Today’s author is Naomi Sveholm. Naomi is a missionary with Central Europe Teachers (https://www.facebook.com/elcacet) teaching English at a bilingual Lutheran high school in Bratislava, Slovakia with her spouse and two children.
Have you ever read through an email before you send it and thought there were too many exclamation points? (I shouldn’t be that enthusiastic!) Then maybe you take out a few and it seems too flat? (I want to sound professional, not boring.) A few more adjustments and it’s probably okay to send now….right?
It is challenging to capture a voice in writing, to convey the proper tone with little risk of being misinterpreted. The development and spread of emojis has helped, of course, and emoji has even become its own language to a certain extent. In fiction, subtle differences in phrasing, vocabulary, and punctuation can differentiate each character and truly bring them to life. Even the corporate world has style guides that dictate various aspects of marketing materials to present a consistent voice and feel.
Chapter 6 of Revelation (especially verses 1-8) is full of exclamation points and larger-than-life imagery. Around half of the sentences are punctuated with the strong emotions of the exclamation point in many translations. We are also brought into the scene more fully (at least in the NRSVUE version) with a voice of thunder, images of color (bright red, pale green), and evocative words like conquer, slaughter, and pestilence.
It is the language of visions and dreams: disjointed, exhilarating, dizzying, overwhelming. Waking from dreams, heart racing, the details are often lost, but the emotions remain, sometimes even years after the actual dream.
A lot has been written and speculated about the vision of Revelation. As a lay person untrained in theology, I will leave the speculation about the vision’s meaning to others, but what I see very clearly in this passage is a sense of awe and wonder, a reminder that God is so much bigger and grander and more than we can put into words.
Dear God,
You are bigger and grander and more than we can put into words.
Help us appreciate the wonder of you and your creation.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen