Creekside Church Sermon of November 11, 2001 "The City With a Face" Revelation 22:1-5	Rev. David Bibbee
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Last Sunday I said that some day I am going to California to see the giant redwoods and sequoias. Today I will tell you where I have no desire to visit. New York City has never appealed to me. I felt this way long before September 11th. I have never been a fan of New York's sports franchises. I always cheer for whoever is playing the Yankees, Giants, Knicks, Jets, or Nets. My reasons aren't totally justifiable, I know. I shouldn't judge a place I have never visited. Maybe my problem isn't with New York in particular, but cities in general.

I realize that cities have lots to offer. They are monuments to human achievement, the arts, and culture. But they are places where it's best to always lock the door and keep your guard up. In seminary I had to live in the greater metropolitan Chicago area, but I would never live in such an area by choice.

Having said this, you will understand why I was taken back by something I read from two books this week? Both authors had, for lack of a better word, a "mystical" experience in which New York was transformed into the city of God. "What a stretch!" Apparently God was wanting to hold up my rush to judgment.

Let me relate the experience of one of the authors.

On a spring morning he was driving into New York City on a crowded turnpike. The cars glittered in the sunshine. The sky was blue. Music was on the radio, but he didn't need it because the day made its own music. The roar of the trucks. The hum of his engine. The hum of his own thought. Emerging from the Lincoln Tunnel, traffic was as snarled as usual, but there was something unusual about it. It was beautiful to see it, hear it, and be a part of it. It chattered with life-the people, their hodgepodge of faces, taxis, the shops, all of it.

Construction projects were all along 54th Street. He saw a wino stretched out in the sun on a pile of lumber he seemed to possess like a king. Parking his car, he continued on foot. Beneath the atrium of a large office building, people sat on benches eating their lunch. Young and old. Some dressed in sneakers. Some dressed to kill. Sunlight was streaming upon them, and they seemed bathed in the light as they ate in peaceful silence. A clown was blowing balloons and twisting them into doves of peace. Never in the finest of his dreams had he ever experienced anything as real as this moment.

While walking near Central Park he noticed a black woman coming toward him. Just as she passed, she said, "Jesus loves you." Of all the things she could have said, "Jesus loves you," is what came out. She said it as if she had said, "Good morning." It caught him off guard. He turned to thank her but she had already been swallowed by the crowd. He wanted to tell her, "If I believe anything worth believing in this world, I believe in that. Jesus loves me, you, the whole doomed pack of us."

He kept walking. Now it seemed the streets were paved with gold. It was like a new New York coming down out of heaven. The words of Revelation came to him, "The dwelling place of God is with people. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, crying, or pain any more, for the former things passed away." God was playing tricks on his eyes. He wasn't seeing the city as it was. But it wasn't a cruel trick because the vision was a possible one. It was a glimpse of the sort of city that God has waiting in the wings.

A new landmark has been created in New York since his vision. It's called, "Ground Zero"-the epicenter of hatred, terror, and religion gone mad. Thousands of bodies still entombed in the smoking rubble. But it is also the epicenter of something greater. The horror won't be the last word. Towers of goodness and generosity and sacrifice and compassion are under construction. We have seen the worst humanity has to offer, and also the best. But even at our very best we cannot call down the New Jerusalem. Building God's kingdom is a project far beyond our capabilities.

The dazzling, detailed visions of Revelation 21 and 22 make it clear that it is God's project, and not ours. The tree which brings healing, redemption and life is nourished by the river of life which flows from a single source…the throne of God.

Recently I got a call from a concerned person who wanted to know if I thought the world was about to end soon. "I don't know. sensing my answer wasn't much comfort, I added, "The authors of all the popular books that claim to know, don't know either." "But how do you know?" she asked. "I know because Jesus said he didn't know." I don't put confidence in those who think there is a secret code in Revelation that can be cracked by their insight or by a computer.

But Revelation does have an urgent message… "The kingdom is at hand." Jesus said it every which way he could. He preached parables till he was blue in the face. "The kingdom is like a mustard seed. It is like a pearl of great price. It is like a treasure hidden in a field. Look carefully. See the signs. It is near. Do you not perceive it?" Osama Bin Laden and his minions want to force the final chapter by "holy war." His goal is to orchestrate mass terror and destruction, but the end result will not be the kingdom of God.

Only God knows the particulars. But what are we to do in the meantime? Last week you got a sneak peek of our vision statement. The answer to the "What Are We To Do?" question is addressed in this vision. "Like a tree that draws life from the river of God's love, we are a Church of the Brethren congregation, rooted in God, growing in Jesus, and bearing fruit in the Spirit." So what do we do? Put out leaves.

I recall hearing an Old Testament scholar say that Judaism and Christianity are all about "turning brown into green." Both faiths began in the most arid, desolate, brown, place on earth. Jesus took the brown landscape of people's lives and turned their sin, their brokenness, and their alienation to green. The world did its best to do away with Jesus. That's brown. Then there came a resurrection. That's green. To put out leaves means that we create green spaces within ourselves through prayer and between ourselves and others through Christ's caring and Christ's love.

Revelation 22 tells us three things which will characterize life in the city of God. One is worship. By worship we do not mean something we do on Wednesday night and Sunday. In the city of God all of life will be worship. There will be no question about who the recipient of our praise will be. No mention is made about the kind of music by which God and the Lamb will be worshipped. The Lord will be praised in Gregorian chant and Bach chorales, in the hymns of Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts, in Southern gospel and Taizè choruses. It will be done in a capella and with organ accompaniment, it will be done in soft, meditative styles and hard driving rhythms, with piano and organ, trumpet and tambourine, dulcimer and drums, and electric guitars.

We are going to put out leaves and rediscover and reorient ourselves in the true meaning of worship. It is time to re-learn that the point of worship is not to attract people, or please people, but to adore God. True worship isn't about our concerns or our needs. Worship is for God alone.

Listen to these words I shared as a call to worship a couple of weeks ago. It tells us what worship at its very essence should do:

Worship must center on God, glorify Christ, involve people, express praise, communicate the truth of the Bible, encourage faith, promise redemption, reflect the incarnation, build up the church, instill vision, make an offering, nurture communion, and evoke an amen!

My Grandma LeMay made scrapbooks. When I was a child and confined to the house on rainy days, I would leaf through her scrapbooks. One day she asked if I would like to see what God looked like. Who wouldn't want to see God? "Sure!" I said. As she flipped through the pages I was anxious to see how my image squared with the real thing. I thought I was going to see a photograph. Instead it was an artist's rendering of a cloud formation which he thought looked like God. I was unimpressed. God looked like a slimmed down Santa Claus sitting on a sofa wearing, of course, a white robe. I was disappointed. I wanted to see God's face. I still do.

So did Moses. God told Moses he could behold his goodness, graciousness and mercy. "But you cannot see my face, for no one can see my face and live." The best Moses could do was hide in the cleft of a rock as God's glory passed by and sneak a peek of God's backside. In the New Testament, however, the prohibition is loosened. I John 3 says, "The Beloved shall see him as he is." In I Corinthians 13 it says that we "Look through a dark glass dimly, but one day we shall see face to face." In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said the "pure in heart shall see God."

Perhaps you have heard of studies with mothers and their babies designed to measure the impact of facial expressions. When the mother's face was pleasant, reassuring and smiling, the baby was at ease and smiled in return. The mothers were then instructed to look at the infant with a blank, non-responsive stare. A curious thing happened. The infants would smile and coo to get a positive response from mother. With no response, the infants grew anxious. They cried. When tears didn't bring a response, some simply gave up and became apathetic.

There is a face we long to see. We are hard wired for the face of God. Throughout the Psalms there is the plea, "Don't hide your face from us. Lord, make your face to shine upon us." The hymn, "Where Cross The Crowded Ways of Life," was taken from Frank Norris' poem The City of God where this verse appears… "Yet long these multitudes to see the sweet compassion of your face." Revelation tells us that Face will be visible everywhere in the city of God. Wherever you go, wherever you turn, in every face you see, you will see God.

When the new Jerusalem comes to earth it will be the greatest urban renewal project of all time. Within its walls all life will be an act of worship and consecration to God. The glory of his face will invade every cranny and crevice of our lives. The message of the woman on the New York City street will be everywhere "Jesus loves you!" Our text also says, "God's name will be on everyone's forehead." This could mean that God will no longer be an afterthought. God will be at the fore of everyone's thought.

There will be no need for identification. There will be no tattoos. No tee shirts with the advertising that says we belong to Nike, Nascar, Tommy Hilfiger, Miller Lite, or Notre Dame. No crosses around the neck will be needed to identify Christians. Everyone will be branded. All will belong to the family of God.

Back in the early 60's there was an Italian film called La Dolce Vita. As the film opens a helicopter is flying not far above the ground. Suspended beneath it is a life-sized statue of a man in a robe with outstretched arms. It flies over a field and catches the attention of men working on tractors. They wave their hats and yell, and in Italian one of them shouts, "Hey, it's Jesus!" They run along under the helicopter waving and yelling, but it keeps on going until it reaches the outskirts of Rome where it passes over a roof with a swimming pool surrounded by sun bathing girls. They wave at the chopper which then circles back and hovers overhead. The young pilots try to get the girl's phone numbers and say they will return as soon as they drop off the statue at the Vatican. The audience laughs at the incongruity of the scene.

The helicopter continues on its mission until the great Basilica of St. Peter's looms up from below. The camera zooms in on the statue with outstretched arms. Moments before, the sound of laughter filled the theater. With their dates and popcorn, watched Jesus fly through the air. The camera continues to zoom Jesus until his face fills the screen. Everyone is silent. Frederick Buechner said it was as if the face was one they had never seen before, but recognized nevertheless, and on a deep level they needed to belong to that face.

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