5 Easter C April 28, 2013
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie G. Hutson
Acts 11: 1-18 + Psalm 148 + Rev. 21: 1-6 + John 13: 31-35
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
It’s still the season of Easter, but we have also entered into the season of weddings. Last weekend was the first of four weddings I’ll be a part of between now and the end of summer. Weddings are wonderful days, eagerly anticipated. Because what we gather to celebrate is the beginning of something new. It doesn’t matter whether the couple has known each other for a long time, like my friends Darren and John who were married last weekend – or if they’ve known one another for a shorter time, standing before God and your family and friends and saying that you’ll be faithful and true and kind in all kinds of weather is a hope filled thing. It’s a new thing.
In the reading from Revelation today Jerusalem, who personifies all of God’s people, is portrayed as a bride. As I was working on this sermon, I realized that in order to fully engage this metaphor from Revelation, it’s going to be necessary for all of us, to envision ourselves as brides. So, gentlemen, you’re just going to have to give this a whirl for this metaphor to work. God is the bridegroom in this case and we…all of us, are the brides, or better yet, we all belong to new Jerusalem.
In 1976, there was a project in honor of the diversity of Jerusalem. Children were asked to depict the new Jerusalem through art. They created marvelous images of ALL kinds of people gathered together – joined together by the love of God in the kingdom of God.
It’s important that we understand that this text does not refer to the city of Jerusalem as it exists as a physical place in the world today. But that it refers to the Kingdom of God – that gathering place of all believers. And what the writer of Revelation is seeing in a vision is the Kingdom of God in its perfection, in its new way.
Prior to this, it was widely understood that God’s dwelling place was…up there….somewhere. Wherever that is. That God was up there….and Creation and humanity were …down here. And the sea separated God up there from Creation and humanity down here. The sea always represented chaos in the Bible. So that God was up there and Creation and humanity were down here, was not good news at all.
But for God has given John the Seer, the writer of Revelation, a new vision of Jerusalem – a new vision of the Kingdom.
I wonder, how might we depict the new Jerusalem, if we were asked, like those children in 1976, to do so in a drawing or art or craft? Since I’m not very good at crafts, I must look elsewhere for a metaphor.
One of the places I find the Kingdom, the new Jerusalem, is in music. As we will gather to show our appreciation to Kathy today, I am very much reminded that the Kingdom – up there- has always been envisioned with music. Angels playing harps and angel choirs singing. But I think that musicians in the Kingdom look a little more like Audrey and Julie and Hart and our choir. I think that music in the Kingdom sounds a little more like our hymns….old ones and new ones.
And I believe that we will find all people in the Kingdom. Maybe even people we were certain would not be there. Because all of us are created in the image of God and all of us are beloved of God and none of us are beyond the reach of God’s mercy and grace. Since we know this to be true, how could it be that anyone would NOT be in the Kingdom? Unfortunately the Church has a history of trying to say that some are in and some are out, but this isn’t what Jesus said at all. In fact, Jesus told us not to worry about judging one another, but instead to love one another. In the Gospel today Jesus said “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, f you have love for one another.” Sometimes I think that folks who call themselves Christians didn’t hear this part. After all, it makes being a part of the Kingdom more desirable if we somehow believe that not just anyone, and certainly not everyone, can get in. But this isn’t what Jesus had in mind.
You know, every time I stand with a couple who is making promises to love, honor, and cherish one another – I think of how this new thing on which they are embarking will take some work. Because there will be days when they wake up and wonder if they really thought this through. There will! I am positive that Bruce must do this. And then, because we love one another…because they love one another, they continue on – doing the hard work of growing and tending that new thing that they started at their wedding.
The writer of Revelation chooses the image of the bride because it represents a new thing that is grounded and rooted in love. But the metaphor breaks down pretty quickly. We know that not every marriage lasts a lifetime We know that even some that do are fraught with pain and abuse and neglect. And that’s where the metaphor is broken.
But in the new Jerusalem, God is there. No – God is here. The home of God is not far away from us. God is as close to us as our very breath, as the beating of our hearts. God does not leave us. God does not abandon us in difficult times or in horrible times. The writer of Revelation writes that the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them and they will be God’s people and God will be with them. In Boston, and in Texas, and in Syria, and in Rwanda….God is there. In Egypt and in Palestine, in Iraq and and Iran…God is there. And yes, in Jerusalem, the city God is there, too. And God is here, with us now….wiping away the tears from our eyes, giving those who thirst water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. God is here, with us in this moment and in every moment…calling each one of us God’s beloved child and making all things new. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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