Revelation 21:9-22:7: First Thoughts

Landon: Good eye - I think I'll follow your lead on that.

Rocky: After consulting textweek, I see that Revelation 21 and 22 are pared down in the Revised Common Lectionary for Easter, as 21:10, 22-22:5. That takes you from, "And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God," to "And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb . . ." and away you go.

I'm using that. For an Old Testament reading I'm going to use this week's epiphany lection, Isaiah 62:1-5. I like the "The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give" piece.

Rocky: Yessir, it is too long. So I've resolved to begin with verse 1 of chapter 22. Explanation will have to be given to parse that verse though, explaining who the "angel" is (the Greek just says "he"), what the "street" and the "city" refer to, and who the "Lamb" is.

My preliminary thoughts about these verses arise from one private reading of it and a worship-planning conversation about it this morning. In the worship planning session, we grabbed on to the "river" imagery, as well as the "light" and "dark." So, you'll be glad to know that we'll be using "Shall We Gather at The River" as an introit and Psalm 46 ("There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God") as a call to worship.

As far as the sermon's focus, I'm following you in letting the King holiday set the pace. Sadly, this is the first time in three trips 'round as a preacher that I've given sustained thought to the need to make Dr. King a central focal point of worship on this Sunday; the last two years it's kind of snuck up on me, and I've thrown a reference into the sermon at the last minute.

To that end, I may do a good deal to explicate the "visionary" nature of the passage (and all of Revelation), connecting "vision" and "dream." Since last week's sermon laid great stress on present action for the sake of a future hope, I may flip that over here and emphasize the future hope, its contours and images and even measurements, for the sake of present action. There is the proverbial "without vision the people perish" idea to support that, I think.

If I had to decide right now, I'd probably pick the "lamb" title and imagery out of the passage for further explication. Following your idea of splicing in the "I Have A Dream" speech, the line in that speech that says "unearned suffering is redemptive." How do you not connect that to the life and death of Jesus? And on this day, how do you not apply it to King's own demise, joined as it is to the persecuted Christians to whom Revelation is addressed?

I think where that leads is back to the "vision" of the lamb who reigns now and forever, by virtue of his meekness and refusal to take up the implements of violence to defend himself.

A rough start, no doubt, but a start all the same.

Landon: Once more into the breech, dear friend. Here are my first thoughts...

Even though I'm the one who "drafted" this text - it's just to damn long. I mean, come on - who want to read a sermon text that takes five minutes to read? And how (in heaven or) on earth are we supposed to construct a compelling narrative line out of 11 verses describing the architectural makeup of the new Jerusalem?

Seriously, for me the text is just too much so I'm going to cut it down to 21:22-22:7. I might mention the previous verses (If I do, the notion of the "richness" of the city would be very helpful), but I think that the remaining 12 verses will do me much more good

Knowing that this Sunday is the day set aside for the celebration of Dr. King is very much affecting my reading of the passage. It certainly was the impetus for picking it. The Utopian nature of the text makes it a prime referent for King's "I have a dream" speech, which I'm contemplating "splicing" in the text.

I see a vision of equality at play here, a vision of no fear and no need to be afraid.

Two references are jumping for me:

21:27 - "But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

AND

22:3 - "Nothing accursed will be found there any more."

There is also the repeated use of the phrase "of God and of the Lamb." I have often told my folks that when the Bible repeats itself, it is important and we should pay attention to those pieces.

What are you seeing?