Rev. Dr. Rolf Svanoe – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church    Decorah, Iowa

Revelation 21:1-8 

“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. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life’”. 

A terrible thing happened. Paradise burned. Paradise, California, that is. Four years ago, the Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history. 85 people died and over 95% of the city’s structures were burned. In the 2010 Census, Paradise had over 26,000 people, over three times larger than Decorah.  

I thought of this story as I was thinking about our reading from Revelation which contains a vision of paradise. We often think of Paradise as a place we go when we die. And it certainly is that. The Apostle Paul said that when he died, he would be with the Lord. Jesus said that he was going to prepare a place for us and that we would be with  him. But the prophet John has a different focus here. John’s focus is on this world. We don’t go up to heaven. Heaven comes down 

to this world and makes it new. “And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God … 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.’” God comes down to dwell with humankind on earth. The Gospel of John tells us that “the Word became flesh and lived (dwelt) among us” (John 1:14). God has come down to us in Jesus Christ to free us from our sins. That’s what grace is. God  comes down to us. That is so different from much of religion where we think we have to climb up to God by our good deeds. But that’s not what we learn from Jesus. We don’t go up to God; God comes down to us in the midst of our pain and brokenness, in the midst of the mess we have made of our lives and world. God comes down to us announcing forgiveness through Jesus Christ. That is grace, something we don’t deserve or earn, but something God gives us in Christ because God so loved the world. God comes down and makes this old world new. That is what John wants us to know. Paradise isn’t somewhere up there. Paradise comes down to this earth and makes it new.  

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Field of Dreams. We all know the famous quote from the movie. A baseball player emerges from the cornfield and asks the question, “Is this heaven?” The answer is, “No, it’s Iowa.” That has come to mean more to me now that we actually live in Iowa. Iowa is a field of dreams. We all have hopes and dreams for peace and prosperity. “Is this heaven?” Obviously, that baseball player’s idea of heaven was a place where he could play the game he loved so much. That field of dreams, that little slice of heaven, is a place where we be- long, a place we call home. It is a place where we feel loved and safe, where we can develop the gifts God has given us. Isn’t that what God wants us to experience now, on earth as it is in heaven? 

There’s something else John wants us to know about heaven. John describes heaven as a city. There may be a garden in the midst of it, but heaven is a city. Heaven is not just me and Jesus walking together in the garden. Heaven is me and Jesus and a whole bunch of other people of every race and nation. It is a place where people live together, where they get along with each other, where they love and care for each other. It is a city where we experience God’s presence and blessing in community with others. 

Sometimes when you hear people talking about Bible prophecy, they talk about the destruction  of the earth in a final battle, Armageddon. But that is not the image we are given in Revelation. Instead of an apocalyptic end of the world, God comes down to renew the world. John reminds us that “The one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’” 

God did not say, “I am making all new things.” God is not going to destroy everything and start over again. God did that once with Noah and promised never to do it again. No, God is making all things new. God is going to take this old, broken world and renew it.  

New Testament scholar, Barb Rossing, writes that books like Revelation “take us on a journey into the heart of God’s vision for our world. Apocalypses pull back a curtain so people can see the world more deeply—both the beauty of creation and also the pathologies of empire … In a time of climate injustice, greed, food insecurity, environmental racism, species extinctions, ocean acidification, and ecological trauma, the visionary world of apocalypses can renew our hope. They can help us see both the perils we face and the urgency of God’s promised future, turning the world for justice and healing …” 

The book of Revelation does not present for us a rapture, an escape from this world. Rather it gives us an earth-centered vision of God coming to renew this earth. God is not going to destroy this world. God comes down to this world to renew it. And that is not just a hope for a distant future. God comes down to us today. God comes down to us as we follow the Lamb and rely on Lamb power to change our world. God comes down to us whenever the Good News is proclaimed. God comes down in the waters of baptism and the bread and wine of communion. God comes down when people feel sorrow and regret for their failures. God comes down when we learn to forgive and when enemies are reconciled to each other. God comes down when we feel anger at injustice in the world and work for peace and justice. God comes down when warring nations learn to live together in peace and share the resources God has given them. God comes down when we learn to love our neighbor who is different from us. God comes down and gives us a  glimpse of the beloved community God wants all people to experience.  

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, a vision of the beloved community that God brings down to our world. That dream still inspires us today. I get inspired every time I hear his “I Have a Dream” speech, because I know that Dr. King was giving voice to the same hopes and dreams that the prophet John was describing. God is calling us to live our lives by that dream, the vision of heaven coming down to earth to make all things new. God is calling us today to follow the Lamb and rely on Lamb power to make that newness a reality. 

You high school and college graduates, these are the hopes and dreams we all share with you today: That you can live in a world where you are free to develop your God-given gifts, to pursue your dreams, and that issues like race, gender, age or sexual orientation will not be obstacles for you.  

The fires that burned Paradise are gone. The city is being rebuilt. In the aftermath of a fire, in the midst of the ashes, new life springs forth. Haven’t you seen it in the ditches along the high- way when the grass and the weeds are burned? The next Spring, new life comes forth. God comes down and out of the ashes makes everything new. That is what God has promised. “Behold, I am making all things new.” God can do that in Paradise. God can do that in Decorah. God can do that in your heart and in mine. 

As of May 12, the CDC guidance states Winneshiek County is at a LOW- green, level. Therefore, masks are optional and respected in the Good Shepherd building.

Rev. Dr. Rolf Svanoe – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church    Decorah, Iowa

Revelation 7:9-17 

A few months ago, when Pastor Amy asked me if I would fill in for her during her sabbatical, I  agreed, and we began to plan worship. I knew that this year in the Easter Season we had the  largest presence of the book of Revelation in the three-year lectionary. So, I asked if the congregation would be open to a series on Revelation. I’m guessing that many of you have never heard a sermon on Revelation before. The text we have before us today is often read at funerals. It is a wonderful vision of the host of heaven gathered before the throne singing praises to God and the Lamb. We hear these wonderful promises of comfort God will give the saints, “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from the eyes.” Who doesn’t love these images? Who doesn’t feel comforted by these promises? I love the symbol of the Lamb becoming the Shepherd. Again, these images speak powerfully to us, but they aren’t  meant to be read literally.  

But in order to understand this scene in heaven that John gives us, we need to know the  con- text. This heavenly worship interrupts the opening of the seven seals in chapter six. In the first four of those seals, we are introduced to four riders on four horses. These are often referred to as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They represent the loss of all the things that give stability to our lives due to War, Anarchy, Economic Devastation, Disease and Death. There is no- thing unusual about these things. They happen every time there is war. Just ask the people of Ukraine if they haven’t felt the reality described by these four symbols. (It’s  interesting that today we have with us the Luther College Norskkor. They sing in four voices: Tenor 1 and 2, Bass 1 and 2. Perhaps this morning, we should call them the Four Norsemen of  the Apocalypse?) Just before we get to our scene of heavenly worship, six of the seven seals are opened and the earth is reeling from the devastation. It’s as if John is telling his hearers that if they were depending on Rome to guarantee their safety and well-being, all those things can be taken away. Rome isn’t God. Rome can’t protect you.  

What do you rely on to protect you and your loved ones: pension funds or investments, Social  Security, insurance, job income, government? John would remind us that all these things can be  taken away, gone in an instant. Just ask the five million Ukrainian refugees. Remember just a  few months ago when we lost power in Decorah? We realized how dependent we are on  electricity to power much of our lives. The prophet John would remind us that all these things can be taken from us and that we should look to God, the ultimate source of life’s blessings. 

And at the end of chapter six, after the six seals have been opened with their devastations, we  hear someone ask the question: Who is able to stand? Have you ever heard people say, “I can  deal with one bad thing, two is stretching it, but three will overwhelm me.” Why is it that  sometimes in life bad things seem to pile up – war, refugees, economic collapse, poverty, starvation, disease and pandemic, global climate change? It’s not uncommon for one bad thing to follow another: an accident, a death, a diagnosis of cancer. These produce stress and can often lead to other problems. So, the question is: How do we survive, how do we stand? 

To answer that question, the prophet John takes us back up to heaven in chapter seven, and he  shows us a great multitude of people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white.” He explains that  “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and  made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Do you know about that great ordeal? Have you ever experienced it? For me the first time was  when my father died. For four months we watched as dad fought leukemia and withered away.  That was a great ordeal. Things like that produce great stress in life which can impact our health. What have your ordeals been? 

Life itself can be an ordeal. And John’s answer to that is to invite us up to heaven for a worship  service. There in heaven we gather with a great host of people from all over the world. We  gather around the throne singing praise to the Lamb. In worship, we get our focus off of  our- selves and our problems, and we focus on God. We focus on the Lamb who has won for us a  great victory. We focus on the Lamb who becomes our Shepherd, who leads us to the water of  life and wipes the tears from our eyes. God does not promise that we will be spared from our  ordeals. There is no “Rapture” in the book of Revelation that spares the church from going  through tribulation. God promises to be with us in our ordeals, and God promises that we will  eventually come out of them and every tear wiped away.  

There have been many times in my ministry when people have come up to me after worship  and said, “You know, Pastor, I was thinking about not coming to church today. I was so tired,  but I came anyway. And I’m so glad I did. This was just what I needed.” John knew that too, and  that is why we have this vision of worship in heaven. It gives us the strength we need to carry  on in the struggle for justice and peace in our world today. And when that struggle gets to be  too much, we need to be reminded of God’s promises to us. That happens when we worship. 

There are some interesting images here. John tells us that the robes of those who have come  through the great ordeal have been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. Have you ever tried  to wash blood stains out of clothing? It’s not easy. And yet here we have the symbol that Lamb’s blood makes clean. Lamb’s blood frees and makes whole again. Lamb’s blood brings comfort and hope. The saints aren’t standing before the throne because they are good or deserve a place in heaven. They are there by grace, washed clean in the waters of baptism, marked and sealed with the sign of the cross on their foreheads. No wonder the hosts of heaven stand before the throne singing praise to the Lamb, the one who guides them to the water of life and wipes every tear from their eyes.  

Our hymn of the day is a beloved one, ELW 425 in the Red Hymnal, Behold the Host Arrayed in  White. It’s a paraphrase of Revelation chapter seven. The words were written by a Danish  Pastor, and the music was written by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. That hymn was  sung at his funeral and has been sung at the funerals of countless people ever since. Whenever  I hear it, I can’t help but think of the many people I’ve known over the years, family and friends,  who are now before the throne, part of the great host of heaven. In my mind, I can look over  that crowd and see their faces. On this Mother’s Day, I especially think of my mother and grandmothers. In your imagination, I want you to look over that crowd. Whose faces do you see there? I’m guessing you see the faces of those who have loved you, those who have encourag- ed you, those who have had a great influence on your life. Let those faces remind you that God is with you, that Jesus has won a great victory, and that no matter what you are facing, Jesus  will see you through it and wipe every tear from your eyes.

On Thursday, May 5th, the CDC changed the COVID spread level within Winneshiek County to Yellow/Medium. Therefore, masks are now recommended in the building at Good Shepherd. Thank you.

Check the levels updated every Thursday by 8:00 pm here: https://www.cdc.gov/