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| A Revelation Mix |
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(please email questions or responses) May 9, 2010 Acts 16: 9-15; Revelation 21: 10, 22-22:5 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, who sent your word to live among us. Amen. This may seem like an odd juxtaposition of readings today. There is the wonderfully concrete story of Lydia, one of the great women leaders of the early Christian community. And then there are the images from the end of the Book of Revelation, a vision of a world to come with endless light and a Lamb as the ruler and flowing water and 12 different kinds of fruit growing on a single tree. Yet both readings offer us visions of what it means to be part of a community of followers of Jesus – what it means in the present and what it can mean in the future. So let me take you on a journey through these two readings. Let’s start with Lydia. What a fascinating woman she must have been. There are only a few phrases about Lydia in the Bible, but they are filled with meaning. She was in the city of Philippi in what is now northeastern Greece. It was a retirement community for Roman soldiers, a cosmopolitan place with a variety of cults to Roman and Thracian and Egyptian and Phrigyian gods. And there was apparently a small Jewish community in the midst of the various cults. There was wealth in this town, so there was a market for the expensive purple cloth Lydia was selling. The text tells us this about Lydia: “she was a worshiper of God … and a dealer in purple cloth.” She blended spirituality with her work as a businesswoman who controlled her own household, which clearly made her distinctive in those times. The phrase “a worshiper of God” meant that she was not Jewish herself, but was affiliated with the Jewish community. It also meant that she was not a pagan. She was one of those in-between people whom we might call “spiritual but not religious.” So when Paul and Silas and friends showed up at the riverside that Sabbath as Lydia and her friends gathered for prayer, she was open to the words of this wandering rabbi who had put his hope in the message of Jesus. She embraced those words and then put them into action – just as she seemed to have blended prayer and work in her life. She invited Paul and his companions to stay at her household, extending hospitality to the strangers in her midst. Shortly after this, Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown in jail in Philippi, but then they escaped during the night. And where did they go? Back to the house of Lydia, who took them in again, not at all deterred by the risk she was taking. Then Lydia disappears from the story of the early Christian community, as happened with so many women in those early stories. There are enough women mentioned that they clearly played an important role in the early communities yet their voices are rarely heard in the scriptures. But their actions still speak to us. On this Mother’s Day, we can honor Lydia as one of the Mothers of the Church. What Lydia did on the Sabbath day in Philippi is live out the vision that the writer of Revelation describes in our other scripture passage today. No, there were no lambs on thrones or magnificent fruit trees, but Lydia made real some of the themes in that vision: • putting God at the center, not the wishes of those in power; • ignoring the boundaries that separate people and letting people from many places come together to sing God’s praises; • taking care of those in need. We often talk about Jesus’ message of God’s extravagant love. This image of a new Jerusalem in the Revelation story is one more example of God’s extravagance – an extravagance that begin with the creation of the universe, that extended through the story of Jesus and that now is played out in a vision of the future. I’d like to play with this vision through a few selections of music – hence, the notion of a Revelation Mix – but first, just a few touchstones for this story. To begin, remember that this is being written after the Romans had conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. The oppression of the Roman Empire was a daily reality for Jews and Christians at the end of the first century. Second, when you hear this story, notice that the New Jerusalem came down from heaven to earth. This is not portrayed as something far off in another universe. Like we say in the prayer Jesus gave us, “your kingdom come.” The world is transformed. Third, we often like to picture heaven as a place of greener pastures, meandering rivers, white fluffy clouds. This vision is set in the middle of a city, with all of its complexity and diversity. Journalist Lisa Miller in her fascinating new book Heaven, says that the Book of Revelation “contains all the images of heaven that have filtered into the popular imagination.” And the images from this passage form the basis for the final verse of one of the most well-known hymns for many generations. It’s called “The Holy City.” See if this sounds familiar: And once again the scene was changed, New earth there seemed to be. I saw the Holy City beside the tideless sea. The light of God was on its streets, the gates were open wide, And all who would might enter and no one was denied. No need of moon or stars by night or sun to shine by day; It was the new Jerusalem that would not pass away. In this vision of what life could be like, there is always light, there is no worry about security, no need for fear. At one level, you could think of it as that mindset that Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog tell the young lion Simba about in The Lion King: Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze It means no worries for the rest of your days It's our problem-free philosophy Hakuna Matata! But that suggests we just sit around disengaged from the world. John Lennon offered a different vision of a future in his classic “Imagine.” Now keep in mind that this is a decidedly secular vision of a future – no heaven, no religion – and yet the last verse about not being attached to possessions and sharing what we have would have sounded very familiar to someone like Lydia and the early Christians: Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one That idea that the world will live as one stretches back to the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and a tree of life that nurtures them and a river that flows out and divides into four branches that water every direction on the earth. That vision was fractured because we as humans could not quite live up to it. We’ve been trying ever since. Now, at the very end of the Bible, the image of the tree of life reappears, its leaves there for the healing of the nations, along with a river described as the water of life. So here is the question for us today. What’s the vision we have for our lives, for our world? Do we share the vision of Lydia, that Mother of the Church, which blends spirituality and work and which includes a spirit of hospitality? Do we share the vision of Jesus – and John Lennon – where our possessions do not control our lives but are there to be shared with those in need? Do we share the vision of Revelation, where we seek a world where no one needs live in fear, where there is an abundance of many kinds of fruit for all, where we will be the leaves that heal the nations? Let me offer part of one more song as you ponder those questions. We started with Lydia and her friends gathered at a river in Philippi. We ended with a river flowing through the New Jerusalem. This song was written by Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary. The first voice you hear is the dean of folksingers, Pete Seeger; then his singing partner from the Weavers, Ronnie Gilbert, and then Peter, Paul and Mary. It’s called “River of Jordan.” I traveled the banks of the River of Jordan To find where it flows to the sea. I looked in the eyes of the cold and the hungry And I saw I was looking at me. I wanted to know if life had a purpose And what it all means in the end. In the silence I listened to voices inside me And they told me again and again. There is only one river. There is only one sea. And it flows through you, and it flows through me. There is only one people. We are one and the same. We are all one spirit. We are all one name. We are the father, mother, daughter and son. From the dawn of creation, we are one. We are one. |