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Posts Tagged ‘John’

You are Holy

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , , on April 27, 2012| 2 Comments »

Photo by Ed Rybczynski

It’s a song, a litany sung by the over-comers of this world, who fight the good fight, who stay the course, who keep the faith. And what is the essence of the song? God is holy. If we could understand the full meaning of holiness, we might also prevail.

Revelation 15:4
Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.

Sacred and pure. Perfect. Incorruptible. Transcendent and immortal.

Only One is all of these things.

On the earth, we are sustained by a single sun and yet there are many suns and stars in the Universe. We know so little and yet claim so much. Humans can be so prideful. And yet, in the big (and I mean really big) picture, we are tiny, even miniscule.

And yet, we are given an opportunity to connect with and be part of Holy.

Even John, who had been given some of the most amazing access to all things holy: friendship with Jesus, witness of the transfiguration, caregiver for Jesus’s human mother, prophecy and miracle, leadership and humility, and finally, visions of a space outside of time. This John, in the presence of Holy, fell down as though dead [Revelation 1:17], so overwhelmed.

Holy is not something we can take lightly. Holy is the essence of God. And when we praise and sing and lift our hands crying out, “holy, holy, holy,” it is not God who needs to hear us, it is we who need to embrace the truth of it.

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Winepress of Wrath

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2012| 1 Comment »

Throughout the Bible, the imagery of wine is used in a positive light, like Jesus turning water into wine or the Passover cup where it symbolizes the shedding of his own blood. But the winepress itself, the process, that pressure and transformation holds other implications.

Revelation 14:19
So the angel swung his scythe on the earth and stripped the grapes and gathered the vintage from the vines of the earth and cast it into the huge winepress of God’s indignation and wrath. [Amplified]

It’s not a gentle business, the pressing of grapes, or for that matter, gathering them either. In the case of true wine making, there is a particular pressure applied to avoid smashing the seeds which give a more bitter flavor. Were they as concerned in ancient times? I don’t know since it was done with feet. In any case, once the grapes are smashed, they are no longer good as grapes. They must become something else.

Generally, I have only known the kinder forms of metamorphosis. The Holy Spirit is a gentle craftsman of my heart and soul. I am forgiven daily and given many, many opportunities to try again, to learn, to grow, to change and ultimately, to become a sweet aroma to both humankind and God. I want to translate myself into a creature of love and daring.

But I also understand that kicking against the goads of God’s will for me, fighting the process, forcing my way on the path, only makes it more difficult. And so, challenges and difficulties can arise to bring me back around.

It’s hard to see and understand the God way because it’s a way of mystery and paradox. It’s the path that Indiana Jones couldn’t see over the abyss. It cannot be seen or felt until one takes that step of faith. It’s not the golden chalice but the well-worn, humble one that is the Holy Grail.

Eventually, though, a day does come in the stretch of humankind when God allows the worst to happen. Like the pain of Job who lost everything to find everything, so it will be with Earth: a great shattering.

I don’t like the idea of contemplating such a turn of events nor do I want to be there. I don’t want to be there because of my own stubborn nature. I don’t want to know the winepress of wrath.

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Dragons, Beasts, and 666

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 22, 2012| 6 Comments »

Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my!

I almost feel like Dorothy trying to navigate her way through the Land of Oz. But where she chanted lions and tigers and bears; we are told to beware of dragons, beasts, and 666. Dorothy and her friends didn’t know what to expect and honestly, either do we.

Revelation 13:11-12a, 18b
Then I [John] saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, . . . Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

Whether these are mythical dragons or early man’s interpretation of dinosaurs, they represent something bigger than we are, stronger, fearsome, and non-human. Let’s just take a Sauropoda or Brontosaurus, an average human next to that one is about as tall as toe to mid-calf of one leg of the dinosaur. That would be like a man next to a mouse, a very small mouse. What do we have in common? What do we share? And if, today, we actually encountered a malevolent creature of that size, wouldn’t we fear it?

According to Revelation, that’s not all, we also have multi-headed beasts and mysterious numbers to fear, or just one number, really, that mysterious 666 which has become synonymous with evil, the devil, and other negative connotations. It’s universally accepted as sinister except for those who relish in sympathizing with such symbolism such as the Aryan Brotherhood, the Growing in Grace Church of Miami who follow self-proclaimed “christ-figure” Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, the Cult of Saturn, and many more.

I remember my first exposure to all of the prophetic tumult in the 1970’s about the end times, 666, the mark of the beast, and so on. I was terrified as more and more people seemed to believe in it and write about it. For many, the last days were identified by many signs like the modern day happenings in Israel, the European Union, and the demise of paper money for e-cash. And of course, more recently, the pathetic predictions of charlatans such as Howard Camping whose rapture was to have happened last year on May 21st.

Just as there are good witches and evil witches in Oz, so do we have the spectrum here in “Kansas.” Good and evil are ever before us with the narrow good road generally appearing as the least likely way to travel.

Wisdom calls out in the market place [Proverbs 1:20] and yet we do not hear her. We are running to and fro looking for signs and wonders and yet do not see the most obvious sign of all: our own biases.

The poor, the orphan, the widow, the single mom, and the homeless are fighting the dragon and beasts every day as well as those humans who behave as though 666 is their motto, withholding what they have out of fear losing it all. Oh God, is that my number after all? Forgive me.

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War in Heaven

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Of course, this “war in heaven” is raged all the time. Despite the various views of Bible scholars, both Old Testament and New, I cannot eschew my commitment to timelessness to all things heavenly and Godly. And how do I know this? Just look around.

Revelation 12:7-8, 9b
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. . . He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

If the effects of this war in heaven is the hurling of evil forces to earth, then we have had no respite from it. Throughout the ages, earth and human have experienced nothing but travail, fighting against one another for one stupid reason after another.

We have always longed for things we could not have. This is the mark of evil.

“They [Michael and his angels] triumphed over him [the dragon and his angels]
by the blood of the Lamb [the Christ]
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death. [Revelation 12:11]

This is the life of paradox: taking the “strength and power” of the Christ, the lamb, the peace that passes understanding, and doing battle against evil. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” [Ephesians 6:12]

Oh, if I could just get this in my head and heart and mind and not struggle so much with traditional strength, with my own determination, and my own flappings.

Gandhi got it. Martin Luther King got it. Mother Teresa got it. What about you and me?

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Two Witnesses

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The two witnesses, as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse, an 11th century illuminated manuscript.

I really am trying to plow my way through these final chapters of Revelation, but it’s slow going. Not that I don’t understand what I am reading or appreciate the wonderful images and symbolism. I simply don’t know where the application for me, right now, might be hidden.

Revelation 11:3-5
And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.

I have always liked the story of the two witnesses in its seeming detail and yet, mysterious exclusions. After all, no one really knows who these two are or might be. Some claim they are Moses and Elijah (both seen at Christ’s transfiguration [Mark 9:2-9]) while others say they are two new characters in the end times story. In any case, they stand around for three and a half years prophesying and doing battle with anyone who tries to interfere with them. They are not depicted as particularly benevolent or nice. They are clearly on a mission.

And why just two? Are they symbols for two people groups or two types of ideas? Who knows? I don’t know. But based on the remaining events after their time, they do seem to represent a turning point, a kind of last chance to hear the message. After they finish their business, evil in the world brings out the “big guns,” that is, the Beast from the Abyss. Whoever or whatever this might be, it has the power to destroy the two witnesses and they remain dead for three and a half days. Then, miraculously, they are revived and ascend (or disappear). With their disappearance, there is a great catastrophic earthquake and 7000 people are numbered as dying. The survivors, even at this late hour in the long experiences of woes and angels and death and destruction, “give glory to God in heaven” [Revelation 11:13]. Go figure.

There are many examples in scripture about the number two: Noah’s ark animals two by two [Genesis 7:9] while Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs [Mark 6:7] and of course, there are a number of well known couples like Adam and Eve, Joseph and Mary, Jacob and Rachel. And we cannot forget the friendship pairs either: Ruth and Naomi or Jonathan and David. And like the yin and yang of Chinese tradition, the Judeo-Christians have their alpha and omega (the beginning and the end), light and dark, good and evil, heaven and earth, two witnesses are required to confirm a crime [Numbers 35:30], two lamp stands, two fish, and many more.

Who are the two witnesses in me? Do they speak the same message or are they opposites? Does one begin and the other finish? Is it the good cop/bad cop routine? Is it Abbot and Costello? Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin? The Smothers Brothers? Some duos are opposites while others are the same. Some compliment one another while others grind. Some war against each other while others make love and peace.

Is it possible the two within me are the old self and the new? Or my spirit and the Holy Spirit?

Part of the mission of becoming a follower a Christ is melding the two’s into one. The human model for that is supposed to be marriage where two become one.

I can well imagine that these two Revelation witnesses, once resurrected, also united. The work was finished.

And so, that is my application: two become one . . . eventually. Life is the process. Faith is the process. We don’t experience “one” until we have lived out the fullness of “two.”

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Sweet and Sour

Posted in Eastertide, tagged , , , , , , , on April 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

What will you eat today? What will I consume? I know I am too quick to “eat” gossip, those juicy tidbits doled out by well meaning colleagues and friends. But no matter how sweet the information seems at first, it’s ultimate value is bitter to the soul.

Revelation 10:10
I [John] took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.

I have said before that I struggle with judging others but I”m beginning to see that the gossip thing is seriously vying for first place. As a gregarious person, I am always talking with people and the tendency to gobble up unbidden news is always there.

Today, then, just today, I must be aware of this tendency and flee. “Tell me later,” I can say or “Just a minute, I think I hear my cell phone,” or “Hold that thought” and run to the ladies room. Truly, I must flee.

And what about the gossip I long to tell. Lord, help me count to ten before I say another word.

Focus. Focus.

I know this verse from Revelation is not about gossip, but it reminded me of the phenomenon all the same. In reality, the little scroll that John consumed, held an unspoken prophecy, a piece of news that could not be shared with the world. Will we ever know?

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Seal of God

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The locust attack from the Abyss comes after the sounding of the 5th trumpet. The first four are equally devastating, from “hail & fire mixed with blood” to a huge blazing meteoric object as big as a mountain to comet-like star (or person?) that turns water to Wormword and a consuming darkness to follow. Not a good time to be hanging out on Earth.

Revelation 9:4
They [the locusts from the “shaft of the Abyss”] were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

Of course, no one really knows what any of these images or trumpet blasts really mean. It could be representative of things to come, things that have already happened, or things happening now. I do think it’s a little amusing to read the various interpretations that specifically write with great sounding authority. But really, these are just ideas and “plausible” explanations. I don’t really believe anyone today has the inside track on these symbols and images.

And yet, I am intrigued by the idea of the seal of God. This, too, has many interpretations, some believe it’s an actual mark on a person’s forehead while others claim it’s a mark of obedience to the laws and words of God in the mind. Some view it as the antithesis to the “mark of the beast” which is described in some detail in Revelation 13.

But here’s all that matters to me: the seal of God is a mark of ownership. No one (and I believe this wholeheartedly) can “earn” the seal of God. It’s a gift. It’s a grace.

I have that. Now. Whether I will suffer or not suffer in some time of trial and tribulation, I don’t know. But I know I am God’s own, a follower of the Christ, in communion with the Holy Spirit within. There is no 666, no barcode, no QR code, no tattoo, no other mark that will change the God-mark on my heart. Amen. So be it.

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