Revelation 21: 6 | Of the Father’s love begotten

OF THE FATHER’S LOVE BEGOTTEN

REVELATION 21:6

JUNE 21, 2015

AT LAST SUNDAY’S “MOMS, DADS, TEACHERS, GRADS” CELEBRATION WE TALKED ABOUT PARENTING AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR ADULTS TO HELP RAISE NOT ONLY THEIR OWN CHILDREN, BUT THE CHILDREN OF OUR COMMUNITY.

SO FOR FATHER’S DAY THIS MORNING I WANT TO TALK MORE ABOUT GOD AS OUR FATHER THAN ABOUT OUR OWN FATHERS.

THERE ARE PLENTY OF IMAGES OF GOD THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE, FATHER BEING BUT ONE OF THEM.

FOR SOME, THE IMAGE OF GOD AS FATHER IS PERFECTLY FINE; FOR OTHERS, IT BRINGS BACK PAINFUL MEMORIES FROM THEIR OWN CHILDHOOD OF NEGLECTFUL, EVEN ABUSIVE FATHERS. FOR YOU, PLEASE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE OUR SYMPATHIES AND OUR PRAYERS.

BUT WHEN WE SPEAK OF GOD AS FATHER, AS EVEN JESUS DID, CALLING HIM ABBA FATHER – A TERM WHICH ROUGHLY TRANSLATES: DADDY;

WE ARE SPEAKING OF GOD AS A FATHER SHOULD BE, AND AS THE FATHER OF ALL PEOPLE, AND EVEN IRRESPECTIVE OF GENDER; WE ARE SPEAKING OF GOD AS FATHER IN THE SENSE OF GOD’S FATHERLY CHARACTERISTICS.

AND TO TALK ABOUT GOD AS FATHER THIS MORNING I WANT TO TAKE US ON SOMETHING OF A WEIRD AND WANDERING PATH FOR A MOMENT…

NOT UNLIKE HOW SOME OF US GET TO GOD IN THE FIRST PLACE, OR GET BACK TO GOD, IN THE SECOND, THIRD, OR FOURTH PLACE.

AND TO DO THIS – TO TAKE US ON THIS WEIRD AND WANDERING JOURNEY I NEED YOU TO DIG DEEP, BACK INTO THE ARCHIVES OF YOUR MIND;

BACK INTO ANCIENT HISTORY (FOR SOME OF US); BACK INTO THE LITERATURE STACKS OF THE LIBRARY IN YOUR BRAIN.

PERHAPS IT WAS HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH OR FRESHMAN AMERICAN LITERATURE IN COLLEGE WHERE YOU FIRST MET THIS AUTHOR AND POET.

WHERE I AM TAKING YOU BACK TO IS TO THE RATHER UNSUSPECTING PLACE OF EDGAR ALLEN POE’S POEM – THE RAVEN, WHICH IS DEFINITELY A WEIRD PLACE TO START TALKING ABOUT GOD AS FATHER.

NOT THAT POE’S WORKS ARE BEREFT OF GOD AND OF RELIGIOUS REFERENCES, INCLUDING THE RAVEN;

BUT AS MOST OF US KNOW AND WILL REMEMBER, ONE OF THE DRAWS TO POE FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS AND COLLEGE FRESHMEN IS POE’S DARKNESS AND EDGINESS.

IN MY DAY IT WAS THE STUFF OF SHOCK THEATRE, NIGHT GALLERY, AND THE TWILIGHT ZONE; TODAY IT WOULD BE THE STUFF OF TWILIGHT, THE HUNGER GAMES, AND THE WALKING DEAD.

NOW HOW, EXACTLY, YOU MAY BE ASKING YOURSELF, ARE WE GOING TO GET FROM POE’S THE RAVEN TO GOD AS FATHER? I’M GLAD YOU ASKED.

FIRST, JUST A QUICK REFRESHER COURSE ON THE RAVEN; WITHOUT GOING INTO TOO MUCH DETAIL, AND CERTAINLY WITHOUT RECITING ALL 18 VERSES OF THE POEM; LET ME REMIND YOU OF A COUPLE OF THINGS ABOUT IT.

IT WAS WRITTEN IN 1854. IT TELLS OF A TALKING RAVEN’S MYSTERIOUS VISIT TO A DISTRAUGHT LOVER, TRACING THE MAN’S SLOW FALL INTO MADNESS.

THE YOUNG LOVER, OFTEN IDENTIFIED AS BEING A STUDENT, IS LAMENTING THE LOSS OF HIS LOVE, LENORE.

SITTING ON A BUST OF PALLAS, THE GREEK GOD OF WISDOM, THE RAVEN INCITES THE YOUNG LOVER’S DISTRESS OVER LOSING HIS BELOVED LENORE BY ANSWERING THE YOUNG MAN’S QUESTIONS – WITH THE ONE PHRASE WE ALL REMEMBER FROM THIS POEM: NEVERMORE, NEVERMORE.

WILL HE EVER SEE LENORE AGAIN? NEVERMORE.

HAS SHE FLOWN UP TO HEAVEN? NEVERMORE.

WILL HE FLY UP ONE DAY TO SEE HER? NEVERMORE.

WILL HE EVER OVERCOME HIS GRIEF? NEVERMORE.

WILL HE EVER REGAIN HIS MIND? NEVERMORE?

IS THERE A BALM IN GILEAD – A HEALING GOD CAN PROVIDE? NEVERMORE.

THE DOUBT AND DARKNESS AND THE MADNESS ARE PALPABLE.

SO STILL, YOU MAY BE WONDERING, HOW EXACTLY DOES ALL OF THIS GET US BACK TO SPEAKING OF GOD AS FATHER?

JUST THIS, IN THE HYMN WE WILL SING AT THE CONCLUSION OF MY SERMON, FROM WHICH MY SERMON TITLE IS TAKEN, OF THE FATHER’S LOVE BEGOTTEN,

AND WHOSE STORY IS TOLD ON THE INSERT IN YOUR BULLETIN THIS MORNING;

THE FINAL WORDS OF EACH STANZA; OF EACH VERSE SINGING TO THE GLORY OF GOD; TO GOD AS THE FATHER FROM WHOSE LOVE WE ARE BEGOTTEN ARE:

EVERMORE AND EVERMORE.

WHETHER IT IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL, OR AN ACT OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE, IN THE WRITE-UP ON THIS HYMN, YOU WILL SEE THAT IT TOO IS AN ANCIENT POEM, A VERY ANCIENT POEM – WRITTEN BY AURELIUS CLEMENS PRUDENTIUS WHO WAS BORN IN 348 AD;

BUT EVEN MORE FASCINATING IS THAT THE POEM WAS TRANSLATED FROM LATIN INTO ENGLISH BY JOHN MASON NEALE IN 1854 – THE SAME YEAR POE WROTE THE RAVEN.

AND THIS, AS WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SERMON: THIS HYMN, OF THE FATHER’S LOVE BEGOTTEN IS TO THE TUNE OF, IN

LATIN – DIVINUM MYSTERIUM – THE DIVINE MYSTERY.

SO WHICH IS IT? THE DARK, EDGINESS OF POE’S MADDENING WORLD?

OR PRUDENTIUS’ VIEW OF GOD AS THE FATHER FROM WHOSE LOVE ALL THINGS ARE BEGOTTEN? MANY OF THE WORDS OF THE FIRST VERSE TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM OUR PASSAGE FOR THIS MORNING:

OF THE FATHER’S LOVE BEGOTTEN, ERE THE WORLDS BEGAN TO BE,

HE IS ALPHA AND OMEGA, HE THE SOURCE, THE ENDING HE,

OF THE THINGS THAT ARE, THAT HAVE BEEN, AND THAT FUTURE YEARS SHALL SEE,

EVERMORE AND EVERMORE.

THE TRUTH IS – THE WORLD CAN OFTEN BE AS POE DESCRIBES IT IN HIS WRITINGS, BUT THE GREATER TRUTH IS THAT GOD IS ALWAYS THE GOD OF ALL, AND OF EVERYTHING – EVERMORE AND EVERMORE.

ALPHA AND OMEGA – BEGINNING AND END;

THE SPRING OF LIVING WATER GIVING LIFE TO ALL WHO THIRST;

THE CREATOR, SUSTAINER, AND FINISHER OF LIFE;

THE GOD AND FATHER TO WHOM ALL THINGS RETURN.

AS I SAID AT THE OUTSET, IT IS NOT MY INTENTION ON THIS PARTICULAR FATHER’S DAY TO SPEAK OF EARTHLY FATHERS;

OR TO SPEAK OF GOD AS FATHER, USING HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS, THEREBY ANTHROPOMORPHIZING OUR IMAGE OF GOD;

BUT RATHER, FOR US TO CONSIDER THE GOD OF ALL CREATION; THE GOD WHO IS BIGGER THAN OUR MINDS CAN COMPREHEND;

THE GOD FROM WHOSE LOVE ALL THINGS ARE BEGOTTEN, AND TO WHOM ALL THINGS WILL RETURN.

O YE HEIGHTS OF HEAVEN ADORE HIM; ANGEL HOSTS, HIS PRAISES SING;

POWERS, DOMINIONS, BOW BEFORE HIM, AND EXTOL OUR GOD AND KING;

LET NO TONGUE ON EARTH BE SILENT, EVERY VOICE IN CONCERT RING,

EVERMORE AND EVERMORE.

YEARS AGO, AUTHOR J. B. PHILLIPS WROTE A BOOK ENTITLED, YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL, IN WHICH HE CHALLENGED THE RESTRAINTS OF TRADITIONAL RELIGION, AND ENCOURAGED BELIEVERS TO SEARCH FOR A MEANINGFUL REDEFINITION OF A HIGHER POWER THAT IS RELEVANT TO CONTEMPORARY EXISTENCE.

AND YEARS LATER VINNETTE CARROLL WROTE A BOOK, AND WITH MUSIC AND LYRICS BY ALEX BRADFORD CREATED A PLAY ENTITLED: YOUR ARMS TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD.

AND I KNOW I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE OF KAREN’S FELLOW MANAGER IN THE ENGINEERING FIRM FOR WHICH SHE USED TO WORK, WHO, THOUGH SOMEWHAT IRREVERENTLY, NEVERTHELESS MADE A GOOD POINT, WHEN HE’D SING:

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS,

GOD ALMIGHTY WHAT A PAL.

THE POINT OF ALL OF THESE BEING THE SAME – WE ARE PRONE TO MAKING GOD TOO SMALL; TO CREATING GOD IN OUR OWN IMAGE; TO CLAIMING GOD FOR OUR OWN PURPOSES;

FIRMLY PLACING GOD IN OUR HIP POCKET TO BE PULLED OUT WHENEVER AND WHEREVER WE HAPPEN TO NEED GOD TO MAKE A POINT, CONVINCE AN UNBELIEVER, OR WIN AN ARGUMENT.

WE MAKE GOD TOO SMALL WHENEVER WE TURN GOD INTO A STICK WITH WHICH TO BEAT UNBELIEVERS OVER THE HEAD – OR INTO A CARROT WITH WHICH TO BRIBE THEM INTO BELIEF.

WE MAKE GOD TOO SMALL WHENEVER WE ALIGN GOD WITH OUR POLITICAL PARTY; CLAIM EXCLUSIVE OWNERSHIP OF GOD FOR OUR PARTICULAR FAITH ALONE; OR INSIST THAT OUR OWN WILL AND WAYS ARE OBVIOUSLY GOD’S WILL AND WAYS.

WE MAKE GOD TOO SMALL WHENEVER WE CHEAPEN GOD’S PRESENCE BY CLAIMING THAT GOD IS WITH US, BUT NOT WITH THEM; THAT GOD IS HERE AND NOT THERE; THAT GOD BELONGS TO US AND NOT TO THEM.

WE MAKE GOD TOO SMALL WHENEVER WE SET HUMANITY OVER AND AGAINST THE REST OF CREATION.

WE MAKE GOD TOO SMALL WHEN WE CLAIM GOD’S KINGDOM FOR OUR OWN – BE IT FOR OUR OWN FAITH, OUR OWN NATION, OUR OWN CHURCH OR DENOMINATION – AS IF GOD WERE OURS, RATHER THAN WE – ALL OF US – BELONGING TO GOD.

WE MAKE GOD TOO SMALL WHENEVER WE LIMIT GOD’S POWER AND MIGHT;

WHENEVER WE UNDERESTIMATE GOD’S LOVE AND GRACE;

AND WHENEVER WE USE GOD TO EXCLUDE RATHER THAN INCLUDE.

ONE MORNING SOME YEARS AGO, A YOUNG BOOKSTORE CLERK NAMED DEBORAH ARRIVED AT WORK EARLY TO OPEN THE SHOP.

STANDING AT THE DOOR WAITING FOR THE STORE TO OPEN WAS A MAN DRESSED IN THE CHARACTERISTIC GARMENTS OF A HASIDIC JEW.

AS DEBORAH WAS UNLOCKING THE DOOR, THE MAN QUIETLY ASKED IF HE COULD COME IN.

SHE HESITATED; IT WAS NEARLY AN HOUR BEFORE THE STORE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OPEN, BUT THE MAN SEEMED POLITE AND EVIDENTLY NEEDED SOMETHING RIGHT AWAY, SO SHE DECIDED TO LET HIM IN EARLY.

AFTER TURNING THE LIGHTS ON, SHE SAID, “WOULD YOU LIKE ANY HELP?”

SOFTLY AND WITH AN ACCENT HE SAID, “YES, I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT JESUS.”

THIS WAS NOT AN ALTOGETHER SURPRISING REQUEST, SINCE THE STORE SPECIALIZED IN BOOKS ON RELIGION.

SO DEBORAH GUIDED THE MAN UPSTAIRS TO THE SHOP’S AMPLE SELECTION OF BOOKS ABOUT JESUS. SHE POINTED TO THE SHELVES FILLED WITH SCHOLARLY VOLUMES OF JESUS RESEARCH AND BOOKS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. THEN SHE TURNED TO GO BACK DOWNSTAIRS.

“NO,” HE SAID, “I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT JESUS THE MESSIAH. DON’T SHOW ME ANY BOOKS. YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU BELIEVE.”

WAS THIS MAN ASKING FOR AN INTERFAITH DIALOGUE? FOR SPIRITUAL COUNSEL? FOR EVANGELISM? DEBORAH WAS UNSURE.

ALL SHE KNEW WAS THAT SHE WAS BEING ASKED WHAT SHE HAD ALMOST NEVER BEEN ASKED BEFORE: TO PUT HER FAITH INTO WORDS.

“MY EPISCOPAL SOUL SHIVERED,” SHE SAID LATER, RECALLING THE ENCOUNTER.

“I GULPED AND TOLD HIM EVERYTHING I COULD THINK OF… AS MUCH AS I COULD SPUTTER OUT IN MY CONFUSION, IN THE DARK…”

THE MAN WHO TALKED WITH DEBORAH EVENTUALLY CHOSE TO BE BAPTIZED AND BECAME A CHRISTIAN. DEBORAH WAS GRATEFUL, OF COURSE, FOR HIS SPIRITUAL AWAKENING, BUT HER GRATITUDE WAS MIXED WITH CONCERN.

SHE DID NOT WANT WHAT SHE HAD SAID TO TRANSGRESS DELICATE INTERFAITH BOUNDARIES, AND SHE DID NOT WANT ANY PART OF ANY AGGRESSIVE EVANGELISTIC TECHNIQUES – “WINNING TROPHIES FOR GOD,” AS SHE PUT IT.

“I AM NOT ASHAMED OF MY FAITH. I AM, AND ALWAYS WILL BE, A CHRISTIAN.

BUT THE GOD I CATCH GLIMPSES OF IS A LARGE-HEARTED GOD, ONE TO WHOM ALL HEARTS ARE OPEN.”

AND FROM WHOSE LOVE ALL THINGS ARE BEGOTTEN – WE MIGHT ADD.

CHRIST, TO THEE WITH GOD THE FATHER AND, O HOLY GHOST, TO THEE,

HYMN AND CHANT AND HIGH THANKSGIVING, AND UNWEARIED PRAISES BE;

HONOR, GLORY, AND DOMINION, AND ETERNAL VICTORY,

EVERMORE AND EVERMORE.

SO MY INVITATION TO ALL OF THIS MORNING IS TO THINK OF GOD THE FATHER AS LARGER THAN ANYTHING WE CAN IMAGINE; AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING GOD;

A GOD TO WHOM ALL THAT IS, BELONGS, RATHER THAN A GOD WHO BELONGS TO US.

LET US ENLARGE OUR VISION; BROADEN OUR UNDERSTANDING; EXPAND OUR VIEWS;

AND INCREASE GOD’S LOVE, KINGDOM, REIGN, AND GLORY BY INCLUDING ALL THAT THE FATHER’S LOVE HAS BEGOTTEN.

EVERMORE AND EVERMORE!