Readings: Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35
Sometimes a week can feel like a year. This week so many things happened, so many things that opened my eyes once again to what it really means to be Jesus followers, to really believe there is a divine presence in all our lives calling forth in us hope and faith and action.

I know I always have a story, but I feel I am in keeping with today`s reading from revelation, which reflects a story so large and a vision so grand it`s often impossible to grasp it.

So today I want to talk about the two R`s, and I don`t mean reading and writing, but the Book of Revelation and Resurrection. Sorry, little bit more complicated I think than Dick and Dora and Spot the Dog! But a whole lot more interesting.

The Book of Revelation is one of those books of the bible which people either take as a literal vision of the end of time when the true believers will be saved and the unbelievers destroyed, or dismiss altogether and would rather it didn` t appear in the bible at all. My own admission is that I have avoided it because it is very difficult to understand and any relevance to me seemed missing.

Yet after examining why it was written and by whom, it suddenly seems to have much to say to me and us today. Suddenly it has much to say about why we are people of the resurrection, people of hope and new life.

However before we go on to look at the Book of Revelation a bit more closely, I want to talk about resurrection, since I didn`t get the chance on Easter Sunday.The Book of Revelation tries to confirm what we all know, by faith and by experience: there is crucifixion but there is also resurrection and I believe it wholeheartedly. This is not to revisit Easter and attempt again to understand the mysteries there, but it is to acknowledge what our reality is. We live in a world so full of violence, hatred and tragedy that often we miss the light that comes from God. As has been said, by someone more profound than me,

`In the end Easter is not something to talk about, it is something to do, it is an attitude towards life and other people, it is a lifestyle. Whether what we say and sing fully represents our rational comprehension of what Easter is about, is relatively unimportant. What is important is that we are Easter people, that is people of transformation and renewal, people of hope, people of trust, people who not only believe but know deep down within their experience that love comes again and that love makes all the difference.

So firstly I want to tell my stories.

Last weekend I went to a baby shower. I know I still have friends having babies rather than grandchildren. It was a joyous occasion because the couple Susan and Wayne have been through so much. Just before they were married Wayne was diagnosed with Parkinson`s disease, while still in his 30s. They went ahead and got married thinking it would be a slow decline and their love would be enough. Unfortunately it has been rapid and last year he could do very little and was unable to work or look after himself very well. Susan works in the medical faculty helping to run the medical course for aboriginal students, mentoring them in an attempt to increase the number of aboriginal doctors in our city. She is a beautiful busy person but with her own history of mental illness. Life was a huge struggle and it was thought there was no chance of children after all the medication both have had to have. Then modern medicine stepped in. There is a treatment being trialled for Parkinson`s disease which involves the placement of electrodes in the brain which when implanted are switched on and monitored from an external source. If successful the treatment has the ability to control the symptoms for a number of years. Wayne underwent this very traumatic surgery late last year, and since then, as Susan would say, she has her husband back, even if it is only for a while. While this was going on, and in spite of what the medicos had said Susan became pregnant and this week was due to have a little boy. A little boy who will be loved and treasured like no other.

I know Easter is over, and the eggs have been eaten but it seems to me that resurrection is happening all over the place at any time. From the darkness sometimes comes the dawn. For Susan and Wayne love has made all the difference, love of each other, the love from others and the amazing skill and care provided by those in the medical and scientific worlds.

There is crucifixion, but there is also resurrection.

I heard my other story while listening to the radio.

It was about a group of four African women, subjected to extreme trauma and abuse in their home land before being able to escape to Australia, to seek safety and a better life. They are telling their stories in a theatre production in Sydney.The production, called the Baulkham Hills African Ladies` Troupe, is a story of celebration, a story of the courage and resilience of survivors and their extraordinary spirits and determination to help other women who have suffered similar fates. The women feel called to tell their stories to encourage others to speak out and seek support and comfort. But they also want to speak out because their pain is the pain of many in these countries today.

As Yarrie Bangura, who writes poetry and music says, `The way I phrase it is my pen is my weapon, the ink is my blood, the paper is my justice.`

There is crucifixion but there is also resurrection.

So now back to the Book of Revelation, and to our reading for today. A profound story and vision not just for us but for the world.

Keith Rowe and Wes Howard Brook summarise the book well and I use their excellent works here.

The book begins with letters to seven congregations in what is now modern Western Turkey. The final chapters are a poetic celebration of hope vindicated in a new heaven and a new earth, where pain and death have been overcome and life is kept fresh by a stream of living water flowing through human cities and fields. But - between the first and last scenes of this dramatic book is a tale of conflict, beasts and monsters, famine and pain inflicted on humanity, war in heaven and on earth, a poor woman chased by a great red dragon, seven seals that open the door to the future that powerful empires cannot break but which are finally broken by a wounded lamb. The portions read today are from the triumphant conclusion to the book when after a tortuous, dramatic, violent and costly journey God has finally triumphed over all that hinders the Divine intentions.

The book was written to encourage house churches in and around Ephesus about the end of the first century. There was persecution of the emerging church and it is likely the book was written to remind congregations not to settle down and meekly accept the rule and norms of the Roman Empire. John Patmos, our author, likened the empire to ancient Babylon in its ability to enslave and damage the human spirit. As Keith Rowe suggests, John assumes that crucifixion and resurrection are ongoing features of human history and that Christians must decide whether they serve forces of crucifixion, in his time identified with the power of the Empire, or identify with forces of resurrection, seen as the way of Jesus and his peace making, community building style of life. It seems to be a lopsided struggle. All the power seems to be on the side of crucifixion and the possibilities of resurrection shaping human living seem slight, but, says John, hang in there. The future belongs to the way of Jesus even though it may not seem that way.

To reinforce his point John develops an amazing dramatic presentation of recent history, regarded as apocalyptic writing. Here heaven is not in the sky or after death, but a reality infused with God that is present within daily life and only hidden by a thin veil. The rise and fall of empires, the prevalence of hunger and warfare, violence and destruction seem to dominate but within and under all these headline-grabbing events another energy, he claims, is at work. The key to interpreting life and the future, he asserts, is represented by a wounded lamb, clearly a reference to Jesus and his small group of followers. So John encourages his readers to acknowledge the power represented by political, economic and social systems and their tendency to enslave. But also to live with the confidence that the energy of resurrection is also flowing within human history. It is just hidden from view.

Mind you, then as now it is sometimes hard to believe. As Wes Howard states, to the ordinary eye, John`s vision is ridiculous. The empire holds the real power. When Jesus tried to resist it, he was mocked, tortured and crucified. Such will be the fate of any who dare to stand against the brutal logic of imperial rule. And indeed John does not deny that fate. But he calls his readers to see beyond the surface of life to the reality hidden just behind the veil. In the end all empires, Babylonians, Romes and today` s global capital empire will fall and turn to dust. The good news John injects into human living is that in spite of evidence to the contrary the future belongs to God, and to a resurrection represented by the values for which Jesus lived.

In the story the old things, greed, violence and all that is represented by grotesque beasts and wild horses shall be dissolved in the waters of newness represented by the vulnerable lamb. Jesus defeats the beasts with the two weapons God provides, the words from his mouth and his faithful witness. To become a citizen of the New Jerusalem is to follow in these footsteps.

And these footsteps, both for us as individuals and as a society, are summarised by the reading from John 13:31-35, `I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.`

Love and inclusion are radical and dangerous but hopeful and necessary for a new heaven and a new earth. If we are to be the resurrection light in this world, our life must be based on this simple but powerful statement. Like the disciples before us, the people of God will continue the work of Jesus in transforming our unjust and broken world but with the knowledge that despite appearances to the contrary God is working in the world in you and me.

There is crucifixion, but there is also resurrection.