me the other day is a problem — we have this opportunity to lift people to the future God has planned for us. 

 

I quoted Billy Graham earlier – we win – let me send you home with him and more of his optimism… 

The book of Revelation may be difficult and demanding to read, yet it is the only biblical book whose author promises a blessing to those who read it.

 

The end will come with the return of Jesus Christ…That is why a Christian can be an optimist. That is why a Christian can smile in the midst of all that is happening…We know what the end will be: the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

 

 

Pentecost - what now?

If Pentecost is the day we celebrate the birth of the Church then I’ve spent all day in it marking it’s birthday! 

We are so negative about the Church these days. We spend meetings worrying about how we keep the show on the road. We fret when good givers of money pass away or move away. We can’t find people to do the jobs when most of our members are over 80. We can’t do what we used to do. Our minister should be growing our church! 

I’ve had three really good services today with sparks of grace and signs that God’s Spirit on this day of Pentecost might be moving a bit. 

This morning at Boroughbridge we had a joint service with the Anglican benefice. My lovely Anglican colleague reminded us of the need to breathe. She shared with us we need to let God breathe life into us. The most powerful bit of the service was us sharing communion across denominations in a circle. We then had a lovely lunch. Margaret’s lemon posset was fabulous! The Spirit of God unites us. It feels sensible where it works to be the Church together. Boroughbridge are exploring this. I’m doing a quiet day in a few weeks. So far I only have Anglicans coming! That’s okay. 

This afternoon there were 13 of us at Dallowgill. Our numbers are higher than they used to be. We dedicated a new pulpit bible in memory of a former member. We explored whether we still believe in a God who can confound our expectations and surprise us with explosions of joy and peace today. The fact that, even though they are smaller than they used to be, hundreds of little chapels like Dallowgill meet faithfully to share the good news of Jesus is something to celebrate.

Then tonight the Circuit here joined the monthly King’s Praise informal service in Masham. I was privileged to share leading this with Steve, one of our local preachers. It’s a rare treat for ministers to share worship leading with anyone! I have no worship leaders in my churches. The Spirit of God was tangible in the companionable space we shared. We remembered the Spirit came at Pentecost with exuberance and noise and rattling of the world. But 50 days earlier it also came to demoralised and fearful disciples in a room away from the world as Jesus said “peace be with you” and “receive the Holy Spirit” quietly and pastorally. 

It’s good to be reminded God comes in different ways — and for extroverts and introverts! Crowds are great but so is companionable silence and I reminded the folk who gathered tonight that maybe we’ve forgotten as a church how to party and maybe we’ve forgotten how to be quiet and wait for the Lord. (My wife told me after the service I had “turned evo” —- informal worship isn’t my bag but I had great fun tonight!) 

I was in one of the many coffee shops in Boroughbridge in the week. Vernon Kay was blasting out on Radio 2. The lady opposite me laughed at the minister singing along to the Spice Girls “Who do you think you are” — and then she joined in as he played the T Rex classic “you won’t fool the children of the revolution.” 

 

I am wondering pondering today  whether the feast of Pentecost launched the church as the children of the revolution. Gathered in Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus received power. They were given courage to speak about Jesus. Everyone heard God’s story in their own tongue. There were mighty signs something was stirring in the world. I invite you to read Acts in one go. Be amazed again how the early church grew. It grew because Jesus was at the heart of everything. No wonder the authorities say in fear “these people who have turned the world upside down have come here too!” So there might be revolutionary stuff coming which might unsettle things. 

So, where’s the church today? Are we children of the revolution, heralding a new age? Or have we lost our confidence and gone quiet? Maya Angelou has what we need to be summed up well in her poem Continue 

“Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.” Come, Holy Spirit…

 

A good day. I pray we might worry less about our church and be the Church again. May we be so on fire with the love of God we provoke a reaction in people. Oh and let’s remember we need to do this more in the world than in the Church. We only come to a church to be filled up with energy and breath and power so we can be Christ’s people again. I know people worry about their church surviving. Some even get ill over it. Maybe we need as the disciples of old did to seek God and see what happens. Maybe we aren’t called to just keep going but to break free and in the freedom of the Spirit to see where God takes us…

Reflections on a Coronation

What did you make of the coronation then? It was fascinating wasn’t it? Two hours of mystery, sacredness and the turning of another page of British history as Charles III was crowned the 62nd monarch of this country, the oldest person to be coronated in our nation’s story. 

 

The President of our Methodist Conference wrote this prayer for the coronation: 

Heavenly King, Almighty God;

We thank you for the call that you place on the life of each disciple.

As we discern all that you desire of us, we pray for King Charles III and ask that the Coronation be a time for the nations to unite in recognising that he is called into your service and ordained to the task of leading and serving us all.

We pray too for Queen Camilla and all members of the Royal Family, asking that each fulfil their roles such that all people might flourish.

We ask this in the Name of our Servant King, Jesus. 

What themes will you remember from the coronation service?

First, the call to serve. Remember how the service began: 

A young person greeted the King and said “Your Majesty,

as children of the Kingdom of God we welcome you

in the name of the King of Kings.

And the King replied:

In his name, and after his example, I come not to be served but to serve.

Service. Service to people. Service in the name of him who showed us what real service is like. I also liked this prayer said by the King: 

God of compassion and mercy

whose Son was sent not to be served but to serve,

give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom

and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth.

Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and conviction, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness

and be led into the paths of peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The call to serve. The Archbishop of Canterbury had it right saying: 

“We are here to crown a King, and we crown a King to serve.

“What is given today is for the gain of all.”

And at the very strange bit behind a screen our king was anointed to serve us…

 

Be your hands anointed with holy oil.

Be your breast anointed with holy oil.

Be your head anointed with holy oil,

as kings, priests, and prophets were anointed.

And as Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, so may you be anointed, blessed, and consecrated King over the peoples, whom the Lord your God has given you to rule and govern; in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 42 is a fabulous passage: 

42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

5 Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Isaiah 42 tells us what servant leadership is going to involve. It has four characteristics. Number one, it’s calm. It’s not shouty or showy. There’s no crying out or raising the voice. It’s trustworthy, not manipulative. Number two, it’s kind. It doesn’t take advantage of those who are damaged, like a bruised reed, or struggling, like a dimly burning candle. It sees a role for everyone in shaping a community where all can flourish. Number three, it’s resilient. It won’t grow faint or be crushed. It knows pursuing truth will provoke enemies. It knows there’ll be days when it seems it’s all come to nothing. It doesn’t lose heart. And number four, it exercises its role with a special concern for those on the edge of society. If you imagine the sixth century before Christ, being sight-impaired, languishing in a dungeon, or dwelling in any other kind of poverty or entrapment were pretty lonesome places to be. Such social locations weren’t generally a priority concern for a leader of the time. Put the four characteristics together, and we have something Isaiah calls justice. 

All four of these characteristics of leadership and of justice – calm, kindness, resilience and compassion – are saying, ‘This is something new. Something different. Something unusual. Something remarkable.’

 

But there’s one other dimension to Isaiah 42. See how much this passage has to say about the relationship of the servant to God. ‘My servant,’ the chapter starts, ‘whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.’ Then it says, ‘I have put my spirit upon him.’ Later it adds, ‘I have taken you by the hand and kept you.’ These are intimate words. 

So perhaps the bit behind the screen was the most important bit for King Charles — maybe. The Archbishop in an article I read said “This is the most intimate moment of the coronation service — when the King comes face to face with the King of Kings.”King Charles is a man of faith, of deep convictions, he had a good teacher to prepare him for monarchy after all. He’s waited 70 years for it. He’s told us he will endeavour to serve us with loyalty, respect and love. And like the job description of Isaiah’s servant he is encouraging us to build community.

 

I read this as well this week: “You have a man who genuinely in all the ways that he possibly can, and very quietly in many ways, has helped a huge number of things to happen. He is trying to make sense of a religious teaching.” And I heard someone on the BBC coverage when they started talking about it ad infinitum that his wife says he’s a man who wants to change the world. And the commentator said this will not be a caretaker monarchy, this is a man with a mission. 

 

Isn’t it amazing that a lot of the elements we saw in the coronation go back to when Edgar was crowned in Bath Abbey at Pentecost 973, that some of those bits of furniture and regalia were ancient and that Penny Mourdant managed to hold that sword aloft for so long! But most of all, a largely non religious country were reminded of faithfulness and servanthood as a response to God and of the embodiment of servanthood in Jesus the servant king, whose throne was a cross, and whose crown was a crown of thorns. The King of Kings, Jesus Christ, was anointed not to be served, but to serve. He creates the unchangeable law that with the privilege of power comes the duty to serve to quote the Archbishop again. 

 

What has witnessing a coronation done to us? Hopefully reignited in us the call to serve. What a different country we would be if we all tried to make a difference. 

What different churches we would be if we put service at the heart of our life again. What a happy and glorious reign King Charles III will have if service, coming not to be served but to serve like his Lord is not just a one day promise but a life long commitment to justice, integrity, and peace. 

“It is pretty fundamental that much of what we have to say about monarchy is depersonalised. A monarch is not elected; we do not choose from a list of candidates. Our experience of monarchy, however, and our sense of this particular monarch really matter. What is monarchy without the person of the monarch?

Constitutional realities and principles of precedent, of course, underpin so much of how we might describe the monarchy; but equally, by definition, monarchy is never abstract. In each monarch we see a personality, a life, an imagination, laid at the service of the people. We cannot love a system, but we can love a person. Similarly, for the full symbolic importance of monarchy to come alive, we have to have monarchs who make it credible.

On her 21st birthday in 1947, the then Princess Elizabeth made a declaration that would come ultimately to be seen as the leitmotif of her reign: “I declare before you all”, she said, “that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.” Five years later, in her Christmas message before her Coronation, Queen Elizabeth II  asked for her people’s prayers precisely for that purpose.

Concluding a message to her people after the weekend of her platinum jubilee our late Queen signed herself, “Your Servant, Elizabeth R”. In the Kings first address, he spoke at length of the late Queen’s life of devoted service, which His Majesty renewed for himself before promising “to serve you with loyalty, respect, and love, as I have throughout my life”.

The theological roots of this kind of leadership are rooted in Jesus’s own ministry.

Of all the gifts a monarchy can give contemporary culture, insisting that the highest office in the land, consecrated to rule, is most fully expressed in the service of the vulnerable is one of the greatest.”

(Church Times, April 2023)

 

Peace be with you

During Lent our two Ripon churches had a Lent course using the Archbishop of York’s book on the forsaken ness of Jesus on the cross. I do like Stephen Cottrell’s writing and speaking. He often does a pause for thought on Radio 2. 

 

Here’s his take on Easter:

Easter offers something else, something new. What appeared to be defeat, begins afresh, a new creation. This is the story we celebrate today. 

A new beginning. And it tells us that however difficult life can get, and however hopeless the future seems, there is always hope because the God who raised Jesus to life can raise us as well. And in the darkness of poverty, hopelessness, despair, climate crisis and human conflict we see in Jesus, a new and better way, and the hope for a better future.

So, crack open those Easter eggs. Fill your lungs with Alleluias. Uncork the champagne. Turn the music up loud. Put on your dancing shoes. Celebrate. Today something hopeful begins.”

For the Archbishop, Easter breaks into the world, loudly, vibrantly and shakes things up. It’s a party and it’s to celebrate enthusiastically. For mourning has turned into dancing… 

But maybe, just maybe, Easter doesn’t just come like that. It can also come quietly, pastorally, with healing and with peace. Maybe Easter is also about restoring broken souls to health and putting us back together after a horrendous experience… maybe Easter comes when Jesus meets us as we are. 

 

Let’s remember where Jesus’ former followers are after the crucifixion. They are in a locked room in fear, fear of being found out they were part of Jesus’ failed revolution, fear that those who had attempted to silence Jesus by arresting him and putting him to death would now come after them, fear of the future having foolishly followed him and wondering what to do now, they are in a locked room in grief and bereavement, their bodies numb and their mental health shattered, grief about Jesus being so brutally destroyed by the world around them and grief that God did not intervene. When we go through a period of trauma we need time to just be. And sometimes we don’t need people, we push people away. I imagine the locked door might also have been a comfort, the world has gone away. I imagine they tried to support each other, I imagine there were lots of tears, I imagine they sat and wondered how it had all gone so wrong. 

 

What peace is there for tarnished lives,
when love is challenged, hate survives?

What peace for Peter who denied
his friend who hung, his friend who died?

What peace for those who slept away,
while Jesus sweated blood to pray?

What peace for Thomas full of doubt,
with questions hedging all about?

What peace for those who fled away,
when darkness covered brightest day?

What peace when we have let God down,
denied God’s call and made God frown?

Andrew Pratt’s hymn brings the trauma of that upper room alive. Imagine you are Peter in that room. Do you sit and dwell on your denying Jesus? Do you now wish you’d supported him? A few months earlier you’d been the rock on which he would build his church. What about those who couldn’t watch with him in the garden and fell asleep? Imagine you nodded off when he needed you. Do you now feel guilty? And what of Thomas? 

 

John 20: 19 – 31 is always the passage on Low Sunday. I’ve preached about Thomas so often. I’m just going to briefly mention him today. How do you feel if you are him? Full of doubts and questions. Remember his loyalty to Jesus. When the others panicked about going to Jerusalem and an inevitable clash with the authorities he said “let us also go with him that we might die with him.” Where was he when they locked the door? He wasn’t there. Did the others get fed up with his questions all the time? I love that bit in John where Jesus says “you know where I am going.” And he says “no I flipping don’t. I’ve no idea where you are going. How can I know the way?” Maybe with his honesty and his commitment it was all just too much and maybe he didn’t want to be with the others to grieve on his own.

What peace? 

Here’s something else to imagine and get our heads round today. How in shattered ness and bereavement and feeling rough physically and mentally and everything hurting and your world turned upside down with no hope and no future do you react when Jesus comes through the locked door and stands there among you? Shock? Are you hallucinating?

 I think you think “what is he going to say to us?” Remember you’ve let him down. He’s bound to have a go at you, tell you you are a waste of space, ask where were you. 

Now that he is alive, what would Jesus think of his friend Peter, who denied that he knew Jesus – not just one time, but three times – after Jesus was arrested? And what about the other disciples – Jesus’ closest friends who had been travelling with him for three years? How could they face Jesus after he had cared for and invested in them for so long, and yet the minute he was arrested, they bailed on him: they fled and left him to fend for himself in his most excruciating moments as he was spat on, ridiculed, and beaten, nailed to a cross, and hung from it until he took his final breath? Would Jesus be so infuriated with them that he would give up on them? Would he deny, betray, and even condemn them because they had denied and betrayed him? Would they no longer have a place in the Kingdom of God?

My friends, there’s none of that. 

Today I want you to quietly celebrate where Easter begins. The first words of the risen Jesus are these “peace be with you.” Peace. Peace for tarnished lives where love is challenged, hate survives. 

Peace for those who deny God’s call and make God frown, peace not blame for the denier, the doubter, those who flee to save face and not get involved. Peace. 

I dare to suggest to you this is where the Church begins. It begins with forgiveness and a new call, it begins with healing, it begins with Jesus just meeting us, and it begins with a gentle quiet breathing into us of the Holy Spirit. Yes the Holy Spirit comes exuberantly at Pentecost but first those shattered and demoralised disciples are given strength to pick themselves up and find the confidence to unlock the door and go out into the world, a world that hasn’t changed, but they have. Easter is a pastoral act, it’s intimate and restorative. Jesus isn’t interested in the past, but the future. He doesn’t give up on us. He quietly and gently encourages us to start again. He doesn’t ridicule our trauma and our brokenness, he starts his work in us dealing with those things. Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit. 

Even behind locked doors, Jesus shows up. And yet, he does not appear to them in the way they had expected and feared. Jesus doesn’t show up angry, bitter, and judgmental. He doesn’t order them to give him answers to why they denied, betrayed, or even hid from him. He doesn’t demand that they ask him for forgiveness. 

Instead, he just shows up, holds out his wrists so that they can touch the holes where he had been nailed to the cross and points to his side so they can see the gash where he had been stabbed with a spear, and he says: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 

You see, instead of coming with vengeance and wrath – as the disciples had feared – Jesus just shows up to them – in the midst of their fears and failures – and immediately and freely offers them the peace, love, and grace of God – before they even have the chance to open their mouths to explain their actions or to ask him for forgiveness. Jesus just shows up to them in that small room  where they were hiding from and avoiding him – because Jesus wanted them to know that no matter what, they are claimed as God’s beloved children and are cherished and loved by God unconditionally.

 

You see, even in our times of fear, doubts, and questioning – and even when we choose to deny, flee, and hide behind closed and locked doors – Jesus has and will show up. And when he does, he claims us as God’s beloved children – no matter our failures or actions against him – and he offers us his peace and grace before we can even ask for forgiveness or even acknowledge our wrongs.

 

And even if we, like Thomas, miss the first or second or third time Jesus shows up and even if we shut our eyes, turn the other way, Jesus will keep on lovingly and patiently returning to us over and over and over again until we are ready to open our eyes to see him, reach out our hands to touch him, and accept the peace, forgiveness, and unconditional love he offers us.  

 

For: “not even death nor life, not even angels nor demons, not even the present nor the future, nor anything we have done or will do – can separate us from the love of God.”

After the peace, after the Spirit,  John gives us what I think must be one of the greatest understatements in scripture, he writes: ‘then they were glad when they saw the Lord’. I think the rejoicing happens because in saying ‘peace be with you’ Jesus is saying ‘I forgive you, you thought you were no longer my friends but you are still my friends and I say peace be with you’.

Then he does something else astonishing, he says ‘I send you’. He hasn’t thrown his old team out. He recommissions them. Isn’t that amazing?

I understand the Archbishop’s call to an Easter party. But I also need Easter to come pastorally. As I said in my letter for the notices this week at Allhallowgate, we need to let Jesus Easter in us. Maybe Easter should be a verb!  Sometimes we can be like the disciples in that room. 

What peace is there? Well, hear this: Do you feel afraid? Jesus says ‘peace be with you’ Do you feel you’ve let God down? Jesus says ‘peace be with you’

Do you hear God calling you? Jesus says ‘I am sending you’ Do you feel empty or inadequate? Jesus says ‘receive the Holy Spirit.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer could have preached a far better sermon than me today. In a letter in 1940 he wrote this: remember there was little peace going on around him. “We know that God has not abandoned the earth, but has reconquered it, has given it a new future, a new promise. The same earth that God created bore God’s Son and his cross, and on this earth the resurrected appeared to his disciples, and to this earth Christ will return on the last day. Whoever affirms Christ’s resurrection in faith can no longer flee the world, but neither can they fall prey to the world, for in the midst of the old they have recognised God’s new creation.”

 

What peace is there for tarnished lives,
when love is challenged, hate survives?
Remember in that Upper Room,
Christ came and offered peace.

Alleluia! Amen.

Easter Sunday: Living Resurrection

Jonas Jonassen tells the story of a typesetter setting the text of chapter upon chapter of the Bible reprinting it after there was a misprint in a huge batch of them. When he came to the very last chapter – the Book of Revelation – he just lost it. He’d had a bad experience of life and the Church. How could Jesus ever want to come back to Earth? Here where Evil had once and for all conquered Good, so what was the point of anything? And the Bible… It was just a joke! 

So it came about that the typesetter made a little addition to the very last verse in the very last chapter in the bible that was just about to be printed. Thus the bible’s last two verses plus the typesetter’s extra verse were printed as: 
“He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus ! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. And they all lived happily ever after.”

 

For many people Easter is a happily after ever tale. It’s fluffy bunnies and spring sunshine and chocolate and froth. Do we all live happily ever after? The world is no different today is was yesterday - there’s still death and war and injustice about. But maybe as I said a moment ago - we have been changed. Maybe we’ve had our eyes opened. Maybe an angel sits on our tomb and says “ do not be afraid.” Maybe our guards and those who want to control us or destroy us won’t have the last word. 

Maybe we are told what the message of the Church is post Easter. Maybe we cling to Jesus feet and hear him tell us “ do not be afraid” and maybe people we meet need to hear that through us, because so many people this very day are living in fear that paralyses them. Easter encounter is the start of a deep relationship Jesus offers to everyone. Life may still be hard and rubbish things may still happen to us but hear this - nothing can separate us from the love of God - nothing. The power of death hasn’t the power we thought it had. The Church is commissioned today anew to preach and share new life even where people struggle. Jesus doesn’t take the pain away, he walks with us in the pain. Friends, look out for resurrection hope around you. It can come suddenly. Don’t miss it. On Friday night I went to bed and I woke up in the morning suddenly. I usually have Velvet my black cat jump on me about 7.30 demanding breakfast. I woke about 9 in a mad panic. I thought yesterday was Easter Sunday and I’d missed the dawn service at Dallowgill I was meant to be leading three hours earlier! It was a huge relief my brain worked out it was Saturday!  

What strikes me about Matthew’s account of the resurrection is the use of a simple two letter word. Go.  Matthew uses it three times: The Angel tells the Marys to go quickly and the women hurried  away from the tomb,  afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell the disciples – definitely not what would be expected of Jewish women.

 

Matthew tells us Jesus is ahead of us. Maybe there’s a lesson for us. Maybe the Church has to run to catch up with what Jesus in his risen power is up to. Maybe he is working his purpose out not where we expect him to be. Maybe what matters to us today won’t matter tomorrow. Maybe ahead of us are new ideas, plans and possibilities. Maybe Jesus is calling to us – come on, I’m over here, come and see me. 

 

We have a task to live Easter. We need to let Jesus Easter in us. At Trevor’s funeral as I sat in the choir stalls, a man behind me asked me how I knew Trevor. “I used to be the minister of the chapel in the village before Sarah came” I said. “What are you doing now?” he asked, “have you retired?” Well I guess I’ll sit down in about 11 years time I think but we never retire as Christians! All of you today are entrusted with the good news of Jesus Christ, to share it and live it and build your church because of it. Just see where Jesus is calling you to be. Live Easter and we will ooze with vitality and excitement and joy. 

The stone has been rolled away from the tomb. The day dawns with a new light. The earth quakes in celebration and joy. Christ is risen and in him so have you and I.

Today reminds us that the light of resurrection always prevails. Darkness cannot overcome the light. Regardless of who you are, the light prevails. Regardless of what you have done or left undone, the light prevails. Regardless of your doubts or beliefs, the light prevails. Regardless of your life’s circumstances, the light prevails. I can’t tell you how it happens but I know it does. The light of resurrection always wins. Everything about today says we can trust that.

That changes everything about how we live. We now live everyday as Easter. Christ’s resurrection is not a one day celebration. It is a way of life. It means every cross flowers with new life, every tomb becomes a womb of new birth, and every darkness has been overcome by light.

I made a commitment to write a blog every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day. This is the last blog. I’ve done it! I hope you’ve found my daily thoughts helpful. I can do no better than end with Nadia Bolz-Weber and part of a sermon called Resurrection is messy. 

“Being an Easter people — a people of resurrection — is not to be cleansed from all harm, and it is not to have all the bad things that we have done or that have happened to us erased. Resurrection is not about rewriting our past or forgetting what happened. I wish that’s how it worked but it just isn’t. Because (as many preachers before me have said) resurrection is not reversal.

The things that happened to Jesus’ body — the state sanctioned violence, the flogging, the crucifixion — remained even after he defeated death and rose from the grave. He still bore the marks of that pain, but the pain was not what defined him.

And if you think about it, his resurrection tracks with the messiness of the rest of the ministry.  Jesus  went about the countryside turning water to wine, eating with all the wrong people, casting out demons, angering the religious establishment. He touched the unclean and used spit and dirt to heal the blind and said crazy things like “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”, and “sell all you have and give it to the poor and pray for those who persecute you”. (Or as we like to say here, pray for those who prosecute you).

And the thing that really cooked people’s noodles wasn’t the question “is Jesus like God” it was “what if God is like Jesus”.  What if God is not who we thought?  What if the most reliable way to know God is not through religion, not through a reward and punishment program, but through a person. What if the most reliable way to know God is to look at how God chose to reveal God’s self in Jesus, even in Jesus’ wounds.  

Because that changes everything.  If what we see in Jesus is God’s own self revealed, then what we are dealing with here is a God who is very different than how I would be if I were God. In Jesus we see a God who would rather die than be in the sin accounting business anymore.  A God who does not lift a finger to condemn those who crucified him, but went to the depths of Hell rather than be separated even from his betrayers. A God unafraid to get his hands dirty for the ones he loves. This is the God who raised Jesus from the grave — still wounded and who chose a woman with a past to tell everyone else about it.

I guess what I am saying is don’t believe the paintings of the resurrection — where Jesus is all cleaned up and shiny, like nothing bad really happened.

If you think that’s what resurrection looks like, if you think it looks like perfection and therefore it is out of reach, if you think the only sign of God bringing new life is the absence of pain or failure and therefore you haven’t experienced it, you might be wrong. 

That’s the point.

Our scars and our sorrow will always be part of our story but they will never be the conclusion of our story. Which means that even when you feel trapped in your pain, trapped in your past, trapped in your own story like it is itself a tomb, know this — that there is no stone that God cannot roll away.”

 

Holy Saturday: Resurrection in the dark…

I’ve been to Holy Saturday worship. Something has happened in the darkness. In the darkness of the tomb, something wonderful, something hardly believable, something earth-shattering, has happened. Jesus is no longer there; he has been raised and is on his way to Galilee.

While so much of our focus is on the light, let us not forget where Easter begins.

Barbara Brown Taylor writes in Learning to Walk in the Dark, “As many years as I have been listening to Easter sermons, I have never heard anyone talk about that part. Resurrection is always announced with Easter lilies, the sound of trumpets, bright streaming light. But it did not happen that way. If it happened in a cave, it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air.... new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.”

As Christians, we are prone to talking about dark versus light— more specifically, to see the light as a conqueror of the dark. But to pit the two against each other is to miss the ways God is present and working in both.

We tend to think of darkness only as periods of despair, hopelessness, or confusion—times when God feels far away or at best unknowable. In darkness, we hit our shins on the coffee table; in the darkness, we don’t know what might jump out to get us.

But there is also goodness in darkness. It is the condition necessary for restorative slumber. In the dark and quiet, we can rest and replenish. In the dark and quiet of the earth, bulbs wait quietly for warmer temperatures. In the dark and quiet, seeds germinate before pushing green shoots up above the soil, ready for the sun.

 

This was tonight the first service of Easter for us and we met, before the lilies, the brunches, and the flowered crosses of the morning, we began quietly, in near darkness.

God works marvellous wonders amidst darkness. As the familiar words of Psalm 139 remind us, “Darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike. For you yourself created my inmost parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

God creates in the darkness—in the soil, in the womb, in the cave.

Though periods of grief, hopelessness, and confusion might seem like the moments God is the farthest away, if we observe closely, we can see signs that God is quietly present, sowing seeds, working wonders, and inviting us into growth and new life.

 

Alleluia! The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!