9.15.24 Worship Preview: "Plague and Promise, Wrath and Wonder"

This Sunday: 10:30am – “Plagues and Promise, Wrath and Wonder” Rev. Christopher Eshelman preaching. Scriptures:  Romans 1:16-2:3, Luke 1:39-55

Revelation 15-18 (reading 17).

I hope you took up Mary Brooks’ challenge last week – to spend 15 minutes in nature and really focus on the wonder of creation! I did and we will begin there this Sunday as we resume our series on Revelation, apocalyptic literature and how we read Scripture. This week we’ll look at the final  depiction of God’s wrath with the bowls in Revelation 15-16 and the depiction of the fall of Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18. We will compare that with more of the text from Romans 1 that Mary Brooks shared from last week as well as the song Mary, the mother of Jesus, sings in reaction to her pregnancy and in response to Elizabeth’s greeting.

That may seem like an odd pairing, but Revelation, to me, is a challenge to ensure we really hear what the rest of Scripture is saying and live accordingly. John of Patmo’s goal in writing down his visions wasn’t to terrify us, it was to call us to perseverance and commitment to a lived faith that matches our words. Revelation is about humanity’s rejection of God and John’s visionary and prophetic call to the 7 churches to perseverance, purity, and holiness. This difficult text calls us to see the stories of Scripture anew, to wrestle with how God sees the world – how God sees US – and how we respond. Mary’s song in Luke 1, known as the Magnificat, is about those same things!

In each of these texts, as well as many others, archetypes of women are used to make points about how God’s people are to live. When we reduce some of these texts to only being about sexuality, we terribly miss the point. John’s warning is that too often we excuse our own behavior and choices while demonizing others. Too often we do that even with the various texts of Scripture, such as Romans, Luke, and Revelation. John’s call is to radical faithfulness – living in union with what we say we believe and experiencing union with God. Like the plagues of Exodus, the plagues of God’s wrath in Revelation are about liberation from the broken systems of the world. They are about the promise of God’s love. Admittedly, this is not how I would go about telling the story – but I have also never been so marginalized as John and his peers were. Apocalyptic literature is not about literal prediction of events, it is about hope and faith – believing that God can and will make a way when there appears to be no way.

The fall of Babylon, the great whore, depicted in Revelation is really the same story told in Mary’s Magnificat – the powerful are cast down, the rich turned away empty. Do we hear that? – really hear that? – the promise in Mary’s song that we usually only think about briefly around Christmas? How is her prophecy fulfilled – and where do we count ourselves as she sings? When are we too comfortable and conforming. When do we need to challenge and correct? As we unpack that, we will also look at some of the names used for God in the Scriptures. Our choir will sing the beloved hymn El Shaddai, and the sermon will explore where that name for God comes from and what it proclaims, which in turn will help us hear Revelation, Mary’s song, and all of Scripture a bit more clearly.

You are invited to join in worship filled with sacred imagination and hopeful assurance, as we gather at 10:30am each Sunday at 301 S National, 10:30am. Blessings on your journey.Upcoming Events: 

Wednesday, September 18th  5:30–6:30pm: Feeding Families in His Name – this free meal is available to everyone without obligation. A “to-go” meal is distributed under the portico at 301 S. National. A reminder: Please do not block nearby driveways while waiting. Thank you. If you would like to support this ministry, you can make donations online at: www.firstumcfortscott.org/onlinegiving. 

Our final Aging Forward “Adventures in Learning” program for 2024 will be Friday Sept. 27th, 1-4pm.  Geared towards retired seniors but open to anyone interested, our free speakers series and time for fellowship and conversation will meet for the final time in 2024. We will hear from Cory Demko with an introduction to “SeniorCize” chair exercise. Then Mark McCoy will speak on the Naturalization Ceremony held at the Fort on Sept. 20th and, last but not least, we will learn more about the Fort Scott Genealogy Society and its resources from Ann Rawlins! It will be a great time of fellowship and learning!

This wraps up our 2024 program year – but mark your calendar for the 4th Friday of Oct, Nov, Jan, and Feb for our Fellowship Soup Luncheons (freewill donations requested to support missions and ministries) 11:30-1pm and look for the United Women in Faith potato bar to return in March.Aging Forward begins again in April, 2025! 

Mark Your Calendar! A freewill offering Gospel Concert by Ernie Crouch and Revival will be held at First United Methodist on Saturday, October 26th at 6pm.  Invite a friend!