Pastorals
Rev 8-11
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Trumpets of Chaos & Destruction audio (6MB)
Do you feel secure? What sort of thing shakes your sense of security? What do you think of when you see reports of disasters like the earthquakes we’ve just seen in New Zealand and Japan? Or the civil uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya? What does it make you think of? Do you worry about your own security here in Australia? Or friends who may be living somewhere equally unsafe? Or does it make you realise your own mortality, your own frailty before the power of nature, your own dependence on God if you’re to survive in this world? Was this God’s work or just a random event of nature? If it is God at work, what is he doing? What’s he trying to achieve?
As we’ve read through Revelation thus far we’ve seen the 7 seals being opened and now the final seal is broken - and suddenly there’s silence. We’re left in suspense. What does the scroll say? What is this message that’s been sealed up until the last day? Do the things that have happened as each seal has been slit constitute the contents of the scroll, or is there more?
Revelation 5
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- Written by: Adam Cetrangolo
GOD’S IN CHARGE, SO GET WITH THE PROGRAM audio (4MB)
Some of you here may know that up until the end of 2008, Heather and I were living on the Gold Coast, where we had been for four years. I was working as a full-time Lay Pastoral Worker in the Catholic Church and Heather was in her second last year of formation for ordained ministry. And I was thriving in my work but wrestling with the possibility that God might be calling me to ordained ministry too.
Rev 3:14-22
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Letters to the 7 Churches 5 - Laodicea
It's interesting how we can go from the two letters we saw last week where one church thought they were alive and were actually dead and another thought they were as good as dead but actually had plenty of life in them, to the final letter of the seven where the church is neither one thing nor the other. And if you thought Sardis had problems, Laodicea takes the cake.
Just to fill you in on their context, Laodicea was 15km west of Colossae and 10km south of Hierapolis. It was situated in a fertile valley. It was just as pagan a city as any of the others. In fact it was the centre of Emperor worship for the region. It had a strong Jewish community that may well have integrated into the Greek culture to a large extent. For example, there are examples of coins made here in the 3rd century that show illustrations that mix together the Jewish and pagan versions of the flood story.
Rev 3:1-13
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Letters to the 7 Churches - Sardis & Philadelphia- Dead and Alive
Today we read about two churches with a significant contrast of characteristics. One thinks it's alive but is dead, the other feels as good as dead but is alive.
Sardis was a sophisticated city and perhaps that was the reason that persecution against Christians wasn't such a problem as it was in places like Smyrna and Philadelphia. It seems that the Jewish population of Sardis was well accepted despite the fact that they rejected pagan worship and that acceptance may have rubbed off on the Christian church since it was considered just a sect of Judaism.
In fact the Jewish synagogue in Sardis was one of the largest synagogues in the ancient world. And it may be that the Jewish people in Sardis had so integrated into this pagan, Gentile society that their tolerance of difference even extended to the Christian church unlike other cities in the region.
In any case there's no hint here of any persecution against Christians. In fact the description seems to imply that this was a flourishing church. They have a reputation of being alive.
Rev 2:12-19
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Letters to 7 Churches 3 - Pergamum and Thyatira
As we move on from Ephesus and Smyrna to Pergamum and Thyatira we see the intensity of opposition and persecution increasing. While in Smyrna there was a warning of possible death for Christ, in Pergamum we find it's happened. Here maintaining belief in Christ has cost Antipas his life.
Yet even the reality of that sort of opposition hasn't stopped them holding fast to the name of Christ. He knows their context: "where Satan's throne is". Like the other 2 cities, Pergamum was a large city with a well established pagan system of worship. The greatest of these altars was that of Zeus, decorated with sculptures of serpents - which may be the reference to Satan's throne, though there were plenty of other possibilities.
