Last week I shared with you that
Eugene Boring says,
“The indicatives of biblical theology
contain an implicit imperative,
the gift becomes an assignment.”
As we come to the end of Eastertide,
as we come to the end of Revelation,
as we come to the end of this chapter
of our discernment for the future process,
the gift becomes the assignment.
Some of what we miss
by using the lectionary –
rather than reading Revelation straight through –
is how the entire letter
merges the present and future churches
through worship.
The conclusion we hear today
reminds the reader-hearer
that John’s entire vision
has happened
as creation worships
God and Jesus the Lamb upon the throne.
Like us today,
reader-hearers
would have heard this letter from John
while in worship.
We are caught up
into eternity
as we join the eternal chorus
and hear God’s praises.
And the gift becomes an assignment.
As we finish Eastertide
and finish Revelation
John comes to the end of his vision.
As I’ve emphasized all Easter,
the end is not an event to be observed
but a person to be encountered:
God is the Alpha and Omega
the beginning and the end.
In the end,
God’s love and presence
consume all of creation
and all relationships
are made right.
The gift becomes an assignment,
though.
As Jesus offers blessing
to those who wash their robes,
he’s reminding them –
through John –
about the choices they have to make.
Will they continue to worship him,
Jesus the resurrected Christ,
the Lamb on the Throne
who has redefined what winning is
or will they bow
to the cult of the empire?
Persecutions
and other work on behalf
of the reign of God
are just getting started.
Jesus promises that he is coming soon
to repay everyone for their work.
As the gift becomes and assignment
this letter closes with an invitation.
The Spirit and the bride (that is the Church) say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes
take the water of life as a gift.
My campus minister used to joke
that I could eisogete baptism into any text.
Eisogesis is reading into a text what we want
rather than diving deeply into a text
to discern bigger meanings
than the words on the page.
This invitation
heard at the end of the letter
is about baptism
which is an ultimate reality
of gift becoming assignment.
We won’t have baptisms next Sunday
but we will renew our baptismal promises…
again.
Yes, we just did at the Easter Vigil
and as I’ve asperged you this Easter
I hope you’ve reflected on your baptisms.
As the Paschal candle burns here
and the font is front and center
baptism has been available
to be at the fore of our minds.
Let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes
take the water of life as a gift.
I don’t know
what you’re going to decide
at our all congregation meeting
after the service today.
If I knew
we might not be having a meeting!
What I know, though,
is that you’ve been doing discernment.
Today you’re answering the question
about how you’re willing and able
to work.
Your commitments to Jesus
the root and descendant of David
the bright morning star
isn’t being tested or questioned,
beloved.
There is no right or wrong
way to rank your preferences
for the future of this congregation.
You’ve accepted the invitation to the font.
You’ve accepted God’s love
and God’s offer of the water of life.
God has redefined winning
through Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross
and his resurrection and ascension.
We don’t earn our salvation
and we don’t get to coast either.
As we hear Jesus’ invitation to come
and hear the church through all time’s invitation to come
we join that invitation
to those whose lives
need healing and restoration.
Let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes
take the water of life as a gift.
The gift becomes an assignment.
We acknowledge that every week
after we receive the gift of Jesus’ Body and Blood.
Sometimes bulletins will call the Postcommunion Prayer
a prayer of thanksgiving.
It is,
but that also ignores the text
of all of our authorized
Postcommunion Prayers!
Today we’ll pray,
“Now send us forth
in the power of your Spirit,
that we may proclaim
your redeeming love to the world.”
Otherwise we pray,
“send us out
to do the work you have given us to do,
to love and serve you
as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord” or
“Send us now into the world in peace,
and grant us strength and courage
to love and serve you
with gladness and singleness of heart.”
As John’s vision closes,
not a pre-recording of history
but word pictures
to try and understand
God’s incomprehensibility
he has seen the end
and shifts to longing for the end.
He knows that God is Alpha and Omega,
that in the end God’s love
consumes everything.
And he’s drawn back to earth
where he asks what we ask
every Advent:
Come Lord Jesus.
We pray for strength and courage
to the work we’ve been given to do.
Especially today!
Voting for our future
is signing up for work!
In the context of God’s economy
the way God moves through time
and all of creation is being redeemed
we long for perfect union
only available through God in Christ
which Jesus makes clear
in other John,
the gospel,
today.
Whatever this congregation decides for its future
the mission of the church will be the same:
“to restore all people to
unity with God and each other in [Jesus the Resurrected] Christ.”
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
The gift becomes an assignment.
Amen.