No More!

… and there was no longer any sea … God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain … Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true …  I did not see a temple in the city … The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it … On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there is no night there … Nothing impure will ever enter it … (Revelation 21:4-5, 22-23, 25, 27)

No sea.  “Sea” in Scripture pictures the forms and forces of chaos, of unCreation, of disintegration, dismemberment and death.  Because Christ has come, because Christ will come again, the Day is coming when God will say, “No more of that!”

No more tears, death or mourning, crying or pain. Why do we respond to pain, sorrow and loss with tears?  I’m not sure we really know, but I am sure we can’t help ourselves.  Somehow we just know that sometimes tears are all we’ve got.  The promise here is that God will wipe every tear from our eyes. God wll not remove our ability to weep, because we will still need tears to express our joy! But all those tears of pain, confusion, sorrow and loss: God will personally attend to those tears.  Because Christ has come, because Christ will come again, the Day is coming when God will say, “No more of that!”

No temple.  A temple is a place where we meet with God in worship, prayer and glad celebration.  But if all of New Creation becomes a temple, then no special building is needed.  Because Christ has come, because Christ will come again, the Day is coming when God will say, “No more of that!”

No gates are ever shut.  Because there remains important work to be done, a whole cosmos to steward into flourishing fruitfulness!  There is always something going on in the City, always something good and beautiful and true, always something life-giving and growing, treasures being received, treasures being poured back out.  Why would we ever want the gates to be shut?  Because Christ has come, because Christ will come again, the Day is coming when God will say, “No more of that!”

Nothing impure, shameful or deceitful.  There is no future for all that sullies, shames and spoils the image of God.  There is no future for any kind of lie, deception or secret.  Because Jesus is Lord of past, present and future, because Christ has come, because Christ will come again, the Day is coming when God will say, “No more of that!”

Christ calls and empowers us to live our days in the light of that Unending Day.  So we learn to recognize and resist the forces of chaos; we may not undo them, but we can speak words of life in the midst of them.  So we mourn with those who mourn, weep with those who weep, and wipe what tears we can.  We plant churches and build church buildings, not because God needs them, but because people do.  While night falls all around us, we live in the light, we live as children of the light, we let our lives declare “Let there be light!”  The gates of our hearts and lives remain ever open to the Lord, to our neighbors, to the world.  Anything in us that is misaligned with the God who is Love, we allow the purifying fires of Love to burn away and refine.  Because Christ has come, because Christ will come again, no more of these things!

In Christ we live in both the already and the not-yet: Jesus is already enthroned as Lord of All, yet we do not see his reign expressed in all its fullness.    As you touch the not-yet moments of your life, the points of pain, loss, tears and mourning, how might the Spirit help you to make more room for God’s already in the midst of your not-yet?

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