A fable is a short story or piece of writing meant to convey a moral lesson.
The Tiger
Once there was a tiger. This tiger had always lived in the forest. The tiger roamed, preyed on smaller animals, and generally did tiger things. While no animals attempted to befriend the tiger, most also were not unduly scared of him.
One day, the tiger declared war on the field mice. Roaring through the forest, the tiger declared that field mice should return to the fields. They did not belong in a space populated with trees, said the tiger, they must go back where they came from.
It did not seem to matter that there were field mice born in tree trunks and in old nurse logs. The tiger had spoken. Other predators in the forest agreed that the field mice should go. They bring disease, some animals noted, truthfully, forgetting how many other animals transmitted illness from one to another. They eat food that should be ours, said the smaller critters. The foxes didn't want to contradict the tiger, but they did need the mice for their diets. They began to eye the birds' nests. Some animals, like the deer, didn't necessarily want to get rid of the mice, but they didn't want to be in the fight, so they said nothing.
The tiger patrolled the edges of the forest and the mice who could fled. Those who couldn't get out for one reason or another burrowed in more deeply, now more terrified and vulnerable than ever.
After the mice were banned, the tiger demanded that rabbits and weasels must go. They are too small, roared the tiger, and small means inconseqential! The tiger presided over the forced evacuation of the rabbits and the weasels. Some of the other predators became concerned because now there was very little food for them in the forest itself. The tiger's roar, however, was terrifying and no one dared to point out the flaws in the plan or maybe that mistakes had been made.
One morning, all the deer fled. They ran through several fields to a different wood, removing themselves from the tiger's reign.
All that remained in the tiger's forest were the tiger and other predators. Things became tense in the forest. Many animals, especially the scavengers, had to travel far each day to collect food and then bring it home to their dens and their children. The wolves and the bears were particularly exhausted as the constant hunt prevented them from storing their winter fat.
The tiger killed all the foxes. I wanted a fox fur coat, he said, as he patrolled, draped in the bloody hides. He glared at everyone he passed and the animals ducked their heads and busied themselves with various tasks.
No one dared to cross the tiger.
There were quiet rumors of meetings of dissenters, potential plots to overthrow the tiger or end his reign, some grumblings if one was sure he wasn't there.
But no one stood up to the tiger.
It was hoped that perhaps, with so few animals left, animals that shared much taxonomy with the tiger, perhaps they would be safe.
The badger, with a bellyful of roots, waddled back to his burrow late one evening. Roots and the occasional grub were not as satisfying as a dinner of mice or perhaps a rabbit, but it would do.
Suddenly, the badger found himself flipped over, staring at the sky. The tiger loomed above him, one paw raised high.
"Why?" said the badger, knowing this was the end.
"Because I can," laughed the tiger, slashing the badger's throat. "I didn't spare anyone else. Why would you think I cared about you?"
Moral: When the tiger shows you his stripes, believe that he is a tiger.
Imagination matters. And we are failing our children when it comes to the fullest use of imagination.
Experiences of play wherein different locales, ways of being, changing movement, and evolving responses are critical to our children's emotional and psychological development. Opportunities for imagination come naturally to most children and if we, as adults, ask questions, encourage, and give healthy shape to such play, we are then shoring up a strong mental and ethical foundation for our children.
Because moral imagination is a real concept and, I would argue, a real thing. Moral imagination, even in play, involves the capactity to wrestle with ethical concepts and frameworks and apply them in new and different settings. In order to be grow into an adult ethic that seeks justice and wholeness, children have to be taught the truth of certain historic events. Girded with historical realities, in all their complexities, children can imagine their reactions, test those responses with adults or in their minds, and then sort out how to choose between options. This skill becomes the moral imagination adults require to be responsive and compassionate citizens of communities.
In recent weeks, I learned of two particular failures to tell the truth that will, if unchecked, compromise the development of moral imagination in the children who interact with these situations.
This screenshot is from Twitter and was a school assignment for upper elementary/middle school students in North Carolina. There was a long conversation between some parents regarding the assignment, mostly centering on parents who believed there was no problem with the assignment and parents who found it appalling.
Initially the assignments seem benign, offering children a variety of opportunities and ways to respond to lessons about the Holocaust. Presumably there is a list of recommended books or resources that accompanies the assignment to help. Additionally, this assignment is asking for some level of imagination. So, what's the problem?
The problem is that such an assignment cannot be fully rooted in having been told the truth about the Holocaust. This is not an assignment that would come after reading The Diary of Anne Frank or Elie Wiesel's Night. A letter from a concentration camp? It's not summer camp. There are no letters. There is survival, and barely that.
Assignments that actually wrestle with honest accounts of the Holocaust would ask children for their own reactions to what they read and heard. They would write letters about their own response to pictures, accounts, film clips, or novels. Students would be presented with the truth and then accompanied in how to emotionally, intellectually, and psychologically process the horror.
Assignments like "write a letter to your parents" or "write a skit" are the imaginative equivalent of skipping rocks across a pond. It takes some skill, but it tells you nothing about the depth of the pond. Additionally, a child who completes this type of assignment to success in the grading parameters for this class will believe themselves to have understood the depth of the assignment. When later confronted with additional information about concentration camps or the Holocaust- such as children were only kept alive for medical experimentation or days were spent in back-breaking labor or in fear for your life or the potential that you survived via the Kindertransport, but you never saw your parents again- when confronted with these realities, a young adult will retreat mentally to the reward of what was previously imagined (that sixth grade skit they wrote) and treat that as the truth.
It is very hard to write over mental scripts, which is why we have to be honest from the beginning.
Which brings me to the second failure: the Roar Vacation Bible School (VBS) from Group Publishing. You can read an excellent reflection on this VBS and its problematic issues here. Long story less long, this is an "Africa"-themed curriculum in which children pretend to be Israelite slaves, Africa is refered to as a "country", and students are asked to add "clicks" to their words to mimic an particular language and dialect.
What's the problem here? (Besides having an all-white creative team at Group Publishing.)
First, Africa is a very large continent with 54 separate countries, most containing a variety of people with differing ethnic identities. Nigeria and South Sudan are two different places with a variety of ways of being. We don't say that Belgium and Italy are the same, so why is conflating African nations acceptable.
Second, slavery is both a historical and contemporary issue. Even if you want to make the (not good) argument that it was/is an economic system (as opposed to a system of oppression), it remains true that enslaving people, particularly implying that people can be owned, is neither just nor good nor a viable economic system. Enslaving people is wrong. Furthermore, enslavement based on race or ethnicity creates generational trauma. We have no idea how long it takes that generational trauma to heal because we haven't stopped doubling down on some of the lies about enslavement in history and in modern times.
Third, the internet is real. If you want to show what a "click" language is like, get thee to YouTube and find a video with a native Xhosa speaker. It takes about thirty seconds unless your internet is slow. Then it takes 45 seconds.
Yes, the enslavement of the Israelites is a biblical reality and Pharoah's treatment of them was particularly harsh. Children can, however, be told the truth and asked to consider what people may have felt or thought without actually being told to reinact enslavement. Similar to some of the Holocaust assignments, pretending to be a slave while being faux-yelled at in a (safe) VBS setting makes a mental imprint on kids that they understand what this experience is like. They don't. Without being told the truth and then guided into processing the horror, they are imprinting a lesson that may never be written over. "I understand what X is like because I had this experience/lesson when I was a kid."
I know what it is like to water a huge garden from a five gallon bucket, refilled repeatedly, in the North Carolina heat. I know what it's like to be yelled at while doing it. I do not know what slavery is like. I can only imagine slavery because I have read accounts and historical information. I have enough understanding to comprehend a horror that I have not experienced and to be able to extrapolate, morally, that I should keep alert to prevent, to the best of my ability, such circumstances in the future. Prevention is not because I'm a savior of people, but because I am moral participant in the universe and enslaving people is not in the arc of justice.
It would be easy to say that this is just one assignment or one VBS experience, but a failure to be honest hobbles the moral imagination for years to come. If I think my imagination suffices for the truth of an experience, rather than someone else's own account of it, then I will never actually extend my ethics beyond myself.
I've been pregnant twice, so I can "imagine" what women who seeks abortion services are feeling/thinking.
I've been broke, so I can "imagine" what people who are without funds experience.
I've been sick, even to the point of being unable to work, so I can "imagine" the implications of various long-term illnesses.
I've been spanked, so I can "imagine" the consequences of long-term physical and mental abuse.
My country has been attacked, so I can "imagine" the impact of growing up and living in a war zone.
I can imagine all day long, but there are truthful accounts of real people who do tell their own stories. Reading or watching their own words, their owning of their experience, strengthens my moral imagination so that I live in an ethical framework that includes other people's truth, not just my imagining of it. And I am trying to raise my children to do this same thing.
Each assignment, each VBS or Sunday School lesson, each car conversation, or library visit matters because they are all blocks in the foundation of who our children are and who they will be. If we want them to be fully functioning, morally imaginative adults- then we have to equip them with the truth, good and bad and ambivalent, of human history. When we tell the truth, and the whole truth, there is no place for lies or fake news to take root.
And then, I imagine, the world becomes a better place.
In Damascus there was a certain disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!”He answered, “Yes, Lord.”The Lord instructed him, “Go to Judas’ house on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying.In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias enter and put his hands on him to restore his sight.”Ananias countered, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man. People say he has done horrible things to your holy people in Jerusalem.He’s here with authority from the chief priests to arrest everyone who calls on your name.”The Lord replied, “Go! This man is the agent I have chosen to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”Ananias went to the house. He placed his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord sent me—Jesus, who appeared to you on the way as you were coming here. He sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”Instantly, flakes fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized.After eating, he regained his strength.He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days. - Acts 9:10-19 (Common English Bible)
If your experience of Christianity is anything like mine, then you have likely been taught to think about Saul/Paul as the follower of Jesus with the ultimate conversion story. Even if you've been led to understand that he remained Jewish (in ethnic practices), his faith in Christ and Christ's salvific purposes gave his life a very specific direction following Saul's experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).
I've always accepted this. Over the years, I've thought about this story to discuss the significance of other vocations, since Paul wasn't making his own clothes or planting and tending crops. While he matters for the spread of the gospel, the work of other believers' daily lives also made that evangelism possible.
Lately, however, I have been rethinking that story. Is Saul's change of heart really the greatest change in Acts 9? Is the Road to Damascus experience really the conversions experience to which all new Christians (or all Christians period) are meant to aspire?
As I look at the chapter afresh, I am struck by what is required of Ananias. He believes in Jesus, but now Jesus asks him to welcome a man into his home. This man was known to Ananais to be a threat to his family, his friends, and himself. This man has harmed or witnessed the killing of people whom Ananais knew, maybe loved. Prior to Jesus' request, at best Ananais would have crossed to the other side of the market if he saw Saul, if not actually hide away until Saul left town.
Now, Jesus is expecting something of Ananais for Saul. Ananias does not want to do it. He would like to say no. He tries to explain to Jesus what's happening. Jesus doesn't change his tune.
So Ananias must experience his own conversion, his own continued growth in faith, a further step in sanctification, a greater yielding to the Holy Spirit. He must prepare to welcome Saul into his home and he's going to have to tell other people that he's doing it.
It's not like he's going to be able to keep Saul a secret. It seems likely that Ananias has some kind of household. How will they respond to his revelation: "Jesus told me we need to bring that guy we were all just panicking about into the house."
If conversion represents a change of heart, a change of behavior, a change of attitude, an application of ethics in the midst of stress and strain, then Ananias is the conversion story we should have been paying attention to all along.
Most Christians, especially life-long Christians, have very little to do with Saul of Tarsus, but we have a lot in common with Ananias. Instead of assuming or expecting a road to Damascus experience, we are called to be on the look out for a stranger in Damascus experience. And we are meant to be the ones to welcome that stranger for Christ's own sake.
We are meant to open our homes to someone whose life experience is not like ours.
We are meant to show hospitality to someone whose history is frightening to us.
We are meant to welcome the one who differs from us greatly and yet whom Christ loves and for whom Christ died.
I am not saying that we are meant to knowingly endanger ourselves or our families, but we are meant to take some risks for the sake of the gospel. We are meant to be open to people are different. We are meant to have conversion experiences in our life, again and again. These experiences are the ones in which Jesus speaks to us, moves us, compels us to do the thing that surprises us and yet is absolutely necessary for the sake of the world.
It's what Ananias did. It's his conversion story from which we are meant to learn how to be followers of the Way of Christ.
To adapt the verse of There is a Balm in Gilead, "If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul... Like Ananias, you can show grace to all."
The series took a hiatus while I gave time and energy to be with a grieving family and a dying saint. I appreciate your patience.
Reading: Revelation 13
Advent Theme: Simplicity
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14) I think about that verse when I read Revelation 13. So much has been made about this chapter, gallons of ink spilled on it alone, that it can be hard to read it with new eyes. Thus, think about how you might explain this to a child. If we cannot explain the scripture to a child, then either our interpretation is off-base or Jesus was wrong. Which one of those two would you like to pick? (I do realize that creating a binary there isn’t necessarily helpful, but please let it stand for this post.)
Let’s approach chapter 13 as though we were going to explain it to a 9-year-old. We have a different relationship with dragons now, but imagine if you didn’t have books and movies about dragons. Imagine the rulers of the world used the images of power and fire, like a dragon, to make people scared. How would you feel if you saw shields with dragons or red flags, like dragon fire, carried on long poles as an army rode by?
Then what would it be like if your friends and their families all said, “We have to follow the emperor. He is looking for all the people who don’t decorate their house with dragons. If you don’t sing the dragon song, he will send the army to kill you.”
Your family and you believe that a house should only have words from God in it and no pictures. Your family will not get on their knees when the emperor’s dragon flag goes by. Your parents say that you are not allowed to sing the dragon song- not at home, not on the playground, not if you’re by yourself. They say that the emperor says he is God, but you know that he is not. Your friends aren’t allowed to play with you anymore because their families are scared and they believe in the emperor, or at least in the emperor’s power.
Sometimes the emperor makes things that seem good happen. His army triumphs over invaders. He allows extra grain to come into the market. He slows down the sacrificing of people in the Coliseum since it is for his entertainment that this happens.
When your parents talk about the emperor with their friend, the ones they know from house church, they use a code. In this code, a different number represents each letter of the alphabet. They use the numbers in conversation so that no one will overhear them speaking ill of the emperor.
What do you do, oh, proverbial 9-year-old?
This is the essence of chapter 13. It is revealing the symbolism of Rome and the emperor as a cult. Like most cults, this one demands the worship and devotion of those who wish to benefit from the cult’s power and resources. As the cult grows in power, those who are uncomfortable or even fully dissenting will have to work harder and harder to resist and to survive.
Gematria is the system of determining the numerical value of letters. Jewish people at the time of John’s writing would have been familiar with this system and it has counterparts in Greek, as well as in other languages around the world. The name “Nero Caesar” has a numerical value of 666 in Hebrew. In textual variants, the number is sometimes 616, but that also becomes “Nero Caesar” in Greek or Latin. The famous number is just a coded way of talking about the emperor. “I’m thinking of a number. It’s for someone’s name. Can you guess who?”
The other significance of 666 is in relationship to the use of the number seven (7) throughout Revelation. John uses 7 as a number of completion and perfection. Six falls short of seven. It can never be the perfect number. The use of 6 in relation to the beast and the dragon is to remind the readers, once again, that the empire is NOT the same as God’s kingdom.
Potential Takeaway: John’s readers are shown through more symbols (apocalyptic literature for the win!) that what the world offers cannot reach what God freely gives. We often mix up those two systems, believing that we can easily acquire worldly stature, but we will have to work hard for heavenly grace. Grace is grace. It is free and is truly appreciated when we realize what it cost God to give it (becoming human and suffering our rejection in the flesh). As we grow in appreciation of grace, we will then be led to respond to it by correct worship, caring for others, and stewarding the world that God made.
Gracious and generous God, Your power is so much greater than anything the world can show us. Yet we remain bombarded with the signs of earthly status and success. Guide me into faithful worship in thought, word, and deed- that I might resist that which fades and find strength and hope in what is eternal. Amen.
In my class on parables, we memorized this poem by Emily Dickinson:
Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind —
The Reverend Dr. Fred Borsch (may he rest in peace and rise in power) impressed upon us the reality that parables are God’s truth told at a slant, in a disguise, because the flat-out truth of grace, the expanse of the kin-dom, and our absence of control in the situation would break people, including the one who was charged with bringing the message of good news. I don’t want to say we “can’t handle the truth”, but…
I distinctly recall not knowing how to respond to a man who told me that God fully intends for us to comprehend all of the scriptures and to have complete understanding in this life, if we study hard enough and prove faithful and diligent. That may be so, but I don’t think I have that kind of works righteousness in me. In fact, I know I don’t.
In chapter 10, John the Revelator is confronted with the reality that some of God’s words, works, and intentions are going to remain a mystery. They are not to be revealed. John, like Ezekiel and others, ingests the words of God and finds them sweet, even if they are not fully digestible.
The truth told slant about God is that the Divine is mysterious. I know that 2 + 2 is 4. I can see it. I can make it happen. I do not take it on faith. God’s grace, providence, and wisdom- I do take on faith. I have seen signs and wonders that support the continuation in faith, like following a river that bends just beyond my sight. What I have beside me and behind me gives me enough guidance to keep moving forward toward what I cannot see and do not know. And I trust, without seeing, that God does know.
Potential Takeaway: In the middle of the chaos of apocalypse, when all hell has broken loose because heaven is no longer holding it back, God does know.
Holy Divine Mystery, You are the source and ground of my being. My heart is restless until it finds its home in Your everlasting peace. In times of mystery, strengthen my faith so that I may move forward in courage and trust in You. Amen.
There was a story about one of my professors in seminary. One day in chapel, he was scheduled to preach. The selected passage for the day was from Leviticus. He came to the front, read the passage to the assembly, closed the Bible, and said, “This is not the Word of the Lord for me.” Then he sat down.
I find myself doing the same thing in part of Revelation. John’s intense and purposefully chaotic metaphors about the locusts and the abyss, with a king called “Destroyer’, only confuse and frustrate me. There is nothing here that reveals Christ to me, stirs the joy of my salvation, or helps me in any of my vocations (wife, mother, sister, friend, daughter, pastor, neighbor, citizen,…). This is not the word of the Lord for me.
The books, movies, and other materials that seek to explain these parts of Revelation in detail exploit people’s fears and capitalize on the same. And when I say capitalize, I mean using fear to make capital, to get rich. This is precisely the kind of behavior that John warns the seven churches against. It is not a biblical interpretation that comes out of love and service; it is an interpretation that is borne out of a desire to get rich. This is not the path of the Lamb, the Way of Christ, the life of discipleship.
To be clear, I am not saying that having money means that a person cannot be a Christian or even a good Christian. What I am saying is that there are several generations of alleged Christian apologists (explainers) who have expounded on the mysteries of Revelation to the great gain of their pocketbooks, but not to the end of actually making the world better by an outpouring of Christ-like behavior. This, to me, is like locusts- swarming on people, stirring up fear, not actually harming them- but making them quite miserable.
Potential Takeaway: When I speak as a Christian, it should be to make a situation better and for the benefit of all concerned. When I am the major beneficiary of what I say or do, I may not be imitating Christ quite as much as His love would compel me to do. And, sometimes, a particular part of the Bible may neither inspire devotion, historical understanding, or literary reflection. For a time it may not be the word the Lord is using in my life. And that’s okay.
Dear God, Your Word is holy and good, but also mysterious. I struggle enough with what I do understand that I should not be anxious about the parts that are not yet clear to me. Guide me to a greater depth of faith and courage to live into what I do understand, following in the way of Jesus the Christ. Amen.
You did it! You read one of the most complicated chapters in the Bible, the pivotal chapter of Revelation, and you survived! Good work, friend. This is quite the roller coaster ride- a Lamb who bears the marks of slaughter who is also the Lion of Judah and the Root of David. Don’t try to picture a lamb/lion/root hybrid- you’ll get a headache.
What’s happening here? John, who is writing a book, is in the midst of a vision of heaven. In this heaven, there is a book (the scroll). This heavenly book is neither for John to write or to read. Instead, Christ has written this book and only he (Christ) is qualified to read it.
Even the heavenly elders, typically an exalted social position, and the powerful creatures that surround the throne cannot read the book. Instead, they carry the prayers of faithful people to the throne, where the aroma of the prayers, like incense, and the shape of prayers, like smoke, fills the air.
John’s vision includes a huge number of people, “ten thousand times ten thousand”, surrounding the throne as well. Every single one of these people, as far as John’s dreaming eyes can perceive, are praising the One who sits on the throne. Along with the elders, they sing songs of praise and thanksgiving.
There’s so much here and it is also acceptable to get very little out of it. This chapter contains details pieced from Daniel and Isaiah, plus what came through the Spirit and imagination to John as he wrote. It’s complex and concerted effort to explain it would dilute the powerful image that is intended to direct believers into correct worship.
Those who are trying to travel the Way of Christ must ponder what it means to believe in the worthiness of the Lamb Who Was Slain. Christian discipleship is not the lifestyle of the persecutor, but the lifestyle of the one who would lay down his life for his friend. It is a way of being that does not give honor to the emperor on the throne or the one who offers the most money, but the lamb who bears the mark of having been sacrificed. It is a humble and humbling way of life.
Potential takeaway: It is later in Revelation that we learn that inclusion in the heavenly scroll comes through Christ’s work, not our own. We will also learn that, while salvation is a separate issue, we will still have to account for our time and our talents. We often assume that orthodoxy(right belief) will get us into the heavenly crowd around the throne. The truth, though, seems to be that orthopraxy(right practice) and orthopathy(right emotions/feelings) are equally, if not more, important. Those gathered around the throne are not there because they imitated Christ in believing correctly. They are there because imitating Him led to worshiping the one true God, which led to changes in behavior, which led to sometimes being at odds with culture and community, which led to a connection with fellow believers, which led back to worship.
Holy God, it is easy to follow Jesus when I believe doing so will save me from hell. It is harder, at times, to follow Jesus because doing so will guide me in saving others from hell on earth. I can only be strengthened for this kind of living through regular worship and connection with you. Help me to desire that and then to follow through on that desire. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Let us return, briefly, to the concept of apocalyptic literature. Within this genre, the metaphors are never straight lines, as in A is used to described B. Instead, apocalyptic literature takes metaphor A and using it to describe what it would be like to braid hockey sticks and oranges. Wait, what? (Read it again.) The metaphors borrow from images that readers or hearers know and then combine them in a way that almost defies imagination. Thus, with a charged imagination and a small amount of heightened anxiety, the writer drives the audience back to a simpler concept that, ideally, they should be able to understand.
Therefore, as we kayak the river of John’s revelation, don’t attempt to hang out in the rapids of his extreme metaphors. All it will do is spin you around and make you dizzy, providing little spiritual food and much mental frustration. Instead, let the current of the Holy Spirit carry you through the text, help you note the complex scenery, but bring you to the slower waters of the plain meaning of the text.
“Plain meaning” is a phrase that comes from the early years of the (German) Reformation. Martin Luther and others asserted that descriptions in the Bible were meant to be accessible to people in every age. He was thinking in particular of the effort to complicate the parables in the gospels, making each and every aspect of the parable mean something that couldn’t reasonably be discerned from the text. When we come to Revelation, the plain meaning must be restricted to what we can clearly understand.
In our devotional reading, we look for how God is acting in the story and how God might want us to respond. In historical reading, we might use additional information to see how symbols of Rome- like dragons, the color red, or the seal of the emperor- were used during that time or look up how Christians in Asia were being treated at the end of the first century. In a literary reading, we would notice how the writer stirs up anxiety and soothes it, noting themes and recurring phrases. There is more that one way to correctly and spiritually use and learn from the written word.
What does this have to do with today’s reading? First, GOOD WORK for making it to Day 5! I’m proud of you! As we move ahead, this is where the book can really start to feel overwhelming, but remember the river metaphor. You and the Holy Spirit have got this!
As John begins to describe the scene in heaven, do not break down each aspect of the picture. We could, and people have, assign meaning to every single number and every single color. We could use Ezekiel, who has a very similar image of heaven (Ez. 1 and 10), and Daniel and parts of other books and hammer out exactly what we thinkJohn meant. That level of interpretation is possible, but not necessarily beneficial and may also not be truthful based on John’s intentions.
So, the images of the animals, the crowned elders, and the throne give us a scene of heaven as a source of power and majesty. There are creatures beyond imagining and powerful leaders and natural elements- all of which yield to the power that is on the throne. From that throne comes life, creativity, and mercy. The heavenly throne has nothing in common with any throne that appears on earth. The correct response to this power and majesty is worship and praise.
Potential takeaway: The only book of the Bible that offers more phrase and images to Christian worship music and liturgy than Revelation is Psalms. The words of countless communion settings, stanzas of favorite hymns, phrases of needlepoint plaques, and the scenes of centuries of paintings come straight from John’s revelation. No hymn writer, painter, liturgist, or preacher can claim truthfully claim to understand all that is contained in this book. Yet, we cannot stay away because its mystery presses us toward the parts we do understand: the importance of worship, the need for community, the power of God. Can you let go of the need to comprehend every detail and just look at the bigger picture of the book?
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. Holy, holy, holy is the God who sits on a throne of power and yet comes to us as a helpless infant. Holy, holy, holy is the God who brought all things into being and yet permits us to be co-creators in the midst of it. Holy, holy, holy is the God whose everlasting arms provide shelter, rest, and strength for all of our days. Amen.
What’s a Nicolaitan? You ask good questions. From the text, we can reasonably assume that the Nicolaitans were teaching some version of the gospel or giving instruction in the faith that was contrary to 1) what John believed to be true or appropriate and 2) may also have been contrary to what the larger Christian community received and perceived to be true and appropriate.
How can one tell a false teacher or prophet? A false teacher tries to become the center of worship,
instead of focusing on God. A false prophet seeks his own gain, instead of working for the sake of community and the kingdom. The profit motive and inappropriate focus may not be clear at first, but the truth will always out.
The church in Ephesus is struggling to continue in faithful discipleship. They remain stalwart in testing false teachers, meaning they are oriented toward correct doctrine. BUT! It is not enough. In their focus on truthful teaching, they have fallen away from demonstrations of care and compassion. In short, they’ve started to be only hearers of the Word and neglected to be doers of the same. This is of great concern to John, who uses the metaphor of Christ walking among the lampstands to remind the church at Ephesus that Jesus is there with them.
The church in Smyrna is struggling with the forces that oppose God. These forces are recognizable by how they put up roadblocks to discipleship and faithful witness. The presence of suffering itself is not a signifier of these forces; however, persecution because of one’s good work in caring for others and God’s creation is a clear sign of potentially both the spiritual forces that oppose God and the powers and principalities of this world that can do the same. Smyrna is urged, as are we, to renounce these forces and to continue on with the work of care and compassion in community and of worshiping God in all times and places.
Potential take-away: In the season of Advent, many of the dichotomies of our present life are brought into sharp focus. We are surrounded by a “gimme” culture, which encouraged indebtedness and plays on insecurities around having the “right stuff”. At the same time, we are encouraged to give charitably, more than any other time of the year, even though need knows no season. What would it look like to step back from both of these things- to simplify both our giving and our getting? Would it feel like returning to “our first love”, God’s own love- which our Creator gives to us before we were even born?
Holy God, help me to pace myself in this season. More than anything, I ask for the gift of hearing Your voice and feeling Your presence. This may come through service, through worship, or in a still, small place where You reveal Yourself to me. Open my heart to perceive the Spirit of faith in this season. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.
The written word of God, what we call the Bible, is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the faithful in the ages of scrolls, of parchment, of the printing press, and of digital technology. The Bible is not our God, but it is a manger in which Christ is laid. When we come to this manger like a shepherd, with humble hearts, and at heavenly urging, we will find our hope and our salvation.
Why Revelation during Advent (or ever)? Advent is an in-between season that often gets overlooked in both church and secular society. The themes of anticipation, hope, peace, restoration, letting go, quietude, and discipleship can easily get lost in either frenetic Christmas preparation or in fear of the more dystopian themes of our news cycle and the biblical readings assigned for this time of year.
When Revelation was written, either very late in the first-century A.D./C.E. or early in the second, the people who followed the Way of Jesus find themselves outside of their society. If they lived in Roman-occupied areas, as did most of the people who received this letter, they were confronted with an emperor who had declared himself the son of the gods. Furthermore, both Jews (Christian or religiously Jewish) and Gentiles (Christians who were not ethnically Jewish or Judean) were being persecuted for their faith practices that put them at odds with the Roman culture.
Those who chose to live in imitation of Christ disregarded some of the social “norms” of their time. They shared what they had with one another and with those who struggled. They understood equality among men and women, slave and free, young and old to be a hallmark of their community. They did not give worship or undue honor to the emperor, especially not as a god. Their refusal to participate in the guilds that honored Roman gods and goddesses interfered with the Roman marketplace and finances.
Apocalypse means “unveiling”. So this unveiling or revelation to John is a Spirit-led interpretation of what it means to follow Jesus under the oppression of Rome and Rome’s leaders. The back and forth between Roman power and heavenly power described in the book was meant to give encouragement to Christians to continue in worship, discipleship, and trust in God. John’s writing involves a lot of Roman imagery, especially the symbols of the emperor and Roman power.
When we read Revelation, it is important to understand what metaphor and symbolism mean in the book and then how the Spirit may lead us to understand these things in our own time. There is not always a direct correlation between a metaphor of Roman power and a way that power may be used well or abused in our own time.
The overarching theme of the book is to remember that God is the beginning and end of all things. When we are afraid, rather than seeking to clarify the signs around us, we are compelled by Christ to our knees and to our community in worship of the one true God and then driven back out, by the Spirit, to serve our neighbor- be they Roman, Lutheran, Montanan, or other.
I encourage you to take (at least) 10 minutes a day for this study. Give yourself time to read the Bible passage in your preferred translation. If you can read it out loud, do it. I often find that it is easier for me to understand difficult passages if I read them out loud to myself. Then read the devotional and the prayer. Let the words of the scripture and the meditation roll through your mind like water in a river over rocks. Allow the power of the Spirit in that rolling to smooth out the jagged edges of fear and to bring to you the consolation of God’s power and majesty.
Flags outside the sanctuary doors of Lutheran Church of Hope, Anchorage Alaska
More than once recently, I've been asked my opinion regarding flags in the sanctuary. I've written about my respect for the flag here, but I'd like to address the specific question directly.
Regarding flags (national or otherwise) in the sanctuary of a Christian church: I do not believe this is fair to the flag. The United States Code (the US Flag Code) states the following:
(175) (k) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.
It can be inferred from the document that "superior prominence" means to other flags. Where the flag of the United States is present, it is meant to be the unifying symbol for those who behold it. The proper display of the flag is meant not only to stir feelings of patriotism but also a sense of pride and shared community history and goals. That is the job of the flag.
The flag cannotdo that job in a Christian sanctuary. The specifically unifying symbol of a Christian sanctuary is the cross of Christ. It is the symbol of his resurrection- thus drawing our hearts and minds to his birth, life, teaching, miracles, ignominious death, and God's power above all. The death of Jesus came at the hands of government officials and the wishes of religious people- all of whom sought control over the power and mercy of God as revealed in Jesus the Christ. The cross is the most powerful symbol wherever it is present.
Thus, the flag would be, at best, second to the cross.
In a sanctuary or chapel, however, the cross is rarely the only symbol of Christ's faithfulness and God's demand on the lives of the faithful. The presence of a baptismal font and/or an altar on which Holy Communion is served are also symbols of God's promise, God's presence, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The events of baptism and communion drive us back again and again to the Christ who feeds us and unites us as children of God. We are made into a community with the saints on earth and the saints who have gone before through the font and the altar.
With their presence, the flag slides to fourth.
Then there is the written Word, the Holy Bible, which people died to have translated into the vernacular. Scripture in the language of the common people represents the lives and works of men and women who believed that God speaks directly to everyone through the Spirit. The power of the narrative of Scripture belongs where it can be read, discussed, wept over, wrestled with, and treasured. Martin Luther wrote that we cannot begin to value the Bible enough until we have studied it for 100 years.
Now, the flag is fifth. Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Matthew 6:24 I am not arguing that the flag of the United States represents wealth. Jesus isn't discussing flags here, but the first part of the verse remains decidedly true regardless of the topic of discussion. When we are in a Christian sanctuary, we are Christ's first. (That's actually true everywhere.) In the church, we are children of God- not our denomination, not our city, not our country, not even our own family. We belong to God and it is God's demands on our lives that must and do take precedence.
You can have more than one vocation at a time and the vocation of responsible citizen is one that I value and take quite seriously. All vocations, however, are subsumed into the primary one of being a baptized child of God, which is always our primary identity.
When I examine those vocations in their proper order, I am stirred by the Spirit to be sure that I am treating the flag of my country respectfully. Thus, I do not wish to display it in a place where it is of fourth or fifth prominence. I wish it to be displayed where it can rightfully do its job and that place, in my mind, is not in the sanctuary of a Christian church.
Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Whenever you give to the poor, don’t blow your trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may get praise from people. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you may give to the poor in secret. God who sees what you do in secret will reward you. – Matthew 6:1-4
There are a lot of things happening in this passage. First, financial generosity is equated with religion. So, in some capacity, Jesus expected that the doing of faith would involve the giving of money, in addition to time and talent.
Second, one’s own giving should be generous enough that one might be tempted to tell others but instead must keep it secret. If you were ashamed of what you were giving, Jesus wouldn’t need to warn about secrecy since we don’t often shout about our embarrassing bits.
Thirdly, financial giving is for the sake of the poor. While Jesus says elsewhere that the “poor will always be with you”, his meaning is that giving to the poor is not a convenient reason to avoid other justice work. One can work to feed people and also work to convey dignity and opportunity on a larger scale. Whether or not people take advantage of that work is not our business.
Lastly, Jesus indicates that there is a reward for appropriate generosity. What kind of reward? Who can say, but it will come from God. This is both incentive and reminder. We cannot use our generosity in fiscal stewardship to manipulate God (if I give this, then You do this…). We are managing what has always (and still) belonged to God’s own self.
We are given the gift of caring for others and God’s whole creation through our baptism. Our financial stewardship is of a piece with that gift and call. Let us be diligent together, even in private, about our generosity with what God has given us.
We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2 Corinthians 6:3-10)
After a discussion in my Adult Bible Study class, I keep thinking about this passage. In the denomination in which I grew up, a testimony was a statement one gave, the story of one’s faith. A person might be asked to share their testimony in a specific setting. In being asked to give a testimony, it was generally understood to that one was to speak of the arc of realizing one’s sin, coming to awareness of the need for God’s mercy, throwing one’s self on that mercy, and proceeding to live a changed life.
In thinking about Paul’s words to the Corinthians above, it occurs to me that he is giving his testimony to them. His witness, however, is not in the story of his faith shared. Rather, what Paul points out to the Corinthians are his actions. He gives an accounting of how he lives and works, the way he acts and the choices he makes. This is his testimony- his actions reveal his true priorities.
The Greek μαρτυρία (marturia) is often translated as testimony in the New Testament. When it is used for testimony, it often means as a witness in the legal sense- as in one is giving a testimony before a judge. This means others used the testimony (maturia) of the disciples and apostles to examine their motives and means. It also means that false or implicating testimonies were used against Paul and others to harm or halt them.
And, yes, the term μαρτυρία is related to another term for witness, one that we translate as “martyr”.
Understanding that most people don’t really want to be martyrs, we are not off the hook for being witnesses. Bearing false witness, in this instance, means having a testimony that is incongruent in its parts. The words of your testimony- the story of your faith- match up with your daily actions? Even in your doubts, is there a through line that someone else can clearly perceive regarding your motivations, your loyalties, your priorities, and your faithfulness?
Like Paul, our testimony is not the story we tell in our best clothes to people who are predisposed to take us at our word. Our testimony is what we do and say with our checkbooks, in our homes, when we’re aggravated, when the car breaks down, when we are lied to (again), when we despair of change in the larger world.
How’s your testimony? Is it the witness you want to give? What needs cleaning up?
