06/09/2019
Revelation 4&5
Chris Breslin
“Christians worship with a conviction that they are in the presence of God. Worship is an act of attention to the living God who rules, speaks and reveals, creates and redeems, orders and blesses. Outsiders, observing these acts of worship, see nothing like that. They see a few people singing unpopular songs, sometimes off-key, someone reading from an old book and making remarks that may or may not interest the listeners, and then eating and drinking small portions of bread and wine that are supposed to give nourishment to their eternal souls in the same way that beef and potatoes sustain their mortal flesh.” -Eugene Peterson
“I wanted to tell you to have a good, clear cantus firmus; that is the only way to a full and perfect sound, when the counterpoint has a firm support and can’t come adrift or get out of tune, while remaining a distinct whole in its own right. Only a polyphony of this kind can give life a wholeness and at the same time assure us that nothing calamitous can happen as long as the cantus firmus is kept going.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“We need theology of the church’s witness beyond 2 Tim 2:1–6 that includes John’s critique of Rome in Revelation, Isaiah’s condemnation of wicked foreign powers, Daniel’s witness to Babylon, Nathan’s witness to David, John the Baptist’s rebuke of Herod & Jesus’ words about Herod.” -Esau McCauley
Scripture:
Behold the Lamb collage artwork by Chris Breslin (2019)
Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering:
Come, Holy Spirit, Come by Beddome/King/Janes
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed by Montgomery/McCracken
Father, Let Your Kingdom Come by Porter’s Gate Worship Project
Agnus Dei by Smith
Revelation Song by Riddle
Lay It All Down by Reagan/Washington
Doxology
Revelation Reading:
The Theology of the Book of Revelation (New Testament Theology) by Richard Bauckham
Can I Get a Witness?: Reading Revelation through African American Culture by Brian Blount
The Book of Revelation: Justice and Judgment by Elisabeth Shüssler Fiorenza
Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation by Michael Gorman
Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation by J. Nelson Kraybill
Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia by Natasha & Anthony O’Hear
Revelation (Brazos Commentary) by Joseph Mangina
Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination by Eugene Peterson
From Every People and Nation: The Book of Revelation in Intercultural Perspective ed. David Rhoads
