Assigned readings from the Revised Common Lectionary - Year C (Luke).
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26; Psalm 148; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-52;

Used today: Revelation 21:1-6a; Matthew 25:31-46

New Heaven, New Earth, New Jerusalem... what is this all about? How can it be?

It is useful to see Revelation like an epilogue (short speech to tell the essence of the play) which balances the prologue in Gen 1:1-11 The divine drama which is played out in the bible has the old testament as Act 1, Gospels as Act 2 and the rest of the new testament is Act 3. For this divine drama to have any meaning for us then Act 3 must be still playing out in our lives. Revelation and particularly the verses read today gives the epilogue and I want us today to see us engaged in the long running Act 3 of the divine drama being played out in the bible.

What is the big picture here... where are we up to in the divine drama of God and us?

Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
21:2 And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;

The two verses and in other translations that continue to jump out at me are:

• Now at last God has his dwelling place amongst us. He will dwell among them and they shall be his people and >B>God himself will be with them.
• Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

I want to explore with you in this passage some of the ideas we considered last week on a new vision for the New Year. Last week I quoted Charles Ringma "Growth in spirituality is never only a matter of confirming the known and familiar. It is also a matter of probing the unknown and exploring the unfamiliar... While there is an affirming dimension to our quest for spirituality there is also an element of disquiet and discomfort."

... we find ourselves between the times.

We are located in the now, but have caught a glimpse of the future.
And it is this vision of the world beyond which helps us pose the critical questions of our present world."
Henri Neuwen writes-
"You are a Christian only as long as you, look forward to a new world, so long as you pose critical questions to the society you live in."
Consequently spirituality has more to do with restlessness than calm and peace.
More with change than with conformity.
More with radicalism than conservatism.
More with transformation than with conservation.

• Now for most of us here we know the story of personal redemption... being made whole, renewed, forgiven, restored, and transformed by the power of the Christ in Jesus. For some of us that maybe where the divine drama ends... .
• For others we know personal redemption also plays out in the divine drama and journey to transformation not only us as individuals but to transform the social structures and actions of communities and nations so that justice, peace, compassion and righteous are the fruits of God being with us. The readings in Matthew 25 show us how we might see us living out our missions as disciples of the living Christ. I sense that this is alive and well at Kippax.
• But what about this new heavens and new earth... the creation renewed?

Is our focus on the historical Jesus been such that we have neglected the post-resurrection Jesus who is alive and with us? The God himself/herself who is with us as stated in Revelations just read.
By not giving spiritual attention to the Christ... the post-resurrection Jesus... the word... the logos...the cosmic Christ have we missed what is so important in our time... the renewal and healing of the ecology and life support systems of the planet... the on-going work of our loving God and creator.

Where is our focus on the new earth the work of the creator... whom we worship?

Christians like people of other faiths, have entered into the ecological debate rather late, at a time when much ecological damage has been done.

Little attention and guidance was given for building new structures that would safeguard God's creation. The question of how our beliefs implied responsibility to act against environmental damage in our neighborhoods, towns, rivers, land, atmosphere and oceans did just not seem urgent. Why are in this trouble?

Why do we Christians have a problem?

In our western religious tradition of which we at Kippax are a part has moved particularly since the reformation from a dominant creation mystique to a dominant redemptive mystique. This Christian redemptive mystique is little concerned with the natural world. The essential thing is redemption out of the world through a personal savior relationship that transcends all such concerns with God's actual natural creation.

Our Christian story with dominance on the personal redemptive salvation story... cannot say much to help us... it has long lost its roots with our creation mystique.

Our modern scientific secular materialistic society and our traditional Christian heritage are BOTH strongly HOMOCENTRIC [human-centric]... Above all we had the power to re-engineer the planet with our energy systems, our dams and irrigation projects, our great cities. We could clear the forests, drain the marshes, and construct what we wanted all to the detriment of other living things to the elimination of needed habitat. We could subdue the wilderness, domesticate the planet... and to large extent we have!with serious consequence for the earth and us!

We are finally free from the tyranny of nature... our technology and our use of energy allow us to be insulated from the reality that we are dependent of the ecosystems in which we live for our life and breath... Instead we have come to believe... that nature is now our servant .where we can alter its biological rhythms in accord with our mechanical contrivance... In short we humans are central...but we are not... We are not the center of the ecosystem... we feed off the top of the food chain... we are so totally and absolutely dependent on the ecosystems for our life support. (Do you breathe? Tell story).

So we seem to have no story here to live by... to deal with the environment... yet our capacity to manipulate is now huge .. .we are driving in a very fast car near blind and without much of a road map!... Climate Change and the shifts in climate will I believe have profound impacts on how we live.

How might we live and tread lightly on our planet?

But where is the story that grows from the gospels? The voice of the Gospel seems so silent.

The earth that our loving God created is falling apart and where is the wisdom? We have rooms full of books on personal salvation and redemption but where do I find Christian wisdom on the redemption of the wonderful creation that supports my very breath?

Our traditional reading of the gospels suggests Jesus has nothing to say in our present ecological predicament.

He is all about our personal salvation... about human spiritual salvation and the social justice and care that follows... but was he silent on the natural world of ecosystems on which we depend for life itself???

This passage today can I think signal us to reflect and regain a balance by giving more attention in our worship and practice to the creative mystique of our tradition.

We need a new story.

And there is in fact a very old story in the gospels that we need to rediscover and link it back to the rich meaning of Genesis.

Instead of focusing ONLY on the historical Jesus, if we give attention to the big picture being drawn by Rev, John, Rom, Col. and focuses on the cosmic Christ and the divinity within creation. My thinking and learning indicates (along with Thomas Berry, Matthew Fox, Marcus Borg and many others) that the gospel writers weren't looking for the historical Jesus; they had encountered him. Instead, they were developing cosmic hymns to the cosmic Christ.

One such Hymn we read today.

New Earth, New Heaven, new possibilities... for now at last God has his dwelling place amongst us.

Where can we start... well I suggest we start to rekindle, revisit the creative mystique that runs through our Christian heritage... the Psalms are riddled with reference to social justice being co-incident with land and water being healed and healthy.

See Creation as the original Blessing of God.

We can start by giving a positive accent, coupled with a spirit of wonder, awe, amazement... as if we were part of and celebrating the original blessing of God in the creation... to the beauty that is around and within us and our dependence on its healthy functioning for our mind body and spirit.

So...

• first we need to feel again, awe, wonder, empathy and a connection with the earth and the ecosystems on which our life and breath depends... leading to wisdom.
• Second we need to understand our connectedness with the earth and that we are but a part of the earth not separate from. God cares for whole of creation of which we are but one part.
• Third we need to challenge and critique the institutions, structures and thinking that underpin our society in light of the above.

So for me I see that there is a need to tell the story, see again the big picture that God is about in redeeming his world. As creator God committed to the whole creation which includes us... but not only us... This is how I see a loving creating God is both creator and transcendent both within and with out the creation... God cares for us to become flesh and dwell with us .. and I am convinced that God cares also deeply for all that God has created and is continuing to create... For me I feel we have a lot of work to do to make these re-connections... to understand the epilogue in Revelations... to see more clearly that it is a fundamental part of the gospel we have lost sight of and we need to rediscover... so that we do have a story to lead us into the future.

For us to go forward with a new story... we need a story that leads us to understand how we fit and might live in the ecosystems of the earth so that the whole of creation might be reconciled and renewed. We need to pray, listen to God, ponder the scriptures and learn a new story, a new song for the earth. The hope and assurance that we can is written in Rev 21.

Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
21:2 And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now at last God has his dwelling place among mortal. He will dwell among them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them;

Amen

John Williams, 7th January 2007.

John Williams wishes to acknowledge the contribution to his thinking from the Rev. Dr Thomas Berry, cultural historian and ecotheologian (although cosmologist and geologian ? or "Earth scholar") and the following source:
Berry, Thomas; "Creative Energy-bearing witness for the earth", Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, USA, 1996
Says John, "He is still writing at 94! See this link for an article on Berry which contains this comment which is my hope for the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ."

• Berry: "In other words, caring for our planet and ascertaining where we are in the universe goes to the heart of what it means to be a faithful Christian. Nothing is really itself without everything else. Christianity's task, if it is going to survive, will be to place itself within the context of science's new story of our human origins and the evolution of the universe."

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