rich’s blog

I wrote this once, some time ago, and thought of it today, in light of tomorrow’s message;

((Charleston; King Street. September 1st, 2007. From the Starbucks window))

See the bright peppered people bounce and trot
See the wonderments that they have bought
See the tricksy shop-keepers in buttons that shine
See the dusty street beggars without a dime

See bereavement: see glory: see living wounds and dirty water
See despair; masked bravery—courage is broken, all broken, all broken

Jesus Christ who is on your shoulders? Carrying boxes and bows and stained shiny pieces? Jesus Christ, who is in your arms? Resting in your shoulders? (resting in your shoulders!)

Grays and Bright Golds and shadow glories:

See? Behold! Look! see…

Foundations: 3 Things
First: The claims made by the Roman Emperors were “blasphemous claims.” They claimed what only God had a right to claim. We need to remember this.

Second: The sealed ones of the Lamb are the worshippers of the Lamb, the ones who have rejected Rome and the devil that stands behind it, and turn their worship to the only place that can hold their weight–the throne of God. The mark of the beast is not a thing we have, but a thing we do: taking part in worship of Rome, and by extension, the devil. The sealed ones are God’s people; the marked ones are not.

Third: When we’re in this book, reading Revelation, we have to try to take on as much as we can, the way Revelation views the world and to shed, as much as we can, the way we do. We need to try and see the world through John’s eyes, see the Roman Empire animated by the devil, allow John’s insightful, revelatory visions shape our view of his world and our own.

Bridging the Gap: Judgment & Vindication
We can also too easily forget that the goal is not that evil would be judged, that the devil’s power would be finally snuffed out: but that really, we who are faithful would be vindicated. And Judgment & vindication dance around each other; but the emphasis should always be on God’s last word to us: which is “Here you go, have fun. Pain’s over.”

What do we want more? Judgment is satisfying, can be satisfying: and we can’t believe that evil is rewarded, or that, in this case, those who worship Rome and by extension the devil, who kill us ‘cause we don’t, we can’t believe that they wouldn’t taste the medicine they’ve been forcing us to drink.

This is the problem with the legal system, right? Sure, you win a case against someone: but does that really make things better? Does the pile of cash your lawsuit gets you heal a broken heart, replace lost time? Not really, right? At best, it might give us a cushion we can rest on while our hearts mend. Vindication is the smallest, see-through introduction to restoration.

We’ll read soon graphic images of the judgment that the devil has brought onto Rome and the people who’ve worshipped her: but if the book of Revelation ended there, it would not only be more difficult to read than it is now, but completely unsatisfying. Jesus didn’t stay on the cross; he rose from the dead. Judgment is never the final thing, the last word, or the last word we really want.

It’s that part of me that still fights with evil, that still wants to see people get theirs, that hopes a cop is up ahead when someone speeds by me, or hopes much worse upon people who have done much, much worse: that part of me wants God to come in killing, with guns in both hands. I am too bloodthirsty: but we see what being bloodthirsty gets us, right? “Because they shed the blood the saints and prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”

And John is smart, and so is God; because we’re bloodthirsty people. We aren’t too much like the Lamb some days, especially if we’re in Rome, becoming social outcasts cause we won’t worship the emperor, while that person, and that person, and that person, who are all scoundrels get it easy, and all they have had to do is compromise themselves, bow to a statue now and then, touch an alter reverently as they pass by.

John knows that we need to hear that they are in fact training themselves for judgment, that they are positioning themselves to receive the same thing the devil, who gives them all their power and ease, will receive. They are training themselves in a habit and way of living that by the time we get to the last picture of the Temple has become such a solid part of themselves, they can’t repent, can’t turn away from Rome.

So John gives us in the province of Asia these reminders. He lets us know that what we think is normal–the worst ones, the devil’s puppets, marching around all proud and preening–they’re going to fall. It’s a guarantee, because the power behind them will. He lets us know that we must hold to the faith, and stay sealed, and stay out of the way as the devil goes around marking his territory. He lets us know, over and over, that God is acting against evil, is acting against Rome.

“Revelation is an existential moment waiting to pounce.”

There is a song that I’ve been listening to, titled “Blood,” by the band The Middle East.  And it’s a heartbreaking song, about three generations of brokenness, broken men, and their broken family.

Why do I share it?

There is still time, always, & now, for so many of us.  Still time for healing, for redemption, for forgiveness and maybe much-needed grief.  There is still time, do you get this? There may not always be, today might close up something, time may tear some undone too far behind you.

(I don’t really believe that, I suppose–the last sentence.  It seems to me that nothing moves too far beyond redemption, given the right mix of this or that.)

But why wait, if in time’s pool what needs fixed is bobbing on the surface, just within reach?

My heart cries: turn to the Lord, turn and turn again. Turn, My Soul, and do not stop seeking healing, and a Fix that stays, always, shoring up all brokenness. Hope is everything and everything.  And this heartbreaking song reminds me that I still have time, for as long as I have time.

So: a sad song:

older brother, restless soul, lie down

lie for a while with your ear against the earth

and you’ll hear your sister sleep talking

say “your hair is long but not long enough to reach

home to me

but your beard

someday might be”

and she’ll wake up in a cold sweat on the floor

next to a family portrait drawn when you were four

and beside a jar of two cent coins that are no good no more

she’ll lay it aside

older father, weary soul, you’ll drive

back to the home you made on the mountainside

with that ugly, terrible thing

those papers for divorce

and a lonely ring

a lonely ring

sit on your porch

and pluck your strings

and you’ll find somebody you can blame

and you’ll follow the creek that runs out into the sea

and you’ll find the peace of the Lord.

grandfather, gentle soul, you’ll fly

over your life once more before you die

since our grandma passed away

you’ve waited for forever and a day

just to die

and someday soon

you will die

it was the only woman you ever loved

that got burnt by the sun too often when she was young

and the cancer spread and it ran into her body and her blood

and there’s nothing you can do about it now

To the right you can find the first seven messages in the Revelation Series that we’re moving through. Sorry this took so long…