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March 14, 2010 Ezekiel 1: 4-14 Revelation 4:1-8 Visions, Voices and Images: What is Your Perception of God? Several weeks ago, my Bible study group began John’s Revelation. For those of you who have read this book, you know that it is not easy reading, nor is it the kind of book that you would read to comfort yourself before you go to bed! Scholars believe that the author of Revelation is not John, the Gospel writer, but probably someone who was in the same Johannine community. Writing in exile from the island of Patmos, a very small island off of Asia Minor, John writes about a vision that he received from God, via an angel who served as a messenger. This vision concerns itself with the end of time as we know it, and the beginning of a new age, an age where the kingdom of God will come to fruition – a new Jerusalem. John in a spiritual state sees before him the throne of God, and in our scripture reading, we heard his elaborate description – the bejeweled throne sitting amidst a rainbow, encircled by twenty four smaller thrones with crowned elders dressed in white. Lightening and thunder accompany this vision to speak of the power and glory of God, and we are reminded of Moses’ experience as he climbed Mt. Sinai. Guarding God’s throne are four strange living creatures with many eyes, symbolizing the ever watchfulness of their guard – and the idea that nothing in heaven or on earth will go unnoticed. Each of these winged creatures are different: one like lion, one like an eagle, one like a bull, and one like a man. The creatures sing incessantly day and night….. and John’s vision goes on and on from there. Anyone reading this book for the first time might say to themselves, “What on earth did this man eat or drink before he went to bed!” John’s theophany (or vision of God) is not unlike others before him, and he certainly was familiar with the prophecy of Ezekiel. Writing 700 hundred years earlier, Ezekiel experienced a vision that had many similarities, which we heard in part this morning -- he, too, envisioned a bejeweled throne, a rainbow with 4 living creatures guarding God’s throne, all accompanied with the sounds of thunder and lightening. In Ezekiel’s vision, the living creatures legs are wheels so that God’s throne can move through the heavens like a grand chariot, hence it is known in Jewish circles as the “Merkavah,” or chariot vision. Understanding and envisioning God as a Divine King was not unusual for the time of Ezekiel and even 700 years later at the time of John. The elaborate descriptions of God’s heavenly court, guards, and cosmic surroundings adds an ‘other worldliness’ to the image. How else might they portray a King of Heaven and Earth? Throughout the early Christian period to the Renaissance, this theophany emerged and transformed into an image called the “Christ in Majesty,” where attributes of Christ and God melded and the line between the first and second persons of the Trinity became unclear. The insert in your bulletin is a late eleventh century example of this imagery.
Christ is seated as the sovereign Lord on a rainbow like throne, called a mandorla, and his feet are firmly placed on an orb symbolizing his sovereignty over earth. He holds the Gospel in his hands, to say that he is the Word of God. The cross of his crucifixion in the other hand, symbolizes that he has conquered life and death. Around him are those four living creatures, much smaller now: the man, the eagle, the lion and the ox. In his Divine Kingship, Christ is strong and a powerful ruler of heaven and earth. Rabanus Maurus, a 9th century Christian writer, fully developed the symbolism of the four living creatures that surround Christ. He wrote that the creatures had three layers of meaning. The first layer connects each creature with one of the gospel writers: the man represented Matthew, the bull, Mark, the ox, Luke and the eagle John. The creatures were not so much seen or understood as guards, but as symbols that pointed to God’s Word – which is embodied in Jesus Christ. In the second layer of meaning, Maurus attributed each animal to the 4 important aspects of Christ’s life: his incarnation, sacrifice, resurrection, and ascension. The third layer of meaning Maurus attributed each animal to the 4 virtues needed for Christian salvation: the man represented the path of reason; the lion represented courage; the eagle was associated with the virtue of contemplation; and the ox represented the sacrifice of renunciation. So it was that this one symbol of Christ in Majesty with these evangelist’s symbols became the main symbol for the Christian faith. This image in all its variations, serving as a billboard of faith, was painted on the apses and domes of churches. Sometimes it was created in stone on the exterior of the building on the tympanum about the main doors. As one approached or entered the building this one image with its many layers of meaning showed the Heavenly King, and through the symbolism, recalled Christ’s life, sacrificial death, and resurrection. It reminded the viewer about the good news of God’s Word, and, through the evangelists symbols, suggested the virtues needed to seek salvation. Studying western medieval and renaissance art history for many years as an undergraduate and graduate student, I am fascinated with ecclesiastical art and fully appreciate its intent to teach the people the stories of faith at a time when the Bible and the Mass were only in Latin and inaccessible to the average person. The images in the churches served as a visual Bible lesson, yet many times with an agenda of power, authority and fear. Look at this image and now look up at our white dome. Imagine this image overhead looking down on you. Imagine each of these living creatures, or evangelist symbols, in each of the corners. I don’t know about you, but I would find it pretty oppressive, interesting intellectually, but oppressive spiritually, and some may say fearful, to have this image looming over head. I fully appreciate our white dome. It is like a ‘tabula rasa,’ or blank slate that allows us to paint our own theology in our minds and spirits. John Locke developed his thesis of the ‘tabula rasa’ which stated that each individual was born without built in mental content and that knowledge comes from experience and perception. In a similar vein, each one of us has our own unique experiences and our own ways to think about God. Our white dome and the image free beauty of our meetinghouse invites you and offers you the freedom to perceive God in your own way. Unlike the people prior to the Reformation, we are given the freedom to read the scriptures, understand our worship service, and interpret these for ourselves. From these interpretations and our unique experiences, we have different concepts of God. Some of you may think of God as a woman, connecting to the motherly qualities of God’s love, some may think of God as a man, protective and supportive, some may think of God as a King on the throne, powerful, omnipotent and it makes you feel safe, some may think of God as a creator God sweeping through the universe, or some of you may think of God not in an anthropomorphic way, with no human features at all, but as the embodiment of light and love – pure Spirit. Some may think of God in a variety of ways, depending on the situation at that moment in your life. Whatever your perception of God is, it is uniquely your own and our worship space does not interfere with that perception. Henri Nouwen, a twentieth century theologian, in his book “From Hostility to Hospitality,” writes about the concept of hospitality and its relationship to our search for God. When I read this quote, think of the church as the ‘host’ and you as the ‘stranger or guest.’ Nouwen writes: Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.. It is not a method of making our God and our way into criteria for happiness, but the opening of an opportunity to others to find their God and their way. The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adopt the life style of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his [or her] own. The church as ‘the host’ provides the space and environment for transformation, offering an opportunity for all of our congregants to find their God in their own way. The simple liturgy with music, scripture lessons, readings, and sermons offers a variety of ways to think about your life in relation to God and how to consider scripture as relevant, emphasizing the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as a model for all of our living. Our meetinghouse and its lack of ecclesiastical art reflects our Protestant heritage. Reformation leaders such as Martin Luther, Andreas Karlstadt, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli denounced symbols and imagery that decorated all of the churches. For Luther, at the outset of the Reformation, his objection to the images was not so much because the images in themselves were a problem, but that the church leaders promised salvation to all people who endowed the images and sculpture no matter how they lived their lives. As time went on, however, Luther felt that the images themselves were a distraction and separated people from the central message of God’s love and grace. Some more radical reformers, such as Karlstadt, took it further and began a campaign to destroy and remove all church images and sculptures. Sadly, many beautiful works of ecclesiastical art were destroyed. Luther adamantly disagreed with this violent reaction. He wrote in one of his Lenten Sermons: Christ and his Apostles did not destroy temples nor did they overturn images, but they captured hearts with the Word of God, and then the temples and images fell themselves. Luther believed once the Word of God was central and fully known the dependence on the images would not be needed. Luther argued for a simpler, purer Christianity, one that was centered on the Word of God, and the need to remove all the layers of Christian tradition that may get in the way of the truth of God’s Word. He believed people were lost and needed to find the “kernel” of truth of God’s Grace. Here we are today in good Protestant tradition with an image free meetinghouse with one major symbol and that is the open Bible, symbolizing the centrality of the Word of God to our faith. Our meetinghouse with no overt ecclesiastical symbols offers each member the freedom to interpret the scriptures in relationship to their life and to develop a personal relationship with God. In keeping with this freedom, we are a non-creedal church as well. We do not have a creed or statement of faith that congregants recite together each week as part of the weekly service. Instead, we invite all of you to write your own creeds as elaborate or as simple as they might be. For some, the freedom of imagining God in your own unique way and the freedom to write your own creed might seem unsettling. With no creeds and images, which could be perceived as helpful guidelines, some might wonder if their beliefs are ‘correct.’ They may think with such freedom that they may head down a wrong path -- away from God. How do we know whether or not our faith and beliefs are pleasing to God? I believe that if you are in a truthful, daily communication with God, you are pleasing to God. Some days you may be angry with God, some days filled with joy and thanksgiving, some days in great need of God’s nurturing love. Once the communication begins, we visualize God in a way that makes God accessible to us – a personal God, in whom we live and move and have our being. If you are told how to visualize God, what and how to believe, and the consequences of not having the correct theology, you may find yourself in a state of theological paralyses, feeling unable to explore God in a fresh, personal way. I like the freedom to travel on my own personal journey to God without absolutes that I must believe, creeds that I must recite, images that I must look at and try to comprehend in the realm of faith. It doesn’t mean that I don’t read the creeds, study the images, read other theologies and biblical interpretations, study the Bible in its many ramifications, it simply means that I don’t have to adopt it all into my personal faith. In my Bible study, I tell all my friends that I am not going to tell them how to interpret the scriptures, but that each one must struggle with the text and try to understand it in the context of its history, its moral implications, and its relevance to their daily life in the 21st century ( a bit of challenge with Revelation). I also share with my class that it is o.k., to not know what you truly believe, to have a faith in transition, to question God about the problems of the world, and to struggle with the concept of evil in the world. It is all o.k. The important aspect is that we are in conversation with God, we are struggling, not silent, not complacent, not simply reciting someone else’s faith or belief, but we are working on our own personal belief, one that is uniquely our own. For me, if we are working and communicating with God, we are on the right path towards God. As the church, we together are the living body of Christ, but that does not mean that we must all think the same way, have the same belief, and be spiritual clones of each other. Rather the beauty of being a church, is that we are uniquely, wonderfully different, with different experiences, lifestyles, and together, in our differences, we unite as the church, the living Body of Christ in the 21st century. Henri Nouwen, in his book, “Living as the Beloved” writes: Life is a God-given opportunity to become who we are, to affirm our own true spiritual nature, claim our truth, but, most of all, to say ‘yes’ to the One who calls us the Beloved. I believe saying “yes” to God is communicating with God all facets of our life, it is acknowledging that God loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves, it is firmly holding on to the knowledge that God is with us all the time and that we are never alone. I would like to close with us all imagining God calling us the “Beloved.” That feeling of absolute love would be hard to believe if you looked over your head and saw the image of Christ in Majesty looming over you as ruler of the world, yet that is how some people live their lives. Their perception of God as a judgmental Ruler who watches their every move keeping track of all their sins and foibles clearly has a way of harming the spiritual nature with which we are blessed. My hope and prayer for each of you is that you live your life feeling as God’s Beloved Child and from that feeling of love perceive God in whatever way feels right for you. Amen.
The Rev. Rebecca Crosby First Congregational Church of Old Lyme
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