07 May Tuesday

The lectionary choses hymns or canticles from Revelations during this Easter season to sustain the “Alleluia” motif throughout. Actually Revelations is not so much a scary text but a cosmic vision of preparing for the great wedding feast of heaven and earth, the Lamb and the Church. These hymns are inserted throughout to encourage, build up, and comfort the Church during the great trials of purification. The resurrection is the great consolation God gives to us: death and evil will not win.

“Every nation, race, people, and tongue”, the great ingathering should be the goal of every parish When I look out over the congregation it is a joy see the diversity, that here in church we can all impartially come before God as a community. This means evangelization, invitation, hospitality in the great mingling; no one should be isolated at the sign of peace.

How did this throng survive the great distress? Faithfulness, not in some quiet self-protecting way, but by bearing witness to the Lamb. This particular hymns emphasizes the protection and provision of the Lamb in the idea of “shelter” and “life-giving water” and “wiping away every tear.” These verses show the great tenderness of the Father and the Lamb. It is a comforting verse, and it is often deployed at funerals. These gentle actions and powers of God reflect the Good Shepherd imagery of the Gospel.