Sermon Tone Analysis

/“Grace and peace to you, from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come”(Revelations 1:4b)/

           

Today we celebrate the conclusion of 11th year of Proclamation here in Brant County – and we sing some of my most favorite hymns, as Jean Duff, our Organist will attest

And that greeting that I opened with is from the 1st chapter of John’s Revelation

                        And *What* a powerful greeting that is

Powerful - yet in the culture of the day, and in today’s culture extremely subversive

 

It is known as an apostolic benediction

A message or blessing from the early followers of Christ.

The greeting combines both Greek (“grace”) and Hebrew (“peace”)

                                    */Grace/*/,/ that is, the good-will of God towards us and His good work in us;

                                                And */Peace/*/,/ that is, the sweet evidence and assurance of this grace.

It is message to not only one group of people - but all people

                        At the time… and today… a Subversive and counter-cultural message

And for this evening with members of the Body of Christ from a variety of denominational backgrounds, it seems fitting to greet you with /Grace/ and /Peace/

 

And then we hear: “/the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come”/

                Since before Abraham He *“was”…* and *“is”…* the "I AM"

                        and He *“is”…* and *"always was"…*, the eternal Logos or Word;

Consider the beginning of John’s gospel

/In the beginning was the Word, /

/and the Word was with God, /

/and the Word was God.

/

/2 He was in the beginning with God.

/

/3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

/

/What has come into being 4 in him was life, /

/and the life was the light of all people.

/

/5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.(John

1:1-5)/

/ /

Jesus, not only “is” and “always was” but also *"who is still to come"* - the promise of the Return of Christ

            God from everlasting to everlasting

Jesus is the Christ – the messiah – God incarnate.

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end

 

Consider the world in which this is written - where the state religion is worship to the emperor – a man, who was understood to be a deity

And consider our own culture today where everything is acceptable relative to the eye of the beholder

‘What’s true for you is true and as long as you *respect* what is true for me is my truth’ – relative truth

 

And today in this Proclamation concluding service, we celebrate the Word of God

            To all the politically correct statements of relative truth

Today, at the end of a full reading of the Bible, we Christians declare proudly that Jesus is /the/ truth - and Jesus the Christ /reigns/ over it all

 

In that message of Christ in the past, present and future - everlasting to everlasting

            There is a message of completeness

 

And in fact, as you likely know, all of our readings represent a sense of completeness

            We began with Psalm 150 – the final and glorious conclusion to the center of the Bible

            We heard from the last chapters of the prophet Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament

            We heard the concluding chapter of Gospel according to St. John, the final Gospel

And lastly we will hear the final chapter of the final book of the Bible – The Revelations of John

                       

The purpose of this message of completeness might be best described in the 1st  chapter of Revelations where Christ is declared as /“the firstborn of the dead, and ruler of the kings of the earth”(Rev.

1:5b)/

            Also “/to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever”/ /(Rev.

1:6b)/

/ /

The Book of Revelations for some is the most difficult book in the whole bible to understand.

That, is mostly to do with the fact that *we* don’t think in the same apocalyptic way of the Middle-east of 2000 years ago

However Revelations can provide an incredible vision.

It is the product of the marriage of hope and despair, of promise and pain.

It is a book~/dream~/vision~/poem~/letter written by John, an Apostle and disciple of Jesus

 

God through the words of Revelations offers us a vision of a brand new life;

            A life lived in a brand new order in a brand new way.

The book of Revelations presents to us, some confusing and frightening images

            Serpents and lakes of fire, and demented creatures

                        But don’t be distracted by that – that is merely a style of story-telling

        What we are to see through all of that, is the message that John intended

   And it speaks precisely to what we are celebrating today - The Word Eternal

           

In the midst of this message today, and all of Revelations, we are given Christ’s dominion over all things

            No matter what comes against you in this life;

No matter if all of the power of pain and chaos of the universe seems to overtake you all at once;

No matter if you can not control one single thing, or fix one single thing in your life,

                                                The worst is over, the healing has already begun.

The lamb is on the throne.

Revelations, understood for our day, beyond the style of story

            We have the very nature of Hope.

For Christians hope is not a wish.

It is not a tooth under a pillow,

                                    Or fingers crossed

                                    Or just one more 649 lottery try.

Hope, for a Christian is an assurance,

                        A firm and binding promise.

It is a sure thing.

Hope is not a feeling - It is a fact.

It is a fact rooted in the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

And assured by the amazing, steadfast, unshakable love of God, for God's people and recorded for all time in The Holy Word

                                                God will not be shaken.

Hope is independent of circumstances and it ‘will never be’ conquered by evil.

Even if hurt seems to be winning,

                                    The battle by God - has already been won.

From our reading this evening: Revelations 22:7 - /Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book.

(Revelations 22:7b)/

 

Moving from The Revelations of John to the final chapter of our Gospel account recorded by John we are given a glimpse to Jesus’ closest disciples and tonight, in particular, I would like to consider Peter

Peter’s story is a story of a journey of faith, this seems fitting as over ten days we have journeyed through the whole of Bible

        Peter’s journey is one that is gradual and filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows

We see Peter, the impulsive disciple – journeying in one way then flip flopping back and forth making mistakes repeatedly

 

It all began in a boat down by the lake... the reluctant dream of an impulsive fisherman

That dream had come hard -- indeed at first he rejected the thought.

This Jesus who had the audacity to commandeer his boat and then tell a fisherman how to fish? "...we have worked all night long but have caught nothing(Luke 5:5/)/

 (what's another empty net in a night filled with empty nets?)

"Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

(Luke 5:5/)/

Then it happened!

"...they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break," (Luke 5:6/)  /

From that moment on, Simon Peter's life was defined by a dream.

There are all kinds of everyday dreamers like you and me who dream that somehow, someway, our lives might make a difference in this world.

Our childhood images were filled with, "Cinderella," "The Little Train that Could," or any of a hundred other tales that fired our hearts with the notion that we could -- if we hoped, prayed and worked hard enough -- make a real difference in our world!

But there [can be] a kind of a "downside" to dreams.

They are not always fulfilled

Somewhere in most of our lives there is at least one dream that fell apart