DELIBERATELY DIVERSE | TERRY PIERCE
Deliberately Diverse represents the thoughts and opinions of a group of Taylor friends who almost never completely agree about anything but enjoy diverse discussions in our beloved community.
During this season of Easter, we read passages from Revelation pointing to the new heaven and the new Earth that provide a beautiful vision of the transformation offered to us in Christ.
Revelation likely was written at the end of the first century during the rule of the Roman Emperor Domitian. Historians make a strong case that in Revelation the “end time” is the fall of Rome and the death of Domitian.
It was written on the island Patmos, which is in the Mediterranean Sea west of Ephesus, likely by an elder named John. It was an explanation of the destruction of Jerusalem and an offering of hope that God will send Christ as his avenging angel against the powers of Rome and evil.
The main concern of Revelation is the “problem of Christians in Roman culture” – which seems to be a continuing problem for us as Christians in a culture that isn’t very Christ-like. How do you live in a culture focused on power, wealth and privilege without losing sight of the fact we are called to care for the widow and the orphan, to practice love for the stranger and the refugee, and to fight for justice and peace?
The temptation during times of difficulty and uncertainty is to distract ourselves with an apocalyptic story of the end times – the collapse of the economy, the end of democracy.
I am not making fun of that. This is a scary time, especially for immigrants and refugees and those who are different from what the culture demands. I hear John the elder writing on Patmos to a people seeing the end times, the collapse of the place where they believed God’s presence resided, the destruction of what was the center of their world.
And he reminds them – be steadfast. Be faithful.
In Revelation 21:3-4, he says: “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.”
This is the new heaven and new Earth we are called to create with God, here and now, by dwelling with God’s peoples, by feeding and tending to God’s flock, by caring for the widow, the orphan and the stranger.
This is not the time to hide from what is frightening nor bury ourselves in distractions. Instead, bury yourself in love and service to God’s creation.
Pierce is the vicar of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Taylor.
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“This is a scary time, especially for immigrants and refugees and those who are different from what the culture demands.”
