The Gospel Truth

I love the comics! Comics such as Doonesbury, Peanuts, Non-Sequitir, and For Better Or For Worse (as well as many others) make some very serious points in a comical way. Just when you think you are doing some light reading, BAM! Right between the eyes! Entertainment and education in mere minutes—I love it!

I also enjoy watching "animated features." That’s just the adult way of saying, "I like watching cartoons on TV, DVD, or in theatres, too." I don’t think I’m alone, either. If you have noticed, in the past few years there have been quite a few animated movies that, while fine for older children, are geared for adults as well.

For example, what about the lessons of history respect for the land, as well as Native American theology taught in "Pocahontas"? The movie "Shrek" was filled with messages of not judging others based on appearances; and that true love and friendship has many expressions and faces. That movie had some great jokes in it, too!

In the Disney feature, "Hercules," there was an animated chorus (ala Diana Ross and the Supremes) who, in true Greek theatre fashion, helped move the story along with their narratives. They would often emphasize their claims by repeating the refrain, "And that’s the Gospel truth!"

Unfortunately, the "gospel truth" this choir was proclaiming was a hard-nosed, hard-boiled truth about the world in which we live. Sure, there was a lot of humor in the movie; but at the same time, some of the "truths" presented in it could be seen as seemingly without hope.

Now, we may say that "Hercules" was just a myth, and the movie just a cartoon. But at the same time, there are grains of truth in most all myths, and cartoons can make some very strong points—even in a very adult world. But is the hard core hard-nosed reality of today all there is to the gospel truth?

Speaking of the difference between gospel truth and "myth," the passage for today comes from the book of Revelation, chapter 21, and verses 1-6. People have made millions off this particular book of the Bible by using it as a "code" of sorts to figure out when the second coming of Christ will occur, and who all the creatures in Revelation represent in terms of the people, places, and events of today.

On the other end of the spectrum are people who treat Revelation as symbolic only—so they don’t preach on it at all. As with most everything else in life, I believe the "gospel truth" lies somewhere between these two extremes. That is to say, Revelation is not a code to be cracked; but at the same time, there are relevant messages in it for us today.

As a pastoral letter, Revelation was addressing a particular situation for a particular group of
people living in a particular time. It is believed that the author of Revelation wrote the book while in exile on the island of Patmos, and this exile was a direct result of his Christian preaching. In other words, persecution was his "gospel truth." The author saw his persecution, as well as that of his brothers and sisters in Christ, as just the beginning of things to come.

Now there is something interesting to note about the persecution theme here. According to church history, during the time period the book of Revelation was thought to have been written, persecution of the church was probably occasional at the most. So, if persecution wasn’t a huge problem at the time, what could the author have had in mind with this book? Could it be maybe that he was warning the early church against complacency in the absence of persecution?

Think about it. What happens today when world, national, state, and even local events don’t seem to pertain to our individual situations? We get complacent. "You know that world hunger issue is just getting out of control. Could you pass me another helping of mashed potatoes, please?"

While some of our sisters and brothers in other countries take their very lives into their hands by attending worship services, many American Christians are busy complaining about the temperatures of their spacious sanctuaries. In our own community, there are people who can afford to speak out on issues of equality and oppression, yet refuse to do so, because whatever the issue may be never seems to be "their issue." After all, It is not THEIR jobs, nor the sanctity of THEIR relationships, nor their religious freedom that is at stake.

Yet.

Addressed to the church at Laodicea, Revelation 3:15-16 states, "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Complacency, folks, is a far more deadly enemy of churches and whole communities than persecution.

If we follow the complacency theory, then it could be that the author of Revelation is saying, "WAKE UP, PEOPLE! It may not be bad for you, now; but look what is coming! Will you be able to stand?"

What follows looks pretty serious, too: famine, disease, earthquakes, hail and fire mixed with blood, falling stars, and the list goes on. Everything was looking pretty bleak at that point—and that was the gospel truth.

Today we have famine, disease, earthquakes, war, violence of all kinds, abuse, addiction, and the list goes on. Churches splitting over who is in and who is out; indifference to the pain and suffering of our sisters and brothers who were not fortunate enough to be born in a free and wealthy country like ours’. Everything is looking pretty bleak at this point—and that is the gospel truth.

But, that is not the WHOLE gospel truth.

Our reading today starts with a new heaven and a new earth, and the sea is no more. The terms "heaven and earth" refer not to two distinct places; these terms refer to the entire cosmos! So, things are definitely beginning to change in radical, new ways. From where does this new heaven and new earth—this new cosmos-- come? Let’s look at verse 5: "And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See I am making all things new."

Notice God did not say, "I am making all new things." The words are, "I am making all things new." The symbolism here is powerful. God does NOT start all over from scratch. God does not REPLACE creation—God REDEEMS creation—including you and me.

While the imagery of no sea sounds confusing at first, it may help to know that in Near Eastern literature the sea represented chaos. There were monsters in the sea, and all kinds of unmentionable evil and horrors. With the new heaven and the new earth—with God’s redemption--the chaos disappears.

But it gets even better. In verse two, we see the vision of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. In verse three, a loud voice proclaims that God will dwell with humanity; we will be God’s peoples—that’s plural, folks—and God will be with us.

The symbolism here is amazing. In Jewish history, Jerusalem was seen as the dwelling place of God. With the coming of the New Jerusalem, God not only redeems all of creation, God’s immanence—God’s closeness—becomes incredibly real for creation.

Isn’t that great news? No matter how bad it gets, the day is coming when God’s redemption will remove ALL the chaos from our lives! Not only that, God’s love and presence is going to be made manifest in ways we can’t even imagine! THERE IS HOPE, folks! THERE IS HOPE!

How do we know this is true? Because Revelation 21:6 tells us that God said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." In Hebrew, the word for truth is "emet," spelled aleph, mem, taw. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; mem is the middle letter of the Hebrew alphabet; and taw is final letter of the Hebrew alphabet. What does that mean?

God was. God IS. God always will be. Emet. Truth.

And because God was, because God IS, because God always will be—because God loves us so much—God sent Jesus, so that whosoever believes in Jesus may not perish, but may have everlasting life.

"Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

God was. God IS. God always will be. There IS hope.

And THAT, my friends, is the "gospel truth."

Spiritual Pacifiers

There has been a lot of talk throughout the ages as to the best way to bring about world peace. Some folks believe pre-emptive strikes and using the threat of nuclear annihilation are the ways to go. Of course, what many of the "nuke’em all" camp seems to forget is when WE nuke THEM, it tends to destroy the planet in the process. "Yeah! We’ll show you! You don’t play by OUR rules, we’ll destroy civilization as we know it! That’ll show you!"

Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, we have the John Lennon Fan Club singing, "All we are saying, is give peace a chance," while terrorism is on the increase. So what DO you do?
I submit to you today my proposal for the best way to achieve world peace. I submit to you today---the binky! Or boo, or pacy, or whatever you called this amazing peacekeeper when you were a child.

Some of you laugh. Some of you are probably in shock. But if you have ever raised or otherwise cared for an infant, you KNOW the power of the binky! And since I personally feel that war is the result of the ultimate in childish, immature, and selfish behavior, a binky might be just the ticket we’ve been looking for all these years.

No, none of us can really doubt the calming effects of a pacifer. Not only does it give the child using it a sense of security, it also gives the adults around the child a sense of peace and quiet.

Then the day comes when its time to lose the pacifer. And oh, what a traumatic time that can be for anyone within hearing distance of the child being weaned from his or her "best friend." But everyone eventually realizes that it is in the child’s best interest for he or she to move on to the next level of maturity, and that means losing the binky. Amazingly enough, everyone always seems to survive this growth process in one piece—a little frayed around the edges, maybe—but OK nonetheless.

You may be surprised to learn that there are things called "spiritual binkys", too. Spiritual binkys are those things we cling to (whether they are healthy or not) that make us feel secure, peaceful, and calm in our spiritual lives.

Actually, spiritual binkys are not a new phenomenon. Take the twelve apostles—well, now eleven as of today’s Gospel reading--for example. We can look at this reading and pick up a few examples from them.

First, in today’s reading, the apostles are hiding in fear for their lives. They have either seen, or been told about, the empty tomb, but as scripture last week told us, they still didn’t quite understand what was going on.

To be fair, they probably had every reason to be afraid. They were Jesus’ main entourage just days earlier. No doubt the religious leaders had picked up on that bit of information. While those leaders may have thought Jesus was the big problem, no doubt they would be looking for the apostles, as well. After all, if one crucifixion is good, just think of the message they could send with eleven more!

The apostles were basically paralyzed with fear; so they tried hiding behind closed doors.
Believe it or not, safe space can actually become a spiritual pacifier. Week after week, people who feel persecuted, beat up, and just plain worn out make their way to churches all over the world. Behind those closed doors, many of these people find safe spaces where they can be loved, affirmed, and refreshed—and that is wonderful! It is my prayer that you find our church a safe place where you feel loved, affirmed, and refreshed by the Holy Spirit, as well.

But just as the time comes to lose the pacifier, the time also comes for us to leave these four walls. We can’t live here. This isn’t a monastery, and it isn’t a convent. The church IS a place of spiritual rest and refreshment. But it is also a place of training where we do NOT sit paralyzed with fear, afraid to leave for fear of what people may say or do when should they just happen to find out we are Christians. The church of the living God is NOT just another closet where we hide in fear! Amen?

Besides, Jesus isn’t going to let us do that for very long, anyway. That is, IF we are open to receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture today tells us that even though the windows and doors of the place where the disciples were hiding were locked, Jesus STILL came and stood among them!

The symbolism here is very powerful. The locked doors and windows could very well indicate that the disciples really weren’t expecting Jesus to show up; and even if he did, they may have been afraid of what he would do to them since they had deserted Jesus at his darkest hour.
Let me ask us all a question this morning. Do we REALLY expect Jesus to show up here on Sunday mornings? Do we REALLY expect Jesus to show up in our day to day lives? Or, are we more like the apostles in today’s reading? Not really expecting Jesus, and maybe actually afraid for him to show up because we don’t know how he is going to respond to how we’ve been living our lives.

I don’t know about you, but I also really think it is a shame today when Jesus basically has to break into some churches because their doors and windows are locked in fear. Windows and doors that are locked in fear of change, fear of welcoming ALL people, fear of challenging "the way it’s always been done around here." Doors and windows locked in fear by a few people who are afraid of losing their spiritual pacifiers of power, prestige, and—dare I say it—history.
However, the good news is Jesus DOES show up! Like the apostles, it is probably going to freak us out when He does walk through those locked doors of our lives AND our churches, too—ESPECIALLY if we aren’t expecting him.

But we have no reason to fear when Jesus breaks into our lives. Scripture today tells us that Jesus said to the disciples, "Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."
Now Jesus had every reason to be disappointed and angry with this group of men he had loved, cared for, and taught over the past three years. But yet he brings greetings of peace.

Jesus Christ does the same thing in our lives. If you had told me ten years ago that one day I would be pastoring a church in Corpus Christi, Texas, I would probably have laughed at you. You see, I wasn’t living exactly what you would call a "pastoral" kind of life at that time.
But as Christ had—and still has—plans for me, so Christ has plans for YOU. Jesus brings greetings of peace, yes; but Jesus also presents us with a job to do. Remember, Jesus told the apostles, …"so I am sending you…"

Sending us? Sending us where? EVERYWHERE, folks! We are called to leave this place and proclaim God’s life-changing love for ALL people to our families, to our friends, to our co-workers…everyone who will listen!

How do we do that? We get the answer from scripture today. Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. God equips us through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to go out and make disciples of all nations.

You may still be thinking, "OK, the Holy Spirit helps me out. Great! Still HOW do I make disciples of all nations? How do I make Jesus REAL for others?"

We make Jesus real for others—those whom we may call "Doubting Thomas or Doubting Teresa"-- through the examples of our lives. We show the nail prints of Christ’s hands to others when we put our hands to work to help those who are less fortunate than us.

We show the wound in Jesus’ side to others when we bend and stretch ourselves to not only look at, but also to ACTUALLY TRY new ways of doing ministry in this changing world. Jesus Christ demonstrated a radical new way of discipleship, service, and relating to one another in the culture in which he lived. If we call ourselves Christian, I ask you, "Can WE really afford to do anything less?"

As God sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. Scary thought? You bet it is! But when we are afraid, let us take comfort from these words of Christ: "Remember I am with you ALWAYS, even until the end of the age."

It’s a promise we can all count on. Amen?