Today’s devotional authors are Prince of Peace members, Carol Swanson and Gary Olson.
Carol:
It’s a very human reaction to think: Why doesn’t God just intervene and stop evil? Perhaps that is what John’s nightmarish visions are trying to show us: What if the wrath of God is fire and destruction, plagues, and a lot of death. Does it bring about repentance? Or peace? No, violence begets violence. This is not who God is.
God is the loving Creator who gives the creation freedom to evolve, to be what it will be. This freedom means shared power; God does not keep it all like a puppeteer or a benevolent dictator. As Paul Sponheim wrote in his July 11 devotion, “It is in love that the God worthy of worship establishes a genuine relationship between the Creator and the creatures. There’s risk in that, but great worth in the promise of new life.”
All of creation is inter-relational. This brings responsibility with how we act with one another. Moses taught us to love God with all our being, to love our neighbor as ourselves; to care for the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the oppressed. And according to our biblical history, we screw up a lot. And “sin is lurking at the door” (Genesis 4:7).
Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, lived under the oppression of the Roman empire. His nonviolent revolution to usher in the Kingdom of God resulted in his crucifixion–– and his resurrection. Now John of Patmos describes him as “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth;” now the Lamb of God “who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom….” (Rev 1:5-6) He is the Son of Man with the white wooly hair and the sword extending from his mouth in Rev. 1:12-16, and who comes again in Rev 19 as the white horse’s rider “called Faithful and True, and …The Word of God,” the sword from his mouth (19:11-15), his only weapon.
Gary:
Carol has asked that I share a poem I wrote some years ago called “Soldier’s Apocalypse.” It is about my stepfather who was near death. Carol asked me to write brief comments about the poem.
My stepfather served in the U.S. Navy during World War 2. He was in the Seabees, a construction outfit which built landing strips and established beachheads in the Pacific. He worked on the Islands of Okinawa and Tinian. The Seabees endured Japanese raiding parties at night and snipers during the day. Sailors died or were wounded.
Towards the end of the war in Europe, my stepdad joined the U.S. Army (That’s a story for another time) and they stationed him in Trieste, Italy to do a policing action. Trieste was poverty stricken because of the war.
The images I use in this poem are drawn from the book of Revelation, its horses and riders. I purposely left out the first white horse representing the conquering wars of cruel leaders in Revelation six. But I used the red horse representing the removal of peace in order to allow people to slaughter one another, the black horse representing economic injustice and poverty, and the pale green horse representing death. Then I brought in the white horse of Revelation 19 whose rider is Christ and whose weapon is the Word of God. This horse and rider represent God’s rescue, salvation by resurrection and the gift of life through the grace of God in Christ. This is what my stepdad longed for and so do I.
Soldier’s Apocalypse
Lynn Henry Davis, Navy and Army
On Okinawa’s beach and at Tinian,
Midst sniper fire and sound of manly clash,
He saw the rider of a reddish steed.
But, save by fallen comrades’ implication,
Saw not the Pale Pony’s solemn guest.
In yearning breasts of schoolgirl widows
And hollow eyes of old men children,
The black horse cantered in his vision.
There in Trieste a glimpse of his family future,
But not yet the Pale Pony’s ghoulish green.
Now with heart so limp, congested, pushing
Blood feebly through a twig-like body,
His sunken, vacant eyes mirror it
Galloping inexorably toward him,
The Pale Green Pony and its hooded horseman.
He has seen what is common to all
And in his vision shares a hope, a prayer—
That when the lethal hooves close in
And from earth his clouded sight is gone,
He sees the White One, loving, ride to rescue.
–Gary K. Olson, In The Margins, Huff Press, p 125
Carol:
“What does the LORD require of you but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” the prophet Micah reminds us (6:8). This is how we find meaning, the abundance of life: in loving and just relationship with one another and with God. We screw up. But as Paul Sponheim wrote, “Yes, there is judgment as surely as there is creaturely responsibility. But…there is no judgment without love.” (July 11)
“God’s rescue” and the promised gift of eternal life. Thank you, Gary. Thank you, Paul.
I want to share again the links to Paul Simon’s Seven Psalms, an album arising out of his own dreams, meditating on the concerns in our time, with warning and hope, love and forgiveness, and finally a home in God at the end of our lives.
Album “7 Psalms” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANtntuDslnk