"Oh What a Foretaste!"

A Sermon Preached by

The Rev. Mike Elliott

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Revelation 7:9-17

     Believe it or not, there are three different ways that you can get out of bed in the morning.  You can get up on the left side of the bed.  You can get up on the right side of the bed.  Or, you can get up on the wrong side of the bed!  So which side of the bed do you get up on?  The first two sides, right and left, are usually controlled by which side you sleep on and where your furniture is placed.  The third side, the wrong side, is a choice left entirely up to you! 

     Are you one of those "wrong side of the bed" kind of people?  The kind of person who finds fault with everything?  The kind of person that is always crabby?  The kind of person who does nothing but predict doom and gloom?  The kind of person who can find the raincloud in any silver lining?  The kind of person who knows all the bad news everywhere, what natural disaster has taken place, who's getting divorced, whose kids are in trouble, how bad the stock market is doing? 

     So, are you one of those perpetually crabby people who always seem to get up on the wrong side of the bed? 

     I have a funny feeling that many of you came in and sat down this morning and looked in your bulletins and saw that the Scripture lesson came from the Book of Revelation and got scared.  After all, Revelation seems to be a lot like reading a book written by one of those "got up on the wrong side of the bed types!"  For most of us, Revelation would not be the book we would typically open to when we sat down to read our Bible.  After all, it seems to be not much more than 22 chapters of doom and gloom; death, destruction and despair.  Not exactly pleasant reading for most of us is it.  Then again, how often do we view our own lives in exactly the same way?  22 chapters of doom and gloom! 

     I think that maybe the Book of Revelation gets a bad rap sometimes; just like maybe us crabby people get a bad rap too.  To characterize the book as just a doom and gloom kind of prophecy is to do it a grave injustice.  This morning's text, for example, gives us a really glorious vision of the Church. 

     It sure isn't the typical message that you would expect from the Book of Revelation, is it?  It's kind of like when one of those people that always seem to get up on the wrong side of the bed have a good day.  A really good day.  But despite the scary and depressing issues that seem to fill the Book of Revelation, there is a clear and consistent thread of comfort and reassurance present.  There is at the heart of the Book the message that God is indeed in control and that God's people will persevere no matter what may come to be.  And that was an important message for the Church to hear at the time Revelation was written.  A time of some of the most intense persecutions of Christians by the Roman Empire.  A time of terror and fear for the Early Church.

     In chapter seven, John describes a vision God gave him of the true Church.  It is a vision of the Church the way that God dreams it to be.  A Church where people of all colors and languages and nations worship together.  A Church where all of God's people; young and old, rich and poor, men and women sing God's praises in one voice.  United.  Joyous.  As one people.

     But the message that John is trying to get across to us in Revelation is that this is more than just a dream.  More than just a vision.  More than just wishful thinking or mere speculation on God's part.  The vision of the Church that John is describing in chapter 7 is way more real and concrete than that.  It is a road map.  A model.  A template.  The vision that John gives us of the Church isn't just a nice picture of the way that the Church might be or could be or maybe will be many years in the future.

     The vision of the Church as the place where all of God's people come and worship together joyfully and wholeheartedly with one voice is not just a pretty picture to look forward to.  The vision of John here in chapter seven is not just a simple artist's rendition of a possible outcome if we have the time and the money to create the vision.  It's God's pattern for the Church.  It is intended for us to use it to construct the Church as God intends it to be.  That's what we have here in Revelation.  A real life snapshot of the Church as it's supposed to be.

     Now, let's be honest for a moment.  That is not what the Church really looks like now, is it?  One day it will, but not today.  Not yet.  But one day.  The model is there.  The artist's rendition is there.  We know exactly what we are supposed to be striving for the Church to be.  We know what we are to become.  And you know what?  One day, in God's time, that is exactly what we will be.  In all of our glory.  In us bathed in the Risen Christ’s glory.

     One people.  United.  Men and women.  Young and old.  Black and white.  European and Asian.  All singing God's praises together with one voice.  Joyfully.  At peace with each other.

     Whenever you plant a new tree, for the first couple of years it looks like not much more than a stick.  And maybe, if you’re lucky there may be a few sad and lonely blossoms each Spring.  But those few scraggly flowers stand as a promise for the future.  Those few blossoms point to a reality that will come to pass in the future if you care for and nurture it enough.  A promise of a glorious Spring day to come in the not so distant future.

     Limbs that will reach high into the sky.  Covered in perfect white flowers each with pale pink edges.  Thousands of them.  Yes, one day, it will be a glorious thing to behold.  But today, those few lone flowers bloom as a promise unfulfilled.  A token.  A foretaste of what one day that sad little twig will become.

     And so it is with the Church today.  We aren’t perfect.  We have problems and troubles and faults.  We aren’t united.  We aren’t inclusive.  God, we have our faults.  And this world is so very quick to point out each of our faults for us too.  But I think that no one is more painfully aware of our shortcomings than we are.

     Let's face it.  We are a collection of sinners.  Of fallen people.  Of people trying as best as we can to do what God requires of us.  But we so often fall short of our calling.  We so often don't do or say the right things.  We so often fall short of being what God wants us to be.  Yes, we have our faults.  But we are the Church.  The Church of Jesus Christ.  The hands and feet and arms and legs and mouth of God here in this world.  And we minister to a world that needs so desperately to see and feel and touch and taste God's presence among us as best as we can.

     We are not the perfect model of the Church that we read about in Revelation this morning.  We are far from that.  But enough of what we aren’t.  I'll tell you what we are.  We are a foretaste.  A foretaste of that perfect Church.  A foretaste of the Kingdom of God that is to be.  A shadow of the real Church that is to be.  One day, in God's time.  Just like that twig is a foretaste of the future glory that tree will become future.  Just like that lone blossom hints at the beauty that will come to flower one fine Spring day in the future, we too are a hint, a foretaste, a promise of what is to be one glorious day in the future.  One day when the Church finally fits the image of the model from Revelation.  One people.  United in love.  Singing God's praises with one voice.

     But it's not enough for us to just sit back and say, “Oh well, one day things will be better.  One day God will transform our weaknesses and failings and shortcomings into one glorious and beautiful Church.”  Our Lord, Jesus Christ challenges us.  Challenges us to look at the model.  To look at the model and be the best darn foretaste of things to be that we can.  To be the best darn lone blossom that we can.  To take the Church that we are and make it the most beautiful and welcome place that we possibly can.  To be the best of what God wants us to be. 

     And to be the best darn foretaste that we can be in this world requires that we work to meet the needs of God's people in three very important ways.

     We are called to work to provide for the physical needs of God's people.  To work to feed the hungry.  To work to clothe the naked.  To work to build houses for the homeless.  To care for those whose lives have been torn apart by wars.  By fires.  By natural disasters.

     As a foretaste of the Church that is to be, we are called to do the best that we can do to provide for the physical needs of all of God's children.  Everywhere.

     We are called to provide for, as best as we can, the spiritual needs of God's people.  It's not enough to just offer God's people things to satisfy their physical needs.  Needs like food and clothing and shelter.  We are also called to provide for the spiritual needs of God's people.  To offer water for the dried up spirits of God's children.  We are called, as a foretaste of the Church that is to be, to be a model of God's love.  God's healing.  God's forgiveness.  God's peace.  When we act in a loving and forgiving and caring way to each other, then we show the world out there what it means to care for the spiritual needs of God's people.

     We are also called to provide for the emotional needs of God's people.  We are called to be a place where we are free to cry those tears that we need to cry.  Free to cry the tears of repentance.  Free to cry the tears that come from recognizing how very far from God's presence we so often wander.  Free to cry the tears that flow from a heart broken by the pain and suffering in this world.  We are called to be a place where God's people are free to cry their tears so that God's tender hand may wipe each one away.  We are called to be a place of comfort and healing.  A shoulder to cry on.  A hand ready to ease the burden of God's people.

     Now.  That's what it means to strive to be a foretaste of the true Church of Jesus Christ.  That's the job description.  Those are our three main tasks.  Do we have any volunteers for the job?  Is anyone here ready to stand up and volunteer for the job? 

     I know that that is one tough job description.  I know that those three tasks are pretty tough to do.  But we are still a foretaste of what is yet to be.  Still a foretaste of glory divine.  Still a foretaste of God's Kingdom.

     My little voice alone is certainly not the choir portrayed in Revelation.  Trust me on that one!  And when you add the rest of you 1^st Pres people, it’s only a little better.  When you add 2^nd Pres it gets a little more like it.  Now, when Shepherd of the Valley and New Life and join in, we are beginning to look like something real.  Throw in Cristo Del Valle and Covenant for good measure and God, the songs that we can sing and things that we can do together will be glorious indeed. 

     So what do we have here today as we sit together worshipping side by side.  From where I stand, it sure as heck looks a lot like a token and a promise.  A token and a promise of the glorious things that are within our grasp.  A token and a promise of the glorious things that we are called to become.

     So will we sign on?  Will we take the job?  Are we ready to work to hold the world in our arms and provide for its needs?  Are we ready to be a token, a promise, a pledge, a foretaste of what the Lord Almighty has promised that one day we will become?  Are we ready to be the best darn foretaste of the Kingdom of God that we can possibly be?

Amen