All Things New (Revelation 21:1-6)

 Whenever Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Sundays, it presents unique challenges to worship planners. We really have no idea who is going to show up. I was pleasantly surprised last week when 15 of us gathered for an informal brunch worship in our fellowship hall. Some of us brought food to share, and there were hardly any leftovers…

It seems like forever since the last time Christmas and New Year’s were on a Sunday, although actually, it was six years ago, in 2017.

On New Year’s Day in 2017, I talked about how New Year’s Day was celebrated back in 1863, which - by the way - was a Thursday. I pointed out that it was 154 years ago, except that now, it was 160 years ago.

I talked about how there was so much anticipation and hope for so many people, because on January 1, 1863, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which he delivered a few months earlier - would go into effect.

Which meant that, for many, everything changed on January 1, 1863. All they needed was word that what Lincoln had promised had become, officially, the law of the land. Once that word arrived, they knew that, for them, all things had become new.

The Bible talks a lot about things becoming new. This morning’s scripture, from Revelation, was the same scripture we heard on New Year’s Day six years ago. 

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; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’

And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’

In scripture, when God makes something new, it is to bless the people, and to liberate them from whatever oppresses or enslaves. 

When God does something new, the lost and lonely are found; broken souls find healing; hungry children are fed with warmth and good food; prisoners are set free; and the powerful learn to care.

When the Israelites were about to be set free from their captivity in Babylon, the prophet Isaiah wrote this:

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters: I am about to do a new thing.

Isaiah was talking about freedom from Babylon, but he also referenced the exodus out of Egypt - something that happened many generations earlier.

Which is appropriate, because the new thing God accomplishes isn’t limited to just one time or place. God is always making all things new. God is always doing the work of setting people free. God is always leading the broken to healing and wholeness.

And the new world and the new life God promises is always being realized.

So here we are, at another new year: 2023. Another new beginning. Another new opportunity to do or make or be something new…

One thing I’m increasingly aware of is the fact that religion as a whole, and American Christianity in particular, is right now becoming something new. The late Phyllis Tickle famously wrote about how, once every 500 years, the church has a rummage sale in which everything that is no longer helpful or useful is tossed out, and what remains is made into something new.

We are in one of those once-every-500-year periods right now. The old is being tossed out. What remains is being made into something new. 

And it’s exciting. And it’s terrifying.

Because whatever the church will look like once we get through this period, will be nothing like the church we have known.

It’s exciting and terrifying, but it’s also good, and necessary.

For too long, the church has identified itself with the powers of empire. For too long, at least in the United States, the church has been aligned with the movers and shakers of society, the people with authority and power. 

But over the past several decades, the power and influence of the church has begun to fade.

Here’s why that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The movement Jesus started was a movement that was an alternative to the way of the empire. It was a grass-roots, bottom-up movement. The kingdom Jesus proclaimed was specifically an alternative kingdom to all the other kingdoms of the world. 

It’s hard to be an alternative to the ways of the world if you are completely aligned with the ways of the world - as the church has been for all of U.S. history.

And it’s hard to be an alternative, grass-roots movement when you’re so used to being in the mainstream of society. Moving from the center of society to the side is not an easy move. It’s a humbling move, and despite the teaching to “humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,” we resist giving up the spotlight.

But it’s happening, whether we want it to or not. Things are becoming new, whether we want them to or not. 

So let’s find the good in this. Let’s see how the church can benefit from this. Let’s discover how our current situation is drawing us closer to the way of Jesus, and how it can help us be more faithful Christians.

I’ve come to learn that there are many who are just done with a church that lords its power over others and exists to carry out the will of the rich and powerful. There are so many who are so over a church that expects perfect behavior and perfect lives. People are in need of a church that embraces the misfits, the outcasts, the people whose world is falling apart.

And so many people have been hurt by the church. I know you hear me mention this more and more in my preaching. I think it’s the thing that makes me more sad than anything else, that there are so many Christian leaders who pervert the teachings of Jesus, who tell people they are sinful, that they are going to hell, that their brokenness is their own fault, when really, God created people whole and good, and it is the world and, more specifically, the teaching and preaching of these pastors that has broken them.

And all these broken people don’t need a church that is aligned with the powers of the world. All these broken people don’t need a church with a fancy building with a fancy organ and flashing lights and a full-service coffee shop in the narthex. All these broken people don’t need a church that cares more about people's sex lives than it does with whether they’ve eaten today or not. 

They need a church that has been made new.

I know; sometimes it’s hard to do anything new. If we’ve been doing the same thing for so long, we may not even know how to do something new.

One thing new about me is that I’m no longer trying to teach or preach to church leaders who have way too much pride in their own power and authority.

I’m not trying to preach to white supremacists anymore. I’m not trying to preach to those who are so very certain that gays, lesbians, and transgender people are going to hell. I don’t think I have much to say to them that will make a difference.

But there are so many who are lost, confused, or who have been abandoned by the church and hurt by the church; so many who have doubts and questions, and who are sincerely, genuinely trying to figure things out. Their numbers are growing, and I believe God is calling us to reach out to them, to help them on the path to healing on wholeness.

But for the church to effectively do all that, the church needs to repent of its past behavior; and the church needs to be made into something new.

Sometimes, it’s my own heart that needs to be made new. So, sometimes I will read a familiar scripture passage in a different translation than I’m used to, to hear it afresh - it’s as close as I can get to hearing it for the first time.

Because I know that a lot of what I’ve been taught ABOUT scripture in my life, is wrong, and I have to unlearn. About what scripture is really about. About how scripture is ONLY concerned with life after death, and not really all that concerned with the conditions under which people are living right now, in this life. About how God demands some sort of sacrifice in order to appease his anger. About how we are inherently evil sinners, instead of inherently good - the very good part of creation that God created on the 6th day.

We have a lot to unlearn, if we are to be made new.

During COVID - when we were ONLY livestreaming - we were forced into doing things a new way. And new people, searching for meaning in those weird, difficult days, were joining us online. 

So, we started introducing ourselves and introducing our church, letting people know that we are an open and affirming community, providing a safe space for all… something we still do.

I know that on many Sundays now, the only people who hear that introduction are we who have heard it dozens of times before. But it’s a reminder that we do sometimes have people worshiping with us for the first time, either here, or online, being introduced to our ministry for the first time. 

For them, it’s a new day, and possibly, a new beginning. Maybe it’s the first time they’ve been to worship in a year, or since they were children; or, maybe it’s the first time they’ve been to church since a preacher told them they were going to hell, or that their child was going to hell, because of who they love or how they identify. And maybe, for them, all the words of my sermon aren’t as important as hearing that the house of God is a safe and welcoming space for all.

Today is a new day. It’s also a new year. And these rambling thoughts are what’s on my mind. These are the things I’m asking you to pray for. 

Will you talk to God about these things in your prayers this week? Pray about how we can let God make BKCC into something new, something that is an alternative to the rigid, harsh, unloving world we live in. 

Then be sure to keep your ears open, and your heart open, to listen for God’s response.

"Sin Fronteras" (Revelation 21)

1. World Communion Sunday

Today we honor and worship the God who unites humanity into one family; who makes us all brothers and sisters, children of one God… And we give thanks to God for the church, which exists not only in every place where the bread and wine are present, but also in every time where the bread and wine are present. 

World Communion Sunday reminds us that we are connected - connected to Christians in every place and every time, partaking of one meal, one bread, and being formed again and again into one body - the one body of Christ, past, present, and future.

2. Turning Neighbors Into Enemies

We all know President Trump has as a primary goal the construction of a border wall.

Southern Baptist preacher Robert Jeffress supports building the wall. Jeffress has said God supports building walls, because the prophet Nehemiah built a wall, and because the future city of God in Revelation has a wall.

But you have to be pretty selective and narrow-focused to conclude that God wants this wall. After all, while there are Biblical passages that speak of separating people and excluding foreigners and immigrants, there are many more that highlight the importance of offering welcome and hospitality to immigrants.

And about that wall in the book of Revelation: the Biblical author says there will be a new heaven and a new earth, as we’ve already heard. And he says that God will dwell among the people, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and mourning and crying and pain will be no more. 

And there will be a great new city of God; and yes, this new city, this new Jerusalem, will have a wall around it. The Bible says it is a great, high wall, with twelve great gates: three facing east, three facing west, three facing north, and three facing south...

If you were to stop there, it would sound like this is another passage supporting the building of walls that keep people separated. 

In Revelation, the wall is described as being made of pure jaspar, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. And the foundations of the city are made of precious jewels; and the twelve gates are actually twelve pearls...and the streets are pure gold… 

Are you picturing all this? It’s kind of hard to imagine...

And then, from the end of the chapter, as we already heard: there is no sun or moon shining on the city, because the glory of God shines brightly. 

And the gates in the walls… the gates will never be shut; those twelve gates will always be open.

The gates that let people into and out of the city of God will always be open.

So, yes, there is a wall in this metaphorical city of God, but with open gates, the people are allowed to come and go, passing into and out of the city freely. If the gates are never shut, one wonders what the point of having a wall is, but the wall symbolizes the strength of the city. The city is strong, the wall is strong… but the gates are always open.

And because the gates face out in all directions - east, west, north, and south - those open gates are ready to welcome, without hesitation, people from every nation.

There is a lot of symbolism and metaphor here, obviously, and some of it is hard for us to understand in these modern times. But one thing that’s clear is that the kingdom of God has open gates and open borders.

And it becomes very difficult to use the Bible to justify building a wall designed to separate people or keep people out.

Pope Francis knows this. Pope Francis went so far as to say that “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the Gospel.”

Building walls is not the gospel. Building walls is not good news.

But maybe there are other reasons to build the wall. Reasons that the Bible doesn’t take into account. Reasons like national security in the 21st century.

Except that, according to the U.S. state department, a border wall won’t stop terrorism. In recent years, most acts of terrorism have been committed by American white nationalists who are already here, and the terrorists who have come from overseas - a wall wouldn’t have stopped them.

And a wall won’t stop drugs from entering the country. Most drugs that come into this country from outside our borders are hidden in trucks that come through at border crossings, and a wall won’t change that.

And a wall won’t stop criminals. Immigrants actually commit less crime than citizens do.

So a wall doesn’t really make sense. It’s contrary to God’s will, and it goes against logic and common sense.

The wall is simply a propaganda piece, a tool to make Americans afraid of black & brown people from other countries. It stokes fear & division. It turns our neighbors into enemies.

3. A Changing World

Yet the Christian faith in general, and World Communion Sunday in particular, remind us that we cannot be divided, and that one of our highest callings in life is to find ways to build bridges instead of walls. As Pope Francis has said.

Here’s another thing. If we build walls to keep ourselves separated from the rest of the world, we might want to take Robert Frost’s advice, and consider what we are walling in, and what we are walling out. Because the world today is a lot different than it used to be.

Five hundred years ago, 90 percent of all Christians were in Europe. Then Christianity spread beyond Europe to the Americas, and then it spread even further, to the south, and to the east. Today, one out of every 4 Christians lives in Africa. Latin America is largely Christian. And, on any given Sunday, there are more Christians worshiping in China than there are in the United States. If the wall is built, there will be more Christians outside the wall than inside.

4. Turning Enemies Into Friends

But even without these changing demographics - even if we disregard religion entirely, or assume that those outside our borders are of other religions - we know that our faith calls upon us to welcome the stranger and to love the neighbor… and the definition of neighbor includes even the one we fear the most or despise the most. It includes the one who is most different from us, the one who worships differently than us.

 That’s the whole point of Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan. Many people today don’t realize that, for Jesus and his fellow Jews, the Samaritans were a despised group. The Jews believed it was their God-given duty to keep themselves separated from the Samaritans. They would have easily agreed to the idea of building a wall designed to keep Samaritans out.

But when someone asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor,” Jesus told the story of a man journeying down a road, who was beaten and attacked and left for dead. A Jewish leader came by, but did not help; another Jewish leader came by, and did not help; and then a Samaritan came by - and those listening thought to themselves, certainly HE’S not going to help!

But he did. The Samaritan did stop and help. And to the person who asked “Who is my neighbor,” Jesus said, “Which of these three acted as a neighbor?”

And the man was forced to admit, through gritted teeth, that it was the Samaritan.

What neighbor are we walling out?

Two years ago, I took a group of youth from our region to Hawaii for ten days of service and cultural immersion. And on our first full day there, some of us got to witness a historic event of great magnitude: the return of Hokulea.

The Hokulea was the first Hawaiian canoe built using traditional methods, and navigated in traditional ways, in 600 years. It was built to showcase the navigational expertise of the ancient Hawaiians.

The Hokulea had just returned from a 3 year, around-the-world voyage, spreading aloha everywhere it went. And this voyage helped people realize that, in traditional Hawaiian thought, the oceans didn’t divide far-flung people from one another. Just the opposite. The oceans united people. The oceans connected people.

The difference is really how you think of it. Is your mind bent on division? Then you will find division, and you will create division. But if your mind is bent on unity, then you will find unity and you will create unity. You will create wholeness. 

Which, I believe, is what God calls us to do.

5. Kingdom Without Borders

And when we find our connection to others and recognize what it is that connects us, our lives are enriched. Some of us gathered here last spring and listened to a presentation by Paul Turner, a Global Ministries worker in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Others of us got to spend a week at Loch Leven with him this summer.

And we got to learn about the church in the Congo, and how we are connected, and what we can learn from each other. Not just what we can do for them, but what we can do for each other and what we can learn from each other.

This year I became the co-chair of our regional Global Ministries committee.  I’m not really sure how that happened. It wasn’t a position that I sought. But I gotta tell you: I’m learning so much!

Being connected to the work of Global Ministries took me to Puerto Rico earlier this year. And I’ve heard from others who have taken trips to Mexico, Uganda, and Palestine. 

As a committee we’ve committed to supporting another friend of ours who is currently on a trip to Morocco. And we’re hoping to stay in touch with yet another southern California Disciple who is on her way to Japan.

And the connections we make because of all this enrich and strengthen our faith and our lives. The connections we make with people who are different, who live in different countries, who worship in different languages, is mutually enriching. 

That’s why we do mission work.

That may not have been why the church has done mission work historically, but it’s why we do mission work today.

Because we already are connected to every person in every time and place - and the connection is especially strong with all those who gather around the Lord’s Table in worship.

Because the kingdom of God has no borders and no locked gates and no walls designed to keep people out.

This is our witness to the world. That we have so much more to gain by building bridges, and so much to lose by building walls. It is holy work. It is God’s work. 

And it’s why we pray - as Jesus did - that all Christians may be one.

And it’s why we pray that all people may, one day, be one.

Sermon: "All Things New" (Revelation 21:1-6)

You all deserve extra credit for showing up to church on New Year’s Day. I’ll be sure to put a little gold star next to your name in the register.

I don’t know how you celebrated last night. Maybe you stayed up late. Maybe you went to bed early. But because you made it to worship this morning, I’m going to tell you something special. I’m going to tell you about how the new year was celebrated in America 154 years ago.

Back then, in some parts of the United States, enslaved communities were sometimes given a few days off from their labor between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. On New Year’s Day, it was back to the bitter toil of slavery.

And sometimes, if they were fortunate, they were able to spend those few days with family members who were enslaved in other regions. For those who were fortunate enough to have these days off, this was likely the only time they would see those loved ones all year.

So New Year’s Eve meant saying goodbye for another year. It ended with the pain of leaving loved ones, and in many places, New Year’s Day became known as “Heartbreak Day.”

But New Year’s Eve in 1862 was different. Earlier that year, Abraham Lincoln had issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation was to become official with the president’s signature on January 1, 1863.

So as 1862 became 1863, there was great anticipation. Everything was about to become new.

Gathered together as they often were on New Year’s Eve, African Americans were, in some communities, joined by white Americans, and they eagerly awaited the news that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed and officially the law of the land. They eagerly awaited word that they were free.

Later in the day, the word came. And in communities across the United States, it was announced:

“A proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: “That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State..., shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons…”

And so, as the online African American lectionary put it, “The freedom words that had been woven into sweet-grass baskets, hidden in the words of Negro Spirituals, preached aloud at campground meetings, sung to black babies in sleepy-time songs, had now become the law of the land.”

And for those who had been enslaved, everything had become new.

The Judeo-Christian tradition is a liberation tradition. It is a movement for freedom, the kind of freedom that makes all things new.

Let us not forget how God heard the cries of his people in Egypt, enslaved to Pharaoh.

Let us not forget how God sent prophets to challenge the economic oppression inflicted upon people 8th, 7th, and 6th centuries.

Let us not forget how God’s favor rested upon Mary and Joseph and their son Jesus, the one anointed by God to save and redeem people from the sins of society.

Through liberation, through freedom & redemption, all things are made new.

However, all things are not made new overnight. Not even a presidential proclamation can make all things new overnight. It’s an ongoing process. All things are being made new every day, and the Spirit works with us to continually make all things new day after day. Because the work of building God’s kingdom on earth must take place every day.

All things were made new when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, but the struggle continued.

All things were made new when the prophets spoke of peace and an end to oppression, but the struggle continued.

All things were made new when Jesus healed the sick and comforted the oppressed, but the struggle continued.

All things were made new when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, but the struggle continued.

All things were made new when the Civil Rights movement brought greater equality and justice to America, but the struggle continued.

The struggle continues because there are always those who want to go back to Egypt, go back to slavery, go back to the way things were.

Today - in the year 2017 - we are enslaved to hate and fear. We are enslaved to greed. And as a result, African Americans and other minorities are being incarcerated at alarming rates, and they are being denied their right to vote. They are being treated unfairly in our courts of law. They are living in communities of violence and poverty. They are being subject to illegal arrests, searches, and seizures. Far too many find themselves once again awaiting freedom as a new year begins.

In 1970, the year before I was born, America had 350,000 prisoners in our prison system. But then Richard Nixon started insisting that we were “a nation of laws.” He declared a war on drugs, and we started treating addiction as a crime instead of a health issue. And the prison population began to rise.

Ronald Reagan tripled funding for the war on drugs, and decreased funding for health and social services. We know now that this war on drugs and increased focus on “law and order” was meant to play into the fears that white democrats had of blacks. And it got more white men to join the Republican Party.

And it was incredibly effective. George Bush won his election against Michael Dukakis by using images in his campaign ads of Willie Horton, a black man, to raise the fears of white America. The Democrats learned from this, and when Bill Clinton ran for president, he declared that he was tough on crime. As president, he supported three strikes laws and mandatory minimum sentences. He funded new prisons and the militarization of police forces. Crimes that once were considered minor now landed you in prison.

And the prison population that was at 350,000 in 1970 rose to over 2 million by 2000, and has kept rising to over 2.3 million today.

All this, while crime rates have actually been going down.

Today, 40% of the prison population is made up of African-American men, even though African American men only make up 6.5% of the population at large. 1 out of 3 Black men in America will spend at least some time in prison. In the south, 30% of African American males have lost the right to vote due to criminal conviction.

Nobody who says that they are “tough on crime,” or that they are for “law and order,” will publicly admit to being racist. Yet our war on drugs and the growth of the prison industry is intentionally designed to remove African Americans out of the general population and deny them the right to vote.

It is time to make all things new.

This is a profoundly religious and spiritual issue. We know that God always hears the cries of those who are being oppressed. God heard the cries of the Hebrews in Egypt, and sent Moses. God heard the cries of those who suffered under Israel’s unjust economic policies, and God sent the prophets. God heard the cries of the people under Roman oppression, and sent Jesus.

The oppressed are crying out today. And the question is: who is God going to send? Is it you? Is it me?

Anytime someone is being oppressed; anytime someone is having their rights denied; it’s Jesus who is being oppressed and who is having his rights denied. Jesus is with the poor. Jesus is with the vulnerable. Jesus is with those who are treated unjustly, because he was treated unjustly.

And we are his followers. We are the body of Christ.

All of us must work together to overcome the evil that exists in our own time.

All of us are called by the Spirit to use the power that God has given us and help make all things new in our own time.

On this New Year’s Day, it is more important than ever that we do this.

I am so thankful for the ministry of Bixby Knolls Christian Church, because we are uniquely situated to address issues like these. It’s as if God had created us specifically for this purpose.

We have in our own congregation many who have overcome in the past, in a huge variety of ways. People who have overcome racism and prejudice for one reason or another, in one way or another. Some of their stories we have heard and some we have not. But God knows all our stories, and God is calling us together to once again overcome the evil and hatred that exists.

How?

Attend the Regional MLK Worship Celebration on Saturday, January 21.

Watch “13th” on Netflix. What a remarkable film! It’s just called “13th.” You can remember that.

Pay attention to news about how minority groups are being oppressed. Listen especially to the voices of minority groups.

Recognize your own enslavement to fear, to greed, and your blindness to privilege. If you’ve never been stopped on the street or been denied any opportunity because of your skin color, of if you’ve never had the legality of your marriage questioned, or if you’ve never felt that your religion was under attack, then consider how you might work so that all Americans and all of God’s children can enjoy the same liberty and freedom you have.

The good news is that God hears the cries of oppressed people and has promised to bring those cries to an end (v. 2). The Bible also looks to the day when all empires of oppression and unjust social structures will eventually fall and be subject to the judgment of God.

The good news is that God calls you and I to this task, to bring justice to the people of the world, to release the captives, and set free those who are oppressed. We will overcome. And all things will be new, again.

Sermon: "Rescuing Revelation" (Revelation 21:10 - 22:5)

Look at this picture. It’s a political cartoon expressing the cartoonist’s views of this election season. It shows a donkey on the left and an elephant on the right.

Now, you know that a donkey is the symbol of the Democratic party, and an elephant is the symbol of the Republican party. But how? And Why?

Well, it started with an insult. In 1828, Andrew Jackson was running for president, and one of his opponents called him a “jackass.” Not a very polite thing to say.

Jackson responded by putting pictures of donkeys on all his campaign posters. There aren’t many things I like about Andrew Jackson, but this was actually quite clever of him. Eventually the donkey came to symbolize not only him, but his party.

It wasn’t long before political cartoonist Thomas Nast started using the donkey in his drawings to represent the Democrats. In 1874 he added an elephant to represent the Republicans. The rest, as they say, is history.

But imagine that an alien from outer space came to earth and the first thing this alien saw was this cartoon lying on the ground. Or, imagine that an archaeologist 2,000 years in the future found this cartoon, and other similar images, but knew nothing of the context. What would the alien or archaeologist think was going on in our society? All these images of donkeys and elephants, often accompanied by flags and stars and stripes and other obscure symbols…

The book of Revelation is like a political cartoon. All these strange beasts and symbols, fantastical images, bizarre creatures… We look at them today, 2,000 years after the book was written, and it all seems so strange. And like anything that’s strange or different, it scares us.

But it all made sense to first century Christians. They were familiar with the imagery, and knew what it meant.

To understand Revelation, you have to know the Hebrew Scriptures. A lot of people read Revelation without connecting it to the rest of the Bible, and they get it completely wrong. What Revelation is about has its roots in Genesis and Exodus, and really gets developed in the writings of prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel.

And the overriding vision that extends throughout all these scriptures is that of a new creation. A transformed creation. A new heaven and earth.

In Genesis, we have the story of Creation, but it’s not long until we have the story of Noah and the Great Flood; the point of that story is that the world had become broken and sinful, and a new start was needed, a new creation.

Then we have Exodus. Again, creation is broken. Nations are enslaving nations. So God leads the people to the promised land, where they will get a new start.

When we read the prophets, we read of oppression, injustice, economic inequality, and how offensive all this is to God. Creation is once again broken. The wealthy care only about adding to their wealth, and ignore the growing number of impoverished people in their midst; and the rulers do nothing.

So the prophets describe their vision, their dream, of a new creation, a new world, in which there is peace and harmony and an end to oppression. Enemies come together as friends, with even wolves and lambs living together in peace. It is, once again, a new creation, a new world, a new start.

In his teachings, Jesus also made use of this desire for a new creation. He called it “the Kingdom of God.” It is the world as it would be when all people live according to the ways God has taught them, showing kindness and love to one another.

The book of Revelation just continues with this same idea. In today’s passage we are presented with an image of the city of Jerusalem as we’ve never seen Jerusalem before, with walls of jasper and streets of gold, and foundations built of twelve different types of precious jewels.

Actually, the number twelve appears a lot in this description. There are twelve types of jewels. There are twelve gates and twelve angels and twelve pearls. The scripture says the city measures fifteen hundred miles, but in Greek that is twelve thousand stadia.

The number twelve connects this vision to the twelve disciples and the twelve tribes of Israel. In other words, although this is a whole new creation, it is connected to the vision that has been presented throughout history. The prophet Ezekiel even presents a very similar vision which he describes in great detail in Ezekiel chapter 40.

Obviously, this is an idealistic utopia. It’s not literal. Gold, for example, is not a very suitable building material.

But the vision of a world where all is as it should be is true. It is the epic myth of the future that scripture presents. Remember what I said last week about the word myth? Last week, I said that contrary to what we think when we hear the word myth, the word actually means an epic story that gives meaning to a culture. Creation stories are myths about our past. The shining city of gold is a myth about our future. It is an epic story that gives us meaning and purpose, a story that shows us who we are and who we hope to become.

Literally speaking, streets of gold are not a practical reality, but a city of perfection and beauty symbolizing a world where God’s love washes over everything and all people recognize the beauty in the world and in each other – that is very true. That is powerful, and meaningful. That is an epic story, a myth, that we need to hear again and again and again, a vision of the future toward which we strive.

The vision of the prophets. The kingdom of God described by Jesus. The city described in Revelation. These are all different ways of saying the same thing, that there is an alternative to this world of pain, this world of sorrow, this world where people fight against one another, oppress one another, steal from one another. There is an alternative to this world of brokenness. There is an alternative to the selfishness and greed and individualism and consumerism of this world.

And when will this alternative world be realized? When will the wolf and the lamb live together in peace?  When will the mountains be made low and the valleys raised up, so that the road to peace will be easy and smooth? When will all people benefit from their hard work, and be able to sit under their own fruit trees beside a flowing stream and eat the fruit and harvest for which they worked? When will the kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven? When?

On the one hand, this is a vision of a world so perfect, so good, that it will never be a reality. As long as there is sin in the world, it will never come true.

But on the other hand, this is a vision of a world that is so easily accessible, a vision that can and does come true in the simplest of acts that we do.

Someone once asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming. Jesus answered: “The kingdom of God is in you and among you” [Luke 17:21].

What Jesus meant was that every time you show love to a neighbor, this kingdom is a present reality. Every time you show kindness, this kingdom is a present reality. Every time you work to end oppression or hunger or injustice, this kingdom is a present reality. Every time you hunger and thirst for righteousness, every time you strive to make peace… this kingdom, the kingdom of God, is a present reality.

There are many reasons to admire Martin Luther King, Jr. For me, I think the most admirable thing is that he truly grasped the concept of the kingdom of God. He truly understood the vision of the prophets and of Revelation.

And he had his own name for it. He called it the beloved community. Actually, it was Josiah Royce who came up with the term.

For King, the Beloved Community was a “realistic, achievable goal.” According to the King Center website, the Beloved Community “is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.”

Is that not a vision of a new heaven on earth, a new city of God?

You may know that in the book of Revelation, there are beasts. There is also “the” Beast.

Well, guess what? The Beast is that which works against the vision. The Beast doesn’t care about equality. The beast doesn’t care about peace. The Beast doesn’t care about love. The Beast doesn’t care about creating a world of abundance, a world of sharing, a world where there is no hunger, no pain, no prejudice or discrimination.

If you want to know where the Beast is – who the Beast is – I’ll show you. Look at how the wealth of the extremely rich continues to grow while at the same time more and more people in this world go hungry, and you’ll see the Beast.

Look at how we are building walls that divide rather than bridges that connect, and you’ll see the Beast.

Look at how we’re relying on weapons of violence and destruction for security and safety, and you’ll see the Beast.

Look at how we are spewing toxins into the air and the water of this beautiful earth, and you’ll see the Beast.

Look at how we continue to treat victims as scapegoats, blaming immigrants and homosexuals and transgender people for what’s wrong with society, and you’ll see the Beast.

Look at how discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims are up, and you’ll see the beast.

Look at how we in the richest country in the world fail to provide basic social services and health care for poor and working class citizens, and you’ll see the Beast……

I came across a comment while doing research for this sermon, and I’m sorry, I don’t remember who said it, but the comment is that “A Christian cannot read Revelation faithfully and remain silent about these evils in our society today.”

This is what Revelation is about. The vision of Revelation is a vision that is present from one end of the Bible to the other, from the beginning to the end. There are certainly some variations along the way; different words are used, different images represent the new, transformed creation. But at its core, the vision is consistent. The theme of the story is consistent.

And it’s up to us pay attention to the vision, and to re-present that vision to the world. We can’t lose sight of that vision. Without the vision, we will perish.

We are called to pay attention to the vision. As God says through the prophet Isaiah: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? Can you not recognize it?”

And as God said to the prophet Habakkuk: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision!”

There is still a vision. That’s the message of Revelation. God’s vision for a better world is still very much alive and present. When we allow the Spirit to dwell in us, we will know that vision. The vision will guide us. It will be made real through us. And the kingdom of God will come on earth, as it is in heaven.