Revelation 23

Mostly through his interest in Bruce Springsteen, I've been a long-time fan of the music critic Dave Marsh. He has a show on SiriusXM that I love to listen to because he always teaches me something, and because he often introduces me to music I've never heard before. That happened to me yesterday, when I heard this song, called Revelation 23.

I hope that before you read any further you will click on that hyperlink and listen to that song. I think it's really extraordinary. The lyrics are there, too, which you can read as you listen. It's fascinating to me.

Did you catch that line in the opening stanza? What's it to ya if we're missing a page / Somebody must've ripped it out. That's because the Revelation of John has only twenty-two chapters! This song is a kind of midrash on the last book of the Bible. Cool, huh?

In any case, the vision suggests our work is to sing "hallelujah to the end of the age." It's very much in line with the first twenty-two chapters of Revelation and of apocalyptic literature generally.

I was in the pews on Christmas Eve as a visitor in a church outside of the diocese I serve. While I try hard not to be a sermon-critic it was unanimous among my family members that the sermon fell short. The preacher kept returning to the line that the end of the world was upon us and this is "good news." This was, mind you, a mainline (I think mostly progressive) Episcopal Church in an affluent town. I think I understood what the preacher was trying to say and I hope that people cut me some slack as a preacher when I'm trying to say something but don't say it very well.

But when Dave Marsh played this song on SiriusXM yesterday I found myself thinking the preacher would have done well just to play this song and then sit down. I think it's what he meant to say...

In Biblical language - and especially in apocalyptic literature - there is a reminder that this world and the powers of this age are not the end of the story. John's vision on Patmos is of a new heaven and a new earth. This does NOT give us permission to trash this earth, no matter how many preachers fall into that trap. Rather, when one lives under empire, one has to remember that the emperor does not get the last word. Apocalyptic literature helps us to notice when the emperor in fact has no clothes. This gives God's people courage to be part of the resistance, in God's name. To sing "holy, holy, holy" to the Lamb on the throne.

The kingdoms of this world are indeed coming to an end. The one to whom the magi bring their gifts on this day is "king of kings and lord of lords." This means that the rulers of this world have to answer for their decisions. They are accountable. In a democracy they are accountable to the citizens. But ultimately they are accountable to the king of kings and lord of lords.When we say that "Jesus is Lord" we are making a political statement. We are saying that in spite of the claims they make to ultimate power, Caesar is NOT Lord. Whether the empire is Egypt, or Babylon, or Persia, or Rome (the four empires in the background of Holy Scripture from Genesis to Revelation) or any of their various post-Biblical counterparts, we are a people who are not afraid to sing hallelujah to the end of the age. In fact, it's what we've got: this song that we sing with those from every tribe and language and people and nation in a chorus that keeps us true to who we are, and whose we are. Endings do not scare people of faith because they are also signs of something new.

That can sound pretty cliche, I know. And as I said above, I don't think this ever gives us permission to stop trying to do all the good we can. I hope that my readers will cut me some slack to hear what I am trying to say here. But we will not "save" this world. Our work is to be awake to what God is doing to make new heavens and a new earth even now.

This feast of the Epiphany makes it clear that Jesus is Lord. We bring our own gifts to offer for the sake of him who suffered and died and rose again. And will come again, so that there really is peace on earth, and good will to all. We live in the meantime. But we can wait with expectation and hope. We can sing hallelujah to the end of the age.

Or as Theresa of Avila put it:

Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you, all things are passing God is unchanging. Patience gains all; nothing is lacking to those who have God: God alone is sufficient.