Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Easter 2c - Revelation 1:4-7

I’m blogging from the 29th floor of 1660 LaSalle in the apartment of still Calvary members at heart Keith and Barbara Holm. With a spectacular view of downtown Chicago to the south and Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan just outside the lobby it’s a far cry from my blogging chair at Roots Coffeehouse on Grapevine Highway. John blogging to the seven churches doesn’t have it so good. Exiled from Ephesus he is a prisoner on the island of Patmos at a time when the Romans were beginning to take note of this Jewish sect that worshipped a crucified criminal from Galilee. John the pastor, kept from tending his flock, is writing to encourage them to remain faithful and remember that the end of the story was written at its beginning and despite the hardships and persecutions of the present everything is proceeding according to the plan. In that sense Revelation is as much a pastoral letter as any of Paul’s and speaks to us in the same way. For while we are not persecuted in any sense of the word we are called to remain faithful despite hardship and remember the end of the story was written at its beginning.

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