Monday, June 12, 2023

Today’s Scripture Reading
Revelation 12:1–12

A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birthpangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days. And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (NRSV)

Reflection
Oh my. What a text! It is so incredibly nightmarish. Don’t you wonder where these thoughts come from? Well, I wonder also. I am a person with an incredibly active imagination. I tend to be someone who always goes to the most extreme and scary outcome of a situation so that anything that might actually arrive will be manageable. I think we call this catastrophic thinking.

But with any apocalyptic thinking — that is, thoughts about the end of time and the great battles that come as a result of it — extreme thoughts and language may well arise from that same impulse: beginning with catastrophe and then stepping back from it, with an odd sigh of relief. Going to the edge, to the most disturbing, to the great defeat of the forces that assail us, we may find an odd comfort in addressing whatever is our most unsettling fear. Does it ever strike you that cleansing the forces of corruption through our faith, that taming the snarling fear of our lives, that finding our way to peace through conflict rather than skirting around it may just undo the things we fear most?

We live in times with great challenges. Yes, yes, there have been many of those times in the history of this world. But that does not diminish these days in which we are living. And though we may want to push away what seems like crazy end-times biblical texts, the power of these narratives makes it so we will never be confounded. Yes, through the power of the unrelenting strength of God, even the most terrifying prospect that might arise is defeated. And love, yes love, is sewn into every corner of this world, through the sacrifice of Jesus, our Lord. This is the sure and undeterred promise.

Prayer
God, you have walked through stormy days and sleepless nights with us. You have visited us with power and might, even when we doubted that you were there. Grant that this day, when there is so much to fear upon this earth, your blessed assurance will surround us and strengthen us for all that we encounter. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Written by Lucy Forster-Smith, Senior Associate Pastor for Leadership Development and Adult Education

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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