Apocalyptic Dreams

Sermon given at University Church, July 8, 2018

We live in apocalyptic times, y’all.  I’m not talking about the absolute end of the world, nuclear annihilation, or disastrous climate change (though I could).  I’m talking about inescapable evil boiling up to the surface of our daily lives. “Apocalypse” literally means “uncovering” – revealing the truth of a world that has become so polluted by human greed that God cannot let it stand any longer.  That’s kind of how I’ve been feeling about the world these past couple of weeks, and so the Scripture that I chose for today is an apocalyptic text: Revelation. Before I read the passage, I want to set the stage and put it into some context. 

The Seer of this vision is identified as John.  John and his 1^st century Christian community had just witnessed the end of their world in real time – the Romans tore down their temple, rounded up their communities, labeled them traitors and rebels, and slaughtered entire families.  So its not surprising that the first 20 chapters of this book spend a lot of time Empire and oppression.  I didn’t feel unpacking the Whore of Babylon, the Beast, and the Horsemen – I don’t really need to.  You can just check your news feed and  get a pretty clear understanding of the evil our society is capable of, and the suffering that it inflicts. What is important to know for today’s sermon, is that the vivid and terrible images in those first 20 chapters is necessary to better understand God’s ultimate vision for Creation by contrast. So, let me sum up those first 20 chapters:  Things are bad.  Really bad.  Plagues, woes and sorrows, beasts and demons, seas boiling, mountains tumbling, lakes of fire, even zombies. 

Let’s spare a moment of pity for John, who must have been terrified out of his mind at these sights.  And then he was given a vision that has captivated believers for millennia.  And maybe close your eyes and try to see what he saw.  This is from the book of Revelation, chapter 21, verses 1 – 6 and 10 – 23.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I’m making all things new.” He also said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  Then he said to me, “All is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will freely give water from the life-giving spring.

He took me in a Spirit-inspired trance to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.  The city had God’s glory. Its brilliance was like a priceless jewel, like jasper that was as clear as crystal.  It had a great high wall with twelve gates. By the gates were twelve angels, and on the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons.  There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.  The city wall had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the Lamb’s twelve apostles.

The angel who spoke to me had a gold measuring rod with which to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.  Now the city was laid out as a square. Its length was the same as its width. He measured the city with the rod, and it was fifteen hundred miles. Its length and width and height were equal.  He also measured the thickness of its wall. It was two hundred sixteen feet thick, as a person—or rather, an angel—measures things.  The wall was built of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like pure glass.  The city wall’s foundations were decorated with every kind of jewel. The first foundation was jasper, the second was sapphire, the third was chalcedony, and the fourth was emerald.  The fifth was sardonyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, and the eighth was beryl. The ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was made from a single pearl. And the city’s main street was pure gold, as transparent as glass.

I didn’t see a temple in the city, because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.  The city doesn’t need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Wow.   What a sight to see – God’s dream for Creation. This vision of New Jerusalem was given to God’s people as a source of gladness and hope in dark times.  And this is what I want to spend my time on today – not on the world as it currently is but the world as it should be.

Let us pray.  Almighty Creator, speak through me, speak in spite of me, so that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts may be pleasing to you. Amen

A few years ago, my sister was visiting Chicago and we found our sightseeing plans ruined by a cold and rainy day.  We were downtown and ducked into the Chicago Cultural Center – which we had never been to before – and decided to wander around.  We were, of course, impressed with the architecture as we walked through, but nothing compared to Preston Bradley Hall—the hall designed by Tiffany.  Walking into that space was overwhelming.  Until then, I didn’t know it was possible to create a room that beautiful – polished marble painstakingly inlaid with mosaics of brightly colored glass and that perfectly constructed kaleidoscope of a dome. We just stood and stared in silence, drinking it all in.  The next time my parents visited, I took them to the Cultural Center and my mother actually burst into tears when she stood under the dome, she was that overwhelmed by the beauty surrounding her.

I tried to find a photo that would do PBH justice -- I couldn't, but this is 20% of the way there

My first sight of Preston Bradley Hall is the reference I have to somehow understand John’s experience when he first saw New Jerusalem.  It is something to marvel at, to drink in.  What a gift it must have been to those early Christians who were overwhelmed by the calamity of the world around them. Something so beautiful and grand that all they could do was wonder.

It’s not just the overwhelming physical beauty of the city, with its walls of glass and gold, foundations of precious stones.  What makes New Jerusalem transcendently beautiful is the complete reconciliation of God and humanity.  For in this city, there are no borders between the mortal and the divine.  This is a city where justice really does roll down like waters and righteousness like an everlasting stream. It’s a city that contrasts completely with Babylon, defined by the oppressive systems of Empire.  Empire is all that John and his community knew, it is all that we know. This vision seems impossible. And yet, God tells us that New Jerusalem, in all its impossible beauty is coming.

Recently, I have been thirsty for this kind of vision.  A vision of the world as it could be that is so awe-inspiring, so ambitious, so beautiful that I have to stop and marvel at it.  Right now, there is a lot of Bad News that just keeps coming and coming – children sent to detention camps, people killed in cold blood by an organization that claims to protect them, entire communities decimated by incarceration, cities with poisoned water, White Nationalism rearing its ugly head once again.  I thirst for a vision that reminds me of the world’s capacity for good and God’s sovereignty in in it.

Throughout the Hebrew Bible and now in Revelation, New Jerusalem serves as a tangible sign of the Covenant between God and humanity.  This is emphasized with the reiteration – twice – of this promise in verses 3 and 7, new remixes of the original – “I will dwell among them…They will be my people and I will be their God.” We do well to remember that this covenant is not a one-sided relationship, humanity has promised to work with God for the reconciliation of Creation.  New Jerusalem is not just a Divine dream and initiative – it is ours as well.  And over time that vision evolves and becomes even grander.  In his vision John sees not just the names of the sons of Israel, but the twelve Apostles inscribed on the walls and the foundations – a testament to how this dream grows with every passing age. If John was granted this vision today, I have no doubt he would find the names of Martin, Malcolm, Susan, Oscar, Rigoberta, Ida, Mohandas, Angela, Dolores, Thunderhawk, Harvey, and Nelson. Those who have lived under the heels of oppression and have had the most wild, beautiful, and “impossible” dreams – dreams that inspired action and transformed the world.

New Jerusalem isn’t only a spectacle to wonder at and a source of comfort, but a beacon that guides us in apocalyptic times.  This is a vision that not only captivates, but motivates us.  It’s a lens that allows us to look at the world and discern how we are called to act. We need that vision of New Jerusalem contrasting with Babylon to reject the oppressive systems of Empire and align ourselves with God’s justice and righteousness in all aspects of our lives. When we find ourselves incapacitated by the barrage of Bad News that is coming at us from every direction, visions of New Jerusalem remind us of our ultimate destination and gives us the strength to arrive.  And that’s what we need right now, a vision that we can keep in the forefront of our minds, that we can fix our sites on and inspires us to not only resist, but persist.  I’m getting weary of always fighting against; what I need in this apocalyptic moment is something to fight for.

I want to return to the text now, to a very specific verse that you probably heard but didn’t register, just as I did before I read the footnotes. It’s a verse that – for me – reveals what New Jerusalem might look like today, and who is carrying that vision.  Verse 16: “now the city was laid out as a square.  Its length was the same as its width.  He measured the city with the rod and it was fifteen hundred miles.  Its length and width and height were equal.”  Unless you’re a Hebrew Bible Scholar – or perhaps someone from a 1^st century Jewish community – you probably didn’t catch the reference to 1 Kings 6:20, which describes the innermost part of Solomon’s temple, the place of the Holy of Holies– the sanctuary. 

The idea of “Sanctuary” has always been powerful.  In its earliest form, it was the place where God dwelt, the thin place between the divine and mortal realms.  Even today, sanctuaries exist as thin places, where we really feel the Spirit move, where God’s Law is the only Law.  It is the place where justice and compassion are not only celebrated but lived out in worship.  In a Sanctuary, we work with God towards a reality free from oppression. In this Sanctuary, the borders between the current world and the new world fall away. This church takes the idea of Sanctuary very seriously, not only in worship but in mission.  By granting Sanctuary, we have rejected the demands of the American Empire to detain and deport and we have protested the criminalization of movement and affirmed the right to pursue a better life. In the New Jerusalem, the Sanctuary has expanded to encompass the entire city. So if we were to expand our idea of Sanctuary out, past the walls of this building, past the neighborhood of Hyde Park, to the City of Chicago, what might it look like?  What kind of city would it be?

Like John and his community, whose very identity was criminalized by the Roman Empire, the dream of a new world is given to those for whom the apocalypse is not imminent, it is happening.  And these communities are already dreaming of a New Chicago.  They are proclaiming marvelous visions of a city that is truly a Sanctuary in the way that we – University Church – understand it.   And this is what they have seen:

A city where everyone feels welcome, no matter what neighborhood they’re in. Where no family is separated by incarceration, because there are no jails or prisons. Where reparations have been paid and everyone earns a living wage. Where everyone knows what fresh fruits and vegetables taste like and no one goes hungry. Where all children – all people – have access to quality education and healthcare. Where no one is afraid of being shot, because there are no firearms. Where a person’s immigration status has no effect on their right to live and thrive.

artist Edd Baldry

When I imagine that city, all I can do is marvel. It is wondrous to behold.  It’s a dream worth fighting for – that gets me excited to work with God and this new generation of Seers to bring it closer and closer to reality.  This vision gives me a lens through which I can examine every action of my life and determine whether it’s going to bring that destination closer.  It’s a dream that inspires me to think beyond what I have been taught by the American Empire.  An Empire that tells us that these things are impossible.  But the Good News, today and every day, is that these dreams of a New Jerusalem – of a New Chicago -- are not only possible, they are promised. 

So in this moment of silence, I invite you to think about the dreams that you have heard that seem to be too beautiful, too bold, and too grand. Take some time to marvel, and wonder.  And if we knew it was possible, what else would we dare to dream?

Chicago organizations that are dreaming big and beautiful: Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), Black Youth Project 100 (Chicago chapter), Let Us Breathe Collective