To match the weirdness of this week,
Smoke and heat on top of pandemic
virtual school starts
And election brew-ha-ha….
I have a weird sermon.
My brain decided to give me the topic of zombie apocalypse
As I started my sermon preparations
of reading, thinking, pondering.
Now, I’m not a fan of that genre,
but I’m been seeing references to it quite a bit In my media posts…..
Usually something to the effect of:
“Well, 2020 has thrown everything else at us, zombie apocalypse has to be next.”
A brief goggle search proved surprising…
Zombie preparedness is part of our countries Center for Disease Control,
(CDC) government preparedness app…
“What began as a tongue-in-cheek campaign to engage new audiences
Has proven to be a very effective platform to engage
A variety of audiences.
The CDC has a zombie preparedness blog, poster, graphic novel, social media page,
And resources for educators.
If you get really bored this week…check it out.
Apocalyptic writing appeared on the scene as a new genre, a new type of literature
about 300 years before the time of Jesus.
Apocalyptic thinking, imagining end of time scenarios,
seems to be part of our human nature
And can be found in the scriptural heritage of many faith traditions.
The Book of Revelation is probably the most familiar example for us
Of that style of literature—
You won’t find zombies in John’s Revelation,
but beasts and dragons and the dreaded four horsemen
Fire, plague, pestilence and famine…
Those are the parts most often remembered.
Does it surprise you to hear that the impetus behind our biblical apocalyptic writings
Was for the authors to be voices of hope….
Voices for the power of God
Voices bolding portraying the sacred reality that we’re not in control of this world
But God is and will continue to be as far as we can imagine into the future?
The sacred reality that God will never be overthrown by forces of evil
Or wearied by humanity’s self-centeredness.
A helpful approach to apocalyptic literature
Is first to realize that it was written to be read out loud in small groups
To people who had not experienced written words, painted pictures, photos
Newspapers, comic books, tv, movies, videos, u-tube, Tik-Tok
Try to engage it as you might a science fiction or fantasy play or novel
That is being read out loud to people in fear and distress,
Their lives turned upside down
and in danger in many ways more so than ours.
The authors are painting word pictures and scenarios
To catch the imagination and hold the attention of their intended audience.
You know, that can’t put this down or turn it off, edge of the seat response…
As that message of God victorious is being woven in and out of the story
And their hearing and their being…
Giving the listeners the opportunity to move out of their daily dark grind
To a larger, grander possibility than they had tried to imagine
Or even had time to imagine.
Giving them hope and courage to go on another day.
Giving them opportunity to imagine that life is bigger than our short sojourn here
And so is their God.
Giving them the opportunity to perhaps later look backward,
recalling other suffering times, retelling those stories;
Noah, Moses, Abraham, exile1, exile 2, exile 3….famines, floods, death and darkness
and realize that they have been graced by the presence of God
in myriad ways, ways they could have never imagined
including, for John’s audience,
the resurrected Christ, Messiah, Son of the Living God.
I wish I could have flipped our service around
and offered you these thoughts before our scripture readings
so that you could have listened for the hope,
listened for the thoughts and images that push us beyond ourselves
and our small, yes, even petty dilemmas
toward the resurrected Christ,
resurrected to reveal to the world
the reality of God, the desire, the love of God for us and all creation
now and thru eternity…….despite fires, pandemics, wars, floods, and injustice.
So instead, I’m going to back up a bit and read the passage from Isaiah.
Listen for the hope
Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Look to the rock
from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to
Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him,
but I blessed him and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort
all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of
the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from
me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my
salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and
for my arm they hope. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for
the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who
live on it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be for ever, and my deliverance will
never be ended. (Isaiah 51: 1-6)
We are part of something too big, too grand to humanly imagine
and yet, at times when so contemplated,
that fearsome reality can plant seeds of hope
to root out despair, impatience, fear, anger.
Catch what happens with Simon Peter’s statement…
This is after the healing and feeding of the crowds on the mountain
and right before Jesus began talking to them about going to Jerusalem
to suffer, be killed and raised.
Jesus asks the disciples:
Who do they say that I am?
And then he asks:
But who do YOU say that I am?
And somehow, Peter gets it!
Oh my gosh! You are not a prophet for today,
calling for people to change their behavior like Elijah
and not even a John, the Baptist,
a man also for his specific day and time
speaking for individual action right now…come and repent.
Moving from individual to grand scheme of things,
God’s scheme,
uncountable stars in the sky kind of scheme;
Peter says:
You are the Messiah, The Son of the Living God.
You are the Messiah; not Jesus, the prophet.
You are the Messiah; not just for us or those 4000 on the mountain,
but for more than we can begin to imagine
You are the Messiah; not just for this time and place,
but from before time and beyond.
You are the Messiah, Son of the Living God.
I can’t help wondering, pondering, hoping
that the disciples were strengthen, encouraged, emboldened by Peter’s powerful words.
That this was the beginning of their hearts and minds being opened
to the bigger than life journey they were on…
Opened to see God at work not just in the healing and feeding and teaching
but also in the pain and suffering and change being asked of them.
I don’t think that we would be here today as worshipping Christians
if it wasn’t that kind of beginning for them.
So, what I’m suggesting here
with this talk of zombie apocalypse and Living God
is that 2020 seems to be our time of extreme uncertainty
in our tiny snippet of God’s larger than we can imagine story. …
Now it is out turn to let our hearts and minds and spirits open up to the big story.
To search and find those voices bolding portraying the sacred reality
that we’re not in control of this world
But God is and will continue to be as far as we can imagine and beyond
The sacred reality that God will never be overthrown by forces of evil
Or wearied by humanity’s self-centeredness.
God will prevail.
What might that search look like?
We can let history inform us and support and encourage us
and let imagination and contemplation and quiet nourish and refresh.
I’ve been finding those voices in scripture, historical novels, movies, biographies,
poetry, the writings of the mystics;
in clever cartoons and even Facebook shares.
And those sacred voices aren’t just found in written words…
God speaks through music, art, hands, nature, movement, chores
Even zombie apocalypse….maybe.
Our part in God’s story
is to be alert, ready, expectant,
Making room for God to speak to us and through us
As happened to Peter that day.
Many are waiting to hear the sacred story
of Our Living God.
0 Comments