[This is the thirteenth in a series of sermons in interpreting America in the 21st century in light of the Book of Revelation. The series will continue, monthly for about two years.]

Ted Grimsrud

Shalom Mennonite Congregation—February 17, 2013—Revelation 17:1-18

Welcome back to the wild and crazy world of the book of Revelation. My job today is further to persuade you that it’s our friend. Revelation is our friend as we desire wholeness in our world, as we seek peace with humanity and with the rest of creation, as we are troubled by power politics and injustice. Right? Well, listen up….

Linking Revelation with today’s world

My first sermon in this series was “The 21^st century according to Revelation.” I suggested then, and today, that in its idiosyncratic way, Revelation can give us perspective on the world we live in—not due to its predictions about the end times but due to its insights into its own times. Those insights tell us about deep structures of human life and the message of the Lamb that spoke then and continues to speak now.

An image that comes to mind is of a chair my mother found at a second hand store when I was a kid. The chair was covered with ugly green paint. She stripped the paint and uncovered the beauty that remained with the original hard wood. Then she put on a finish that enhanced the chair’s original beauty—and she had a treasure. Many interpretations of Revelation hide the original beauty of the book. I think we can strip those interpretations away and find its actual message as a great treasure. Continue reading →