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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 21: 1-6a NRSV)
May this be a great day for you, dear Friend! As we pray this morning, please remember the family of Bob Fossier, brother of Mary Ckodre who died yesterday. Pray for comfort for that family. Also, prayers for Rosaline Neuse, mother of Edith Lucas, who was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer. May God's peace and healing be with Rosaline and those who love her and pray for her healing. Pray for one another and pray for yourselves.
I'm of a certain age when I can remember as a child the arrival in our mailbox of the Sears Christmas Catalog. In my mind, that publication weighed a ton and I admired the mailman for being strong enough to bring a copy to every house on our block. The book itself was the size of a small city's phone book (Kids, ask your parents what a phone book was...). But the best part, on most of those pages, printed in full color (Okay, I'm not that old that it would come in black and white!) were toys for boys and girls. It was our pleasure to lay on the floor, turning each page ever so slowly and playing what we call now, "I call it!" And whoever was first at landing his/her finger on the picture and saying those magical words, would go on and dream that perhaps Santa would indeed come somehow into our chimney-less home and deliver at least one of those toys. I truly still believe that that single catalog would bring with it a special Christmas blessing of the holiday season. Where else would we find garland, bells, silver decorations and Christmas trees, and gifts galore? Sears was a real place, wasn't it? We didn't have a physical Sears store in Kingsville, but why would a catalog with so much hope and joy be sent if such a place did not exist? It would be years later, driving into Dallas that on the right of the freeway was a huge complex of huge buildings all marked with that magical one word: Sears!
The excitement of that catalog begins to compare slightly to the excitement and joy we should feel in reading the above verses. Though our Bible does not come with pictures, its verses paint the images of our faith, for they were revealed by Jesus to John who wrote as he saw each scene unfolding of that which was to come. We start with the first verse of this passage and the awesomeness in that first verse; Heaven and earth will be made new, to replace the heaven and the earth that passed away. The last phrase of that first verse tells us volumes of how God works with our sin. I have shared in this devotional how in Micah 7:19, where it says "God casts our sins into the depth of the sea." And this one ends with "and the sea was no more." Every disgusting, foul smelling sin we have turned over to God, God has sent to the bottom of the sea where it belongs. I pray these are out of reach of the deep sea creatures who might bite on them and die from the foulness of such unwanted trash from our lives. But we fear not, because the closing book says the sea was no more.
Then the holy city descends, adorned for the wedding of Christ and His Church and with it the proclamation of hope and life: "See, the home of God is among mortals." God has always lived among us, but now this is permanent and eternal. The things that destroyed and divided us, death, mourning, crying, and pain, have been removed by God; the first things having passed away. The Lord from His throne declares, "See, I am making all things new." The proclamation: "It is done!" Christ declaring "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." Alpha is the A of the alphabet, and Omega as our Z. The finiteness that we have known as mortals will be over. In God there will be no end.
It is sad to say, Sears is really no more. At least Sears is not like it was when it was mailing nonstop color catalogs to people all over the world. While there are still some stores and an online presence, Sears is not the giant retailer that it once was, and their catalog has been gone some years now, replaced by the Sunday inserts to stores who sell toys and the like. Not so with God and the word of God. Its pages reveal the glimpses of hope and life that matter. And it includes you and me if we believe.
PRAYER: As we pray, Loving God, we pray for the grace and strength to live into what is coming. Help us to rise above the petty distractions to see what is the glimpse of hope and life, and how we can share that with others. We pray for those who are mourning, and ask Your comfort and peace on them and all who mourn anywhere. We pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Let us be part of the glimpses that others may see in us, of life and hope.
Blessings of love,
Eradio Valverde
