What’s New?
Revelation 21: 1-6

Rev. Dr. Leslie Taylor, preaching

(At least, she was planning to…you’ll see!)

Ever wished for a do-over? Revelation 21: 1-6 offers a grander vision: a radical renewal, not a replacement, of our world. As Eugene Boring says, God makes "all things new." This isn't escape but a shattering of barriers obscuring God's dream. John's "new earth" and "new heaven" depict a world where oppressive systems like Rome then or any injustice now, are finally gone, allowing creation's true potential to bloom.

Revelation's journey involves struggle, but its longing is for a future free of suffering, mourning, and tears, where everyone belongs. The ideologies of division will "pass away." The Divine is the source, yet God works through us — our hands, bodies, relationships, gifts. If we desire this just world, we must actively build it, trusting God's renewal through us.

Adrienne Maree Brown reminds us, "Dreams and imagination...are the way we make oppression temporary." John urges us beyond passive waiting or small fixes to broken systems. We must dare to dream God's big dream:

What would our local communities become if truly made new? What injustices dismantled what equity built?

What would our church look like, radically transformed into a "new earth" of inclusion, love, and justice?

This isn't about a distant future, but igniting our imagination now, envisioning God's dream and building it, act by act. What is God's big dream for you, for us, for the world? Let us begin to dream it together.

Based on Revelation 21: 1-6

Music this week:

• I Will Celebrate

• Number 40

• Be Thou My Vision

• Live in Charity

• Better is One Day

• Love Divine, All Loves Excelling