The last two weeks we have pondered the New Jerusalem at the end of Revelation, and now my thoughts are turning toward present day Jerusalem.  In a week and a half – on Monday, Nov 9, I’ll be flying out to Tel Aviv with a group of 15 other Mennonite pastors from the Midwest.  We’ll be on a two week learning tour which will begin in Bethlehem, proceed to Galilee, and end up in Jerusalem.  I’m not sure if the organizers planned it this way, but someone has already observed that this itinerary traces the trajectory of Jesus’ life. We’ll be doing some visiting of biblical sites and the ancient stones that remain, but our main purpose will be to encounter what Palestinian Christian leader Elias Chacour calls the “living stones,” borrowing from 1 Peter 2:4.  The living stones are the people inhabiting the geography we refer to as the

A book I have found quite helpful for this Revelation series is Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation.  It’s written by J. Nelson Kraybill who is the former President of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, where I attended, and is the current President of Mennonite World Conference.   It’s written in a way that is accessible to the non-academic and would be a great resource for anyone – or any small group – wanting to dive deeper into Revelation.  It’s not a verse by verse commentary but addresses different passages throughout Revelation with chapter titles like “A Prophet in Trouble,” “Stampeding Empires,” “Beastly Worship,” “The Lamb is the Lord of History,” “A Harlot Drunk with Blood,” “The Economics of Worship,” and “Long-Term Hope.” One of the highlights of the book is that it contains 80+ images from the ancient world that pertain to Revelation.  Here are

Now that we’re in the middle of Revelation…One of the most difficult aspects of Revelation is the violence and suffering it describes –much of it appearing to be from God.  There are two Greek words that get translated as “wrath” throughout Revelation and they are used a total of 16 times.  One time refers to the wrath of the devil.  Twice there is a reference to the wrath of Babylon the Great (a.k.a. the beast, a.k.a. the empire), and the other 13 times refer to the wrath of God.  Two of those even attribute wrath to the Lamb.  Wrath carries connotations of anger, fury, rage, punishment, and revenge.  Generally speaking, wrath aint good, and bad stuff happens when wrath shows up.  It’s perfectly possible to read Revelation in such a way that the Lamb has a personality change and goes on a rampage.  Perhaps the most troubling passage in the

Now that we’re in the middle of Revelation…One of the most difficult aspects of Revelation is the violence and suffering it describes –much of it appearing to be from God.  There are two Greek words that get translated as “wrath” throughout Revelation and they are used a total of 16 times.  One time refers to the wrath of the devil.  Twice there is a reference to the wrath of Babylon the Great (a.k.a. the beast, a.k.a. the empire), and the other 13 times refer to the wrath of God.  Two of those even attribute wrath to the Lamb.  Wrath carries connotations of anger, fury, rage, punishment, and revenge.  Generally speaking, wrath aint good, and bad stuff happens when wrath shows up. It’s perfectly possible to read Revelation in such a way that the Lamb has a personality change and goes on a rampage.  Perhaps the most troubling passage in the

Our worship series on the Book of Revelation will be jumping around quite a bit to look at the book more thematically than narratively.  This makes sense because going straight through the book would both take far longer than a month and would likely lead to the overwhelming feelings that many of us have experienced when trying to make sense of all the imagery used in Revelation.  One of the parts that we will miss, however, is a section in chapters 2 and 3 where the narrator delivers messages from Christ to seven early Christian communities.  These brief letters to the seven churches are interesting partially because the writer is so bluntly honest and partially because they provide a snapshot of what life was like for early Christian congregations.  A few weeks ago I joked with Joel that he needed to give everyone homework to write their own “Letter to