3rd Nov. Trinity
Revelation 14, 1-20
And I looked, and there was the picture of the Lamb,
standing atop Mt. Zion and with him one hundred forty four thousand having his
name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
And I listened and heard a voice from the heavens,
a voice like a mighty rush of waters, and like a mighty thunderclap—the voice I
heard was like the voices of harpists playing on their harps.
And they
all sing a new song, there in front of the throne and in front of the four creatures
and the elders, and no one could learn the song but the one hundred forty-four
thousand ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who did not defile
themselves by the straying, through which the spiritual in man is betrayed;
they have remained virginal [pure] in their inmost being and follow the Lamb
wherever he goes. They were ransomed as the seed of a new humanity which
belongs to the Father God and to the Lamb. Deceit and lies are not found in
their mouths; pure and unblemished are they in their innermost being.
And I looked and saw another angel flying in
mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those live on
earth—to every race and nation and every tongue and folk. And the angel cried
out with a great voice, saying:
“Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him. For we
have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him
who in truth created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the springs
of water.”
And a second angel followed, who said, “Fallen,
fallen is the great city of Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of
her sacrilege, in order to draw the holy into misuse.”
And a third angel followed them, who cried out with
a powerful voice: “Whoever adores the beast and its likeness, and accepts its
stamp on forehead or hand, he will drink of the wine of God’s anger, thick and
strong and undiluted, from the cup of his wrath. And in the presence of the
holy angels and in front of the Lamb shall anger be transformed into pain like
the pain of fire and sulphur.
Their suffering rises and darkens the encirling air
like smoke through the cycles of time. And day and night those who made the
beast into their god, who honored its picture as the highest, who took its
being into their innermost being, find no peace. In this place however there
works the power of the steadfast endurance of those who have taken the healing
power of the Spirit into themselves, who have fulfilled the goals of the
Spirit, and who have worked trusting in Jesus’ healing deed.
And I heard a voice out of the worlds of Spirit
which said, “Write this down: People of heaven are the dead who die in the Lord
from now on. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their efforts and
labours, since their good deeds, the fruits of their lives, are not lost along
their paths of soul, but have preceeded them here.
And I looked, and suddenly I saw in the spirit a
white cloud, and seated upon the cloud the figure of a son of humanity, with a
golden crown upon his head and a sharpened sickle. And another angel stepped
forth from the temple crying in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud:
“Let your sickle go forth and harvest, for the hour
of harvest has come; ripe and dry and firm are the crops of the earth.”
And the one seated on the cloud threw his sickle
down upon the events on earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.
And again another angel came out of the temple in
the heavens; and he too held a sharpened sickle. And a further angel came out
who tended the fire at the altar. He cried out with a mighty voice to him who
held the sharpened sickle and said, “Let your sickle go forth and harvest the
grapevines of the earth, for their grapes have reached their prime.”
So the angel threw his sickle down to the events on
earth; and he harvested the earth’s vineyard, and threw the grapes into the
great winepress of God’s anger. And they took the winepress outside the city
and trampled the grapes. Blood flowed from the winepress that reached to the
muzzles of the horses for sixteen hundred miles around.
3rd November Trinity
Revelation 14: 1-20
This year’s leaves are falling from the trees. They have
finished their work of drinking sunlight, and so the tree lets them go. But
just where the old leaf attached to the branch the tree has already formed the
buds of next year’s leaves. The tree will remain standing bare, over-wintering,
yet already equipped to be able to drink in the light of the future.
Our lives, too, have had their old leaves, long since left
behind. Even our bodies have let go of old forms—infancy, childhood, youth,
maturity—all give way. But the buds, the seed of the next phase are already
laid down.
When the body itself falls away, we will find that we have
already formed the buds for the next life. The reading hints at this: ‘Stand in
awe of God and turn to honor him….Raise yourself in prayer….’ Rev. 14:7
Our prayers of praise and honor, our prayers of
thanksgiving, form the buds for our future life after life. Praise and
thanksgiving are the buds for a new humanity. Those who praise and give thanks
in the purity of their inmost heart ‘…have been brought out of mankind to
become the foundation of a new humanity, which belongs to God and to the Lamb. Rev. 14:4
And so we pray:
Master of beauty, craftsman of the
snowflake,
inimitable contriver,
endower of Earth so gorgeous…
thank you for such as it is my
gift.
I have made up a morning prayer to
you
containing with precision
everything that most matters.
'According to Thy will' the thing
begins….
I only as far as gratitude &
awe
confidently & absolutely go.
…Whatever your end may be, accept
my amazement.
May I stand until death forever at
attention
for any your least instruction or
enlightenment.
I even feel sure you will assist me
again, Master of insight & beauty.[1]
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