07/21/2019
Revelation 19:1-10
Chris Breslin
“For us, [sin] refers to something much more like the human tendency, the human propensity to f*ck up. Or let’s add one more word; the human propensity to f*ck things up, because what we’re talking about here is not just our tendency to lurch and stumble and screw up accident, our passive role as agents of entropy. It’s our active inclination to break stuff, ‘stuff’ here including moods, promises, relationships we care about, and our own well-being and other people’s, as well as material objects whose high gloss positively seems to invite a big fat scratch. Now I hope we are on common ground.” -Francis Spufford, Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense
“Salvation, on the one hand, is Christ on the cross and risen from the tomb; on the other hand, it is eating bread and drinking wine. In the eucharistic meal, these cannot be separated: salvation is both Christ on Golgotha and Christ in me.” -Eugene Peterson
“Namely, we suggest that the de facto dominant religion among contemporary teenagers in the United States is what we might call “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” The creed of this religion, as codified from what emerged from our interviews with U.S. teenagers, sounds something like this:
- A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
- God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die.” -Christian Smith
Scripture:
Hallelujah Anyhow (Gospel Song) by Rev Clay Evans & the Fellowship Choir
Hallelujah Anyhow (Album) by Hiss Golden Messenger
Behold the Lamb collage artwork by Chris Breslin (2019)
Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering:
Suffering Servant by Eader
What Wondrous Love is This by Traditional
Come for the Feast is Spread by Burton/Gordon
We Will Feast in the House of Zion by McCracken
I Am For You by Meek/Anderson
Eat this Bread by Taizé Community
Doxology
Revelation Reading:
The Theology of the Book of Revelation (New Testament Theology) by Richard Bauckham
Can I Get a Witness?: Reading Revelation through African American Culture by Brian Blount
The Book of Revelation: Justice and Judgment by Elisabeth Shüssler Fiorenza
Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation by Michael Gorman
Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation by J. Nelson Kraybill
Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia by Natasha & Anthony O’Hear
Revelation (Brazos Commentary) by Joseph Mangina
Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination by Eugene Peterson
From Every People and Nation: The Book of Revelation in Intercultural Perspective ed. David Rhoads
