Garrett Vickrey 4.3.16 Easter 2 We the Preachers Revelation 1:4-8 Woodland Baptist Church San Antonio, TX I was going to start out today with a dramatized re-write of the preamble of the U.S Constitution starting with the words, We the preachers instead of We the people Pretty clever right? And it was going to set forth the essence of Christian faith to get things started like a good preamble should. But, once I started writing I realized (what you are probably thinking now) that that is a terrible idea. Once I started to write it out, I knew it was at least terrible, at worst heretical. I couldn t help but see similarities here between that famous preamble to our constitution and John of Patmos preamble to his Revelation. Of course, there s many differences. The bible isn t meant to be a constitution; it is sacred scripture composed of a library of material of different genres. New Testament Scholar Bruce Metzger compares the bible to a great library containing many different types of books that appeal to readers in different ways. He says, the Psalms of David appeal to our emotions, books of law speak to our will, Paul s letters to our intellect, meanwhile the book of Revelation is unique in appealing primarily to our imagination not, a freewheeling imagination, but a disciplined imagination. 1 And here in the beginning of Revelation we read of the essence of the book. Like any great preamble it sets up the foundation for what is to come God loves us. God has freed us from our sin. God will come back to finish what was begun on Easter. This Easter season we will be reading from Revelation in Worship. The book of Revelation derives from a community undergoing great suffering. And to it s hearers it offers encouragement, hope and a look at the eternity behind the moment. Apocalyptic writing portrays the gravity of every moment and decision. It sees in every minute the eternal. Revelation reminds us of the eternal weight our lives carry. But, Revelation is not simply a book about the future. It s about the depth of time and the way time is unfolding toward God s dream for creation. God is the one who is, 1
who was, and who is to come. The God of the past is present now and brings the future to us now through Christ Jesus. Christ is king, the kingdom of God is coming, and the Spirit is bringing it to us. The original audience of Revelation was facing persecution from Emperor Diocletian at the end of the first century. John of Patmos is writing to the churches in modern day Turkey to encourage them too live in the power of the resurrection even though evil seemed to be winning. He reminds them in this book that God has taken sin captive through Jesus, but even in captivity sin s existence has consequences. But, God s victory over it is secure and one day this enemy will not just be defeated but eliminated. And it is in that certainty that we can find peace. This is a good passage for us to read this week after celebrating Easter last Sunday. Last Sunday we gathered here and proclaimed Christ is risen indeed! And we sang and the Easter lilies reminded us of what Martin Luther once said, Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime. Last Sunday we proclaimed the tomb empty and victory over death. But, this week s obituary page in the newspaper was not empty. The ER at University Hospital was full. This week churches in Turkey still mourn the deaths of 37 people in Ankara. This week divorce papers continue to be filed and car accidents end the plans we make. What about our Alleluias? Was there really victory at the cross? For John s first audience and for us today we are reminded that the suffering of life isn t ignored by the Easter message; it s good news for those who mourn and suffer now. The resurrection doesn t mean that we will not suffer; it foreshadows the more God has planned. Yes, God raised Jesus and that was the climax of God s creative work, but there is more to come. Jesus is raised to be the One at the helm of creation; and one day God s Kingdom will come in fullness on earth as it is in heaven. Until then the Spirit binds us to him and the fullness of that day. My friend Scott Dickison, who s the pastor of a church in Macon, GA, wrote an article on the Baptist News Global website this week about a sign we saw posted on a 2
church when we were together in Jerusalem a few years ago. There s a sign on the outside of the Church of All Nations in the garden of gethsemane that says (right outside the front door): No explanations inside the church. 2 Scott points out that the sign was meant to keep tour guides from giving their commentary about the church and the surrounding area in the sanctuary while people were trying to pray. But, he also points out that this is a good reminder for us at Easter. The Gospel writers were more interested in describing resurrection encounters than resurrection explanations. While Easter preaching has often sought to explain the resurrection how it happened, who was there, what was it like when Jesus opened his eyes with the coverings over his face that s not really the avenue the Gospels take in proclaiming the Easter news. We know about the resurrection not because there was a video camera set up in the tomb to give us the play-by-play; we know of the resurrection from the stories of those who experienced Christ in the days following. And we still learn and are inspired by the stories of those followers. Those stories are not a one time thing. Mary shared her experience of the living Christ with Peter and the disciples. Peter shared his experience with the people in Jerusalem that first Pentecost. And maybe in some way what we read in Revelation is another example in a long line of testimony. It is an encounter with God in Jesus Christ. We often think of witnessing for our faith as explanation (as explaining our faith). The premise being that we have to have everything figured out. That s great for those who do, but what about the rest of us for whom faith is a journey in the footsteps of Christ? In that case, witnessing is describing the basic sketches of an encounter with God in Christ and sharing in the resurrection life shared with us. All of us, this side of Easter, are invited to embody resurrection life where we are. There s many ways to do that we know that. We know that our behavior how we treat people, the decisions we make with our money, and our words can reveal God s saving love. St. Francis of Assisi is known to have told his followers, Go and preach the gospel. If necessary, use words. 3
Our best witnessing is done without words. But, that doesn t mean we shouldn t work out the essence of our own faith by putting into words what the Word of God means to us. We might be surprised how this might shape us and minister to those around us. Revelation says we (all of us together) are a made to be a kingdom, priests serving for God s glory. That sounds something like our church motto Every member a minister. For us that motto is a reminder of the servant role we take on in being a part of Christ s church. It also reminds us that there is no middle-man between us and God. God moves toward us and every now and then we see it or hear it or feel it. In Revelation John recounts the gospel message in his own words; he shares what has been shared with him. Could we do that? If you were to write your spiritual memoir how would you describe the gospel in your own words? There s your homework for this week. Two years ago, about this time, I had lunch with Clo and Henry McGill and some of their family. Clo was 89 years-old and the battery had just run out on her pacemaker. She told the doctor seven years before when he put that battery in that it would be the last. And she stuck to her word. I came into the kitchen where she was holding court with her grandchildren. Clo was telling them why she believed in God, and why faith had been so important to her. I remember what she said because after she said it I immediately had her write it down. She said, "God is the ground of all being and therefore life and all that is are gifts, the basis of which is love. God is love and that spirit of love in us, between us and among us is what gives meaning and purpose to our lives. All that we can say in response to such an unspeakably glorious gift is "Thank you ; which we say in the name of the man from Nazareth, Jesus, who is in fact the universal Christ! There s a preamble to a life of faith. She had thought about all this before. Her heart gave out just a few weeks later. I don t know if this vision of who God is in her life made her final days easy. I don t know that it alleviated all the fear of death. But, it illuminated the path ahead those last days. 4
There s an old story of an Indian king, guilty of a terrible sin. The king went to the hermitage of a well-renowned sage to learn what he must do to be forgiven, in order to be purified. The sage was absent, but his son who was at home heard his tale and boldly told the king what to do, Repeat the name of Rama thrice and your sins will be forgiven. When the sage returned and heard of the penance prescribed by his son, he remarked, How weak must be your faith, my son, that you asked for the holy name to be repeated thrice... why, countless sins are purged immediately, if one utters the name of the Almighty but once. 3 For us followers of the Word our words matter. Words have power. What we say matters, our words create our world. So shouldn t we begin to map out our own preamble of faith? Emily Dickinson once write, I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine. In the beginning God spoke a word and there was light. God said the word and there was grass and plants. God spoke and there was us. What about us? All of us preachers what will we say now? 5
1 Bruce M. Metzger, Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation, (Nashville, TN, Abingdon Press: 1993) 11. 2 Scott Dickison, No Explanations Needed Inside the Church, Baptist News Global, https://baptistnews.com/2016/03/29/ no-explanations-needed-inside-the-church/ 3 Shammi Paranjape, The Sacred, the Profane, and Mundane: The Power of Words, Huffington Post, http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/shammi-paranjape-/the-sacred-profane-and-mu_b_7969582.html 6