outside is better

Talking about Revelation: Developing an Eschatological Hermaneutic

 I have written before about how local churches need to engage with Revelation. To some, this might be an insurmountable task.

The character of Revelation makes an auditory involvement necessary. In country terms; We need to HEAR Revelation.

Those in the company of preachers must learn to call the church to its eschatological dwelling place.  In the enterprise of the earthly church taking Revelation back, local pastors serve both as truck drivers and road crew.  We direct the energy as well as take care of the movement so that the laity can travel alongside. Intentionally preaching eschatologically means a deliberate admonition of the end that comes across as assured as the deliberate notions of beginning. Our role is to theologically play the childhood game of “connect the dots”. We are story-tellers, not date-setters.   

As pastors we must tell people about the other world,  living in the the subversive act of preached hope. Instead of romantic historical meanderings that lament morals gone amuck, we focus on preached time. Preached time creates the path to New Jerusalem.  This alternate narrative answers the question of who really is in charge.

Whenever I teach Revelation to a new group of people, I start with a question. It goes something like this; "I am going to let you make a decision as to how we will read this book and how I will teach it to you. We can either let Revelation be a book that only pertains to a distinct group of people at only one time in the history of the world or we can read it as though it has informed the church for 2000 years and will continue to speak to us."

I have never had a group take option A. Even if they are hardcore Left Behinders, the second choice just sounds better. If teaching Revelation freaks you out, let the congregation make the first choice. Present to them a basic reading strategy. It will allow you to stay away from so many testy issues.

Revelation doesn't work in a passive setting. We have to be intentional and deliberate with it, but shouldn't we with all scripture?

Related Posts:
The Apocalyptic Pastor
Preaching, Mindmapping and the Apocalypse of John
Christian Time and the End of Times

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.

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This is a repost from a blog I ran for a few years postmoderneschatology.com. I have decided to merge that content in with this blog and will occasionally post from its archives.

Classics: The Eschatology of Hank Williams Jr.

While I am doing some site maintanence work with both blogs (I also run a blog on eschatology called World Without End), I decided to share some posts between the two, posting some of the best of 2010 at the other blog. This is from last June and it was one of my favorites.

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One of the classic country songs is the seminal "A Country Boy Can Survive".  I remember driving around listening to this song in college and loving it.  It was enough of a cultural marker to be parodied by the rantings of a homeless man in Canadian post-rock Godspeed You! Black Emperor's  song Providence. I think it functions as a great marker of a secular and escapist eschatology. 

 

The preacher man says it’s the end of time
And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry
The interest is up and the Stock Markets down
And you only get mugged
If you go down town

I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can’t starve us out
And you cant makes us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn

We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I’d send him some homemade wine

But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
Id love to spit some beechnut in that dudes eyes
And shoot him with my old 45
Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

We’re from North California and south Alabam
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

The interesting thing about this song (written in 1981) is the cultural ideas of both escapism and separatism, manifest in Williams thematic description of the city as a dangerous and ruthless place.  It was also re-written and re-released in 1999 by Chad Brock in reference to the supposed Y2K catastrophe.

For those who live in the country, life skills held are what separate them from those who have migrated to the city.  It will be these skills that will allow them to function inside an apocalyptic scenario, and ultimately be the holders of power (another interesting marker).  If anything, this song serves as an introduction to the phenomena of survivalism.  

For Christians, this isn't a good view because it places the realm of trust inside of self-sufficiency, either individual or cultural.  The mark of individuality makes Bocephus thoroughly postmodern, although I imagine I would get chewing tobacco spit in my eye if I accused him of such. One of the patterns that needs to be developing in the current church culture is the reliance and separation from current systems and instead placed in Christ and His kingdom.  The Church is the alternative city, instead of a set of skills and a cultural marker. Where Hank mentions saying "grace", it is placed in the context of a general moral structure, looped in with niceties such as "ma'am".  Faith is mentioned as a passing nod towards a cultural system that is propped up instead by distinction and self-reliance.  To a Christian, faith in the promise of God as well as reliance on His faithfulness is the foundation of a hope centered eschatology.

I hope this little piece shows how much these ideas have crept into mainstream society, even in a 30 year old country song.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

The Throne Room or the Kingdom

Often I think about how the worship leader describes him or herself.  Even in the idea of resumes and job applications.  I remember reading one once where the leader in question noted the distinct ability to bring people to the throne of God quicker and better than others.....

There are several things troubling about that statement, but one has stuck out the most in the last few months.  What action are we doing in Christian worship that makes it distinct from any other religion?  Attributing qualities to God, or praising his character with our devoted actions?  These are elements of worship, but they are just that....elements.  Ultimately, the gathered qualities of worship are what make it Christian worship.  Yes-our worship is Triune and Yes-our worship is pointed towards the distinct eternal worldview of the Christian.  In the end, all worship is eschatological in nature (and yes, I know that I can get to the end of the world in two steps), and this is what makes it distinctly Christian.

In this manner, the throne room language becomes very important.  I say this because we shouldn't escape in worship.  Often we might hear something like this, "Just prepare yourself for worship in any way that is comfortable to you".  Somehow, in the last century, we have understood worship as an individual action.  But historically that wasn't the case.  Worship was seen as an earthly reality of the company of heaven.  When we want to "go to the throne room", we want worship to be a pragmatic event and take us out of this world.  We want to set boundaries on our home, sinful as it may be, and be taken out of it.

Instead, I want to challenge you to this.  Think of worship as the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth.  In worship, we grab hold of the reality that Christ gave us and we pull it down to earth.  We remember Revelation 21 when we find out that the home of God will be on the redeemed earth with His people.  Yes, worship is a beautiful vision of the Triune God. But worship is what also gives us the eyes to see the reality that He is in this world through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. In worship, through our devotion our tears are wiped away (Rev 7:17 and 21:4), and grace remakes us.

Preaching, Mindmapping, and the Apocalypse of John

Revelation 7:9-17 Mindmap
Originally uploaded by chadbrooks

I have the opportunity to preach from my favorite book of the bible this week, St. John's Apocalypse...or as most people know it Revelation.

Usually when I actually have time to prepare a sermon, I like to do a mind map before I start writing the sermon. It is another way of doing an outline, but it helps me trace a non-linear pattern through the text. It works for folks that are scatter brained like I am.

I have different sorts of annotations that I use, and the scan didn't show some highlighted colors, but this style works well for me. I imagine I could preach from the mind map if I needed, but I am trying to become more of a wordsmith, and that requires doing some writing beforehand.

Revelation is a non-linear book, and I think that in this particular situation mind-mapping works well.  One of the major ways to tie the book together is the Μετὰ ταῦτα εἶδον passages (translated as After this I saw/looked in many English translations).  These phrases string together a series of visionary experiences that weren't sequential, but descriptive of an "all at once" experience (seen in 4:1,7:1,7:9.15:, 18:1 and 19:1).  Due to the cycliromatic nature of Revelation and it's ordering-mind mapping allows you to preach from the same style as the visions are portrayed.

Cross Post: Taking the Book Back

Some of you know that I also run a blog devoted to understanding Eschatology in a postmodern context.  That means that I talk about the End of the World in relation to our current society.  I rarely cross post here, but I decided to today, just to point you at what I imagine might be an interesting series of writings.  It also references worship design and implementing scripture using the Lectionary.

From PostmodernEschatology.com

Forming An Eschatological Community: Taking the Book Back

As a worship designer, I often point folk to the Vanderbilt Lectionary website (an online RCL help), to find scripture to use throughout a service.  This is great even if they are in a thematic service, because it will allow them to have a wide spread of scripture available to them.

You might have noticed that the Easter readings for this year take people through five passages in Revelation. These happen to be five of my favorite parts of the book  This is a great way to jump into Revelation for the first time.

Just last night I was having a conversation with a friend and mentioned that much of my fascination with Revelation is the deep desire to help the church take back this book.  I really think I went for at least 18 years without a sermon or lesson on Revelation.  This is our Book.  The fear that has been given to the book of Revelation can only be eradicated by reading the book.  This verses are a great primer.

The 5 readings give a great overview of the book, and follow redemption’s story.  You get some hymnic passages and the great narrative in 21 that I have preached on before.  You miss chapter 19, but that is my only real complaint.

Take the book back. 

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

Radical Hospitality and the Eschatology of God and his People

I wrote a paper this last semester on Hospitality and Eschatology.  My professor first thought it would be a hard topic to write on, but after I spent around a month thinking about it, I realized that it would be the opposite.  I usually do post series when I write an academic paper here on the blog, but since it is 17+ pages I will refrain.  I uploaded the entire paper to my scribd.com account, and I will link to it at the bottom.

I also decided instead to post a reduced version of it this week over at postmoderneschatology.com.  I am growing towards an understanding that simpler is always better, and realizing that I am not an academic (and I like it that way). 

Radical Hospitality and the Eschatology of God and His people (via scribd.com)

Where Justice and Eschatology Collide (via postmoderneschatology.com)

Eschatology and BBQ:Redux

I spoke again in chapel a few weeks ago.  I was asked to just repeat my sermon from this summer, but I really felt the need to tweak it.  I used Revelation 21 instead of chapter 19 and took a different direction.  If you want to listen, you can do so here.

Here is the movie trailer that I referenced at the beginning.

Announcing my new Blog: World Without End

After several months of thinking and work, I am letting everyone know about my new site World With End, found at postmoderneschatology.com Over the last few years around here, I have started working through a new focus and interest regarding eschatology.  After thinking about it, and getting some class credit for it, I want to launch this site today.  Over the next few weeks, posts will move out at a quick pace, mainly to set in a good foundation.  My hope is that this new site can really start conversations about a topic that many Christians get nervous about, and especially bring interest to how social and cultural situations influence eschatology. 

Over the last 2 years, my call to a pastoral vocation has been confirmed over and over, especially to those who aren't a part of traditional church life.  It is a ministry that has to interact with despair and hopelessness and that has caused me to think even more about how Christians talk about the end.  That was one of the main driving forces behind starting this new site.  I am not abandoning Outside Is better, and it will continue to be my "homebase", but I am really excited about building a newer place for conversation, so please go over and visit it, interact and be a part of the community.

Towards Developing a Post-Modern Eschatology

This is one of the final pieces in the changes that I have made over the last few months (see the main announcement here).  One of the reasons that I left my previous church (and denomination) was that I wanted the freedom to develop more of my academic work into more of a pastoral focus.  This means that all of the complicated work I have done in the last few years regarding liturgical theology and eschatology can really get aired out on in a better way.

But I need your help.....

I have it cleared with one of my professors to develop a series of Blog Posts instead of writing a 25 page research paper.  I get to cite Amazon for my resources, engage with video clips and review movies....AND IT ALL COUNTS.  My working title for the project is "Developing a Post-Modern Eschatology", and I am really excited about doing it.  The release method will be announced shortly, but I have a list of topic (blog post) ideas.  I want you to help me out with these...especially those that are in youth, college and young adult ministry.  Here is what I have so far.

Popular Catacysm
Why Study Eschatology?
Apocalypse Vs. Eschaton
Vision or Prophecy?
Zombies as social critique
The prophetic voice in the 21st century
Christianity and Postmodernity
Eschatology and the Sacraments
Canonical view of scripture and Revelation
Handling Judgement
Apocalypse in the Old Testament

And a few movie reviews (2012 and The Road for sure)

So let me know in the comments what you think.  Suggest topics, or problems that you have had regarding the subject.  I want this to be a resource, so I need to know different directions that I may not think of.

Subverting the World's Eschatology

This morning in chapel I am preaching a sermon that in some form I have preached 3 times.  I linked to it a few months ago from chapel this summer, and I am preaching a "redux" form this morning.  Its nice to be able to work with the same idea/theme but spread it across multiple scripture texts.  This morning it is Revelation 21:1-5b.  

This clip above is my intro into the sermon, but I wanted to post just a piece regarding why it is important that the Church enter itself into the cultural eschatological landscape.  

Robert Jenson describes the problem of modernity as “having a universal story without a universal storyteller”.  When the world puts itself on a timeline, but has no shape or form to the story, we will end up making up our own stories regarding beginning and end.  If the world started by chance...then it must end by chance.  Apocalyptiscism, as presented by Hollywood, is our culture making its own timeline, reacting against the idea that humans could make everything perfect themselves.  Our pendulum has swung to the opposite side of early 20th century liberalism  When a finality is created apart from the idea of salvation and worship, we have a pretty bad fracture.

This is all part of a bigger project that I am working on that should go live in the next few weeks.  I am excited about it.