In Which the Pastor, Possibly Unwisely, Attempts to Use Revelation as a Starting Point (for the weekly devotional)

Revelation 1:4b-8 – Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. ”I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (NRSV)


Despite all the gruesome imagery and vivid conflicts and lack of grace, the Book of Revelation is, at root, a message of hope. Some of the hints of that hope are found in this brief passage, with all its many descriptions and names for God. Who else could be described as the one “who is and who was and who is to come”?

Revelation, in all its eternal wildness, reminds us of the everlasting and always nature of God. As the nights get longer and the darkness deeper, many of us find it challenging to keep our hearts sunny. As we review the news of the world – seemingly endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, refugees fleeing for their lives in Sudan, women and girls suffering rape in Congo – and even the news in our own community where children and adults alike are taking their own lives and endangering others, it can be hard to stay focused on hope.

But the Book of Revelation reminds us that God is the first and the last, “the Alpha and the Omega,” as John of Patmos calls it, referring to the beginning and ending letters of his alphabet. The end is in God’s hands, and God’s hands are good. We use the omega as the symbol for our faith acting in the world, in our 1+1+1 system in our newsletters. Any time we pour our lives out in service to others, we are working toward God’s good end. Even the smallest actions can help restore our hope, by reminding us who is in charge and making us more aware of God’s grace and love acting in the world. In this season of darkness, we can keep our hope intact by sharing it with others.


Collect for the Week: Eternal, Loving God, who is and was and is to come, grant that we might sustain our communion with you, aligning our lives with your will for your world and pouring ourselves out in service, that the light of hope might burn brightly in these dark times. Through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and the Holy Spirit of Love, Amen.