Allen Pruitt. All this stuff in Revelation, it sounds pretty weird. And it s hard not to get caught up in all of the weird.

Transcription

1 1 Allen Pruitt All this stuff in Revelation, it sounds pretty weird. And it s hard not to get caught up in all of the weird. This reading we have today, is probably one of the more pedestrian things we could read in Revelation. No beasts, no signs and symbols, no weird numerology. But there s still these white robed people and angels around the throne. It s all pretty weird. No wonder then that when people try to make sense out of Revelation, they talk about it happening way off yonder. Way off in the future. Way up in the sky. There s even movies that act like there s some folks disappeared and others left behind, or images of people floating on up into heaven. Revelation is weird and confusing, and so we talk about it like it s happening off yonder, up in heaven. Nobody really wants to talk about the end of the world, even if it s God doing the ending. So we pretend like it s way off yonder, and like we got nothing to do with the whole thing.

2 2 But that s not what the book says. The book says that all of these things in Revelation happen, not UP in heaven, but right down here. Right here where we are. Right here where all this confusion and loss and sadness happen to us. I don t know where we ever got the idea that we were going to be floating up to heaven like Jesus. Even last week, at the end of the reading where Moses dies, it makes sure to say that Moses was carried down and buried in a valley. If Moses can t be like Jesus, floating away into heaven, then I don t know where we got the idea that we would. No, all this stuff, all these things in Revelation happen right here. God doesn t promise heaven to the righteous, God promises a new heaven and a new earth. God promises heaven brought down to earth.

3 3 And if we can believe in Christmas, if we can believe that the God of creation was born into a dirty manger in Bethlehem, I don t know why we have so much trouble believing that God will come down in glory at the end of it all. But that s not what we really believe. We believe that the good will go up and the bad will go down, and God won t really be too worried about the world he gave us in the first place. No matter how many times the book tells us that God is concerned with how we treat this world, especially the people living in it! The man asks the question in the reading today, who are all these white robed people? These are they who have come out of the great ordeal. What if this is the ordeal? What if living is not just a gift but also an ordeal? Why do we leave ourselves out of it, assuming it s about other folks, either the ones better than us or the ones unluckier than us? What if it s us? What if God called the world good and then never stopped trying to keep it that way?

4 4 There ain t nothing in the Bible about this world being lost. There s a whole lot in there about this world getting saved. Revelation 21 - And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them. Sounds a little like what we heard in church today. for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life. Heaven comes down to earth. That s our story. That s the story of Christmas. If the stores can bring Christmas out three weeks before Halloween, then I can talk about it 5 days after! Heaven comes down to earth. That s our story - from Christmas all the way to Revelation - heaven comes down to earth.

5 5 Has it ever happened for you, heaven coming down to earth? Who helped you see it; who brought heaven down to earth for you? Who is bringing heaven down to earth in this world, today? That s what you call a saint. Not a perfect person; not a person who never had an impure thought. No, that s not what we re talking about. We re talking about a saint - a person who brings heaven down to earth. My grandma is one of my saints. Y all know all about her. My girls are some of my saints - they teach me all the time about what it means to love and be loved, about heaven coming down to earth. But if you follow them around, especially when it s time to clean rooms and do dishes, you ll know that being a saint, has nothing to do with being perfect. Who are your saints? Who are your imperfect people who brought heaven down to earth? Who are the ones that made you see it no matter how blind you were? Saints of God; that s what we re talking about today.

6 We re going to pray in a minute for all our saints who have died. We ll pray for my grandma; we ll pray for the saints of this church who we ve buried; we ll pray for your saints who have died this past year. 6 Every week, we have a chance to pray for these saints in church. Every week, when we pray for those who have died, I pray for the same eight people. When I first started here it was only three. God knows how many it will be by the time I retire, when I start sitting I the pews, complaining about these kids today. Today we ring the bells for the folks who have died. We remember the ones we love but see no longer. And that is right. We need the bells and the prayers and the pretty stained glass; we need to tell the stories to keep the memory alive, the memory of that time Eula Jackson brought heaven down to earth with her smile and her doing the boogaloo down the aisle; the memory of that time that Jim Yeary brought heaven down to earth, telling a bad joke from the pulpit. We need to tell our stories about the ones we love but see no longer: your folks and mine too.

7 7 But here s the thing; that ain t all - we need to tell each other, about each other. Because the saints lived not only in ages past, there are hundreds of thousands still. Which means somebody in your life is a saint for you. We need to take a risk and say it out loud: You are bringing heaven down to earth. I see you doing it; in your own way - you re doing it, bringing heaven down to earth! Sounds risky don t it? Sounds like you might get a catch in your throat when you try to say that to one of the saints you see in your life. But do it anyway.

8 8 Tell them, I don t know what you ll be doing tomorrow, or even two hours from now. But right this minute, in your own holy way, you are one of the saints God, and because of you, I can see heaven come crashing down to earth. Go on; give it a try.