Lectionary Thoughts
Well, here goes another stab at keeping up with this! This past weekend, many Christians around the world celebrated the Festival of All Saints. In fact, the goofy costume wearing, sugar-coma inducing, teeth-rotting celebration on October 31st (Halloween, the CVS version, not the modern pagan holiday) is derived from the term All Hallows (Saints) Eve. All Saints had deepened significance all around for me this year, from the one year anniversary of my ordination, to the death of my father earlier this year, the communion of the saints is a vital part of my faith journey right now. Preaching-wise, I focused on the presence of Christ and the saints gathered to him for All-Saints. This is a theme I like to return to whenever I have a funeral/memorial with communion. In the process of grieving, we must relocate the dead to a new place in our consciousness and lives at every other table, both noticing their empty seat and also shuffling up the seating chart for the sake of the living. But at the communion table, we still dine with them, the only difference being that they experience the meal in a new context. To recognize the presence of Christ and all the saints in this way offers a startling and positive reminder of the promises made to us, and of the vital importance of gathering in Christian community. There are no lone ranger Christians if the communio is understood fully.
That reality make this weekend's apocalyptic texts even more interesting. The question of who is and isn't a part of God's people is asked again and again. Is it simply the people who do "religious stuff", like festivals, worship and ceremonies? Or does being God's people mean acting in justice, with a compassion that is associated with God? Amos seems to strike right at the notion of formal religiosity with no real-world component. Paul addresses the anxiety of the church in Thessaloniki that brothers and sisters who die before Christ's return are somehow lost, promising that they will reap the benefits of grace even before the survivors do. Finally, the Matthean community wrestles with Jesus' cryptic teaching on the unpredictable return, wondering who will be ready and who will be caught off-guard by the full presence of Christ. Will we skip out on the bridegroom's entrance in order to seek more (preparation, holiness, material security, political benefit, blessing, endurance, self-improvement, etc.) before drawing close to him? Knowing that the church is always the faithful departed, faithful gathered and the faithful who are far away by no fault of their own, how do we live into this reality, making our invisible communion more visible?
What did that Christian just say?
Apocalyptic- When certain texts are called apocalyptic (e.g. Daniel, Revelation) this refers to a their containing a revelation (from the Greek apocalypsis) of a truth that may not be apparent to the reader based on the facts of history at the moment. Apocalyptic writing frequently is produced in response to the crushing forces of Empire (Babylon, Seleucid, Rome) in a way the disguises the political critique contained therein. At the core of these revelatory images is the firm belief that God is the ultimate arbiter and ruler of history. (God's the decider...) This means that systems which purport to replace the role of God as maker, sustainer and redeemer of the world are bound to fall to God's judgment. These systems are often represented by terrible beasts and other fantastic creatures in order to show both their power, but also the fact that they are unnatural. Unlike the majestic power of a lion or a killer whale, these chimeras are not wholly one sort of creature or another. They are an amalgam of powers from across creation, but by being shown as beasts, the writer places them under the innovator and author of the universe, God. The Apocalypse does not refer to a particular point in time, but rather to a special time where people see the systems and powers for what they are, and see the judgment of God reasserted and made plain. It's the revealing of truth that is so powerful, it seems as though the world is ending, because the powers that seek to dominate it begin to crumble and are proven to be pretenders to the throne. Often times, Apocalyptic visions are combined with eschatalogical hopes. These hopes are related to "final things" an eschaton is a thing that is final. Christians place our hope in the apocalypse (revelation) that in the eschaton (when all is said and done, both individually and corporately), the powers of the world which dominate and crush us (including death) will be revealed as overcome by God's compassion for the world (as expressed by the enemy-love of Jesus), and that God will dwell among the people in a way that is evident to all.
