Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commcommons.church for more information.

Now at this point in the season, we're well on our way in the series Upside Down Apocalypse. Maybe we didn't exactly plan for the spookiness of Halloween to map onto the spookiness of the New Testament letter of or book of Revelation, but I am here for it because I happen to love creepy things. Last week, Jeremy, who is not a creepy thing, launched us into the second cycle in John's revelation, the cycle of the throne room. In heaven's throne room, we meet four fantastical creatures with all their faces and their eyes and wings. They represent a rightly ordered universe.

Now at the center of this heavenly throne room, there is someone sitting on the throne. And you wouldn't be so wrong to assume that someone could be God. Only only only John likes to set us up before he pulls the rug out from under us. I love that trickster quality in him. John says, don't get too comfortable.

Remember, alternative community is not a power hungry empire. It is a movement of mercy. And so John creates a scene where that someone on the throne isn't actually God. It is someone who makes themselves out to be a God and that someone is the emperor Domitian. But surprise, surprise, Domitian doesn't actually have what it takes to open the all important revelation seals.

So when you think that the world has lost all sanity and violence has won the day, notice that there is someone about to turn that power of the throne upside down. Is it a mightier emperor? Is it a commander of a bigger army? Is it a wilier opponent? No.

It is but a little lamb. So small, so vulnerable, bloodied and beaten by the state. What a trip John takes us on. It's nearly psychedelic, and it comforts as much as it disturbs, flipping us upside down so that we can see the world right side up. Now before we saddle up our apocalyptic horses and race into Revelation six, before we take a moment to be still and to be quiet, let's remember our rules for reading Revelation.

Shall we? Yes, we shall. Number one, the imagery we find in Revelation is not predictive. It's not here to tell you what's coming in the future. Rule number two, revelation is cyclical, not linear.

This will change revelation for you. Same story, expanded themes again and again. Three, this text is not actually that apocalyptic. It borrows from the genre, but it's prophetic and it's hopeful in nature. Got it?

Locked in. Okay. Let us pray. Loving God, you are present with us in times of stress, in celebration, in contemplation, in curiosity, in certainty, in mystery. Thank you for the ways that you are always known and unknown, and that we can never exhaust who you are.

And we take this moment to notice what's going on for us, where we might be holding some anxieties in our bodies, worry for those we love, or relationships that are a struggle. We just notice that. And if it's right for us, we say simple prayers like, please help, please work, please be present in decisions and discernment. God, for the ways that you speak to us in creation, for the ways you speak to us in scripture, for the ways you speak to us in our bodies, in our minds, in our hearts, say thank you. Amen.

Alright. Today, we will talk about riders, a remnant, woah exclamation point, multitude period, and deep peace. Alright. Giddy up. We begin in Revelation six.

John narrates a vision. I watched as the lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, come. And I looked, and there before me was a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and it was given a crown.

And he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. Now John isn't exactly breaking new ground here. Like most creativity, he borrows and bends existing material to communicate his message. This vision is imaginative. I mean, Jesus is a little lamb.

Right? And the seals interpret events in John's world from this heavenly perspective. And John steals Zechariah's old testament vision of empires in the form of colorful chariots. Now, I like art. Maybe you like art too.

So I'm going to keep flashing this woodcut print. It's a visual by the German Renaissance artist, Albrecht Durer, titled The Revelation of Saint John, the Four Riders of the Apocalypse. Art history sidebar here. Albrecht Durer was the first to do a self portrait and make it popular. He was the first to put art out in the world as self depiction.

In other words, he was the first to selfie. Very cool guy. A bit ahead of his time. And one of the things I like about this woodcut is how Durer captures the human experience in its agony and with empathy. He was known for this.

Okay? Back to the riders. The first rider wears a victor's crown and carries a bow, and that symbol would speak to the Roman Empire as one of conquest through war. And the white horse stands for victory, but it's actually not that simple. The bow in the warrior's hand has a bit of a double meaning.

Everywhere in Asia, there was this fear that the borders of the empire couldn't keep out the sophisticated fighters known as the Parthians. And the Parthians were from the East and the bane of Rome, incredible archers who brought the Roman army to its knees in AD sixty two. All this to say that while the first rider stirs up war, it's possible that the writer is not only conqueror, but taken to its inevitable conclusion, conquered. In a world defended by violence, you can't stay on top forever. As a public service commercial from the nineteen nineties used to declare, violence makes victims of us all.

And it worked because I still remember that line. So let's move on to the second rider starting in verse three. When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come, and I am gonna keep doing it like that every time. So you're welcome. Then another horse came out, a fiery red one.

Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword. The rider and the red horse are a critique of Rome's version of peace, the Pax Romana. Below those galloping hooves lie questions like, who really wins here? Like, can there be peace if it's brought about by the sword?

Like, how steady is our world if we teeter on a knife's edge of slaughter? And there's a perplexing permission in this scene. The verb lambano for the power that was given to take is passive. It's like the empire was shaped around the weaponry of false peace and God did not remove the sword. It's illustrative of how we make the world that we live in.

That as persistent as God's love and grace and peace are, we marginalize that which is good and we center that which is violent. We do that. In Jewish thought, the time the end of time would include the disintegration of all human relationships, like totally losing our way toward one another, finding ways to kill and not care. And before reaching a conclusion, it would seem that God lets us. Okay.

Okay. Let's check-in. How are we feeling? Do we feel a little tired? Like exhausted by these riders?

The four horsemen of the apocalypse have captured our imagination for centuries because we know something of their chaos. Like, when do we not feel the earth shake with their stampeding threat? War, violence, dominance, abuse, structural inequality, dehumanizing technology. It is a lot. So let's take a breath, but be brave and carry on with writer three of four.

When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come. And I looked, and there before me was a black horse. Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures saying, two pounds of wheat for a day's wage and six pounds of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine. In our Durer woodcut, this is the rider at the center of the scene.

He is bulky, and he swings that scale in his hand. What's being depicted here is food insecurity and inflation and a predatory economy. There's this mystery voice here that breaks it down for John's audience, like, attention, customers. Grain is so expensive on Aisle 4. Even a day's wage won't buy enough of what you need.

Which makes me think a little bit about Loblaws freezing no name prices while increasing profits by millions. I mean, thank you, grocery store overlords, but is this the best we can do, we all can do, to make sure that everybody has what they need in a looming recession? The answer is it's not. It's not the best we can do. Rome had a rich, getting richer problem, and that always hurts the poor.

Alright. We are nearly there. Rider four. When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, everybody, come. You did it.

I really hoped you would meet me in that. I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Now this is actually my favorite of Durer's creepy riders.

A horse just wasting away with a wasting away rider and a monster beneath them gobbling up a king. Here, we see the consequences of wreaking havoc on the earth through war and violence and corruption. And what are the consequences? Sickness, famine, and death with a capital d, all of which are indiscriminate. Sickness and death will come for the beggar and the king both.

And there you have it. A stampede of chaos and destruction and raw military power from the four corners of the earth. Now, what are we to make of those riders? First off, it is worth naming that John is not trying to glorify violence. Yes.

These writers are a bit of a horror show, but it's a vision. It's imaginative take on reality. It's a wood carving, if you will. And John portrays an imperial system just as it is. The truth behind Rome's peace is that it's manufactured with violence.

The truth behind the wealth of Rome is that it ruins bodies and land. And the truth about and behind what seems glamorous and sexy is that it knows no respect and no dignity. John says this is what's real about the world that humans shape, but it is not everything. Look further. The cycle finds its rotation on what comes next, a scene of a select group of people saved, a remnant of the faithful worshiping.

After all seven seals are opened by the lamb, and more and more chaos is drawn out until the sun goes black and the moon turns blood red and stars fall like figs from the sky and kings hide in caves and cry out, save us, we get this reprieve. Revelation seven. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or the sea or on any tree. It's stillness everywhere. Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000, from all the tribes of Israel.

An angel places a seal of belonging on each person in the tribes, 12,000 from Judah, 12,000 from Reuben, 12,000 from Gad, and so on, until it adds up to 144,000. For a group of people who were small in number in an imposing Roman Empire, these numbers actually probably felt lavish. Could there really be so many of us? Could me and my friends be saved from the forces that destroy? Like, is there finally a limit to the chaos carried out by these riders?

I wonder though, if you're justice oriented, and I think that you are, do you ask, is this really good news? Is it enough that 144,000 are saved? Like, why are so many left out? Maybe you know this suspicion, these questions in yourself, especially if you've been around a version of Christianity that says, just stay in your holy huddle and point fingers at what's wrong with everyone else. Whatever you do, don't get mired by the mud of the world.

And I always had a hard time with that message that was handed to me in Christian culture, especially when I was young and trying to figure out what it actually meant to be a Christian. And I'd grow up to find that the world was sometimes kinder to me than the church, especially as a woman. And I mean, I refuse to believe that that was the capital c church as in this alternative community that Jesus started. But holy huddles aren't really Jesus' jam, are they? Like, sure, he had these close friends, but he had an inclusive vision of the world.

What's happening here in Revelation is an interlude. It is this moment to give John's audience a chance to kinda catch their breath and also to give them some characters to latch onto mostly so John can, in just a moment, completely blow their minds. So for a second, they are allowed to believe, yes, this is our club, this is our story with common tribes and this very secure head count. But John's not finished. Remember, we are in a cycle.

John likes to play with expectations. He brings us right to the edge of despair. He lets us feast on our own apocalyptic fantasies, but then, right as we are about to lose hope, he wows us. Like, just wait till you see what comes next. John's vision moves from a crowd counted to one of countless multitudes.

Chapter seven verse nine. After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. There are people here from every nation and tribe and language and they stand, meaning they are not under judgment, but they're in union with the divine.

It's the same sleight of hand that John pulled last week. First, he heard about a lion, but then he turned and saw a lamb. Here, he sees something predictable that turns into something incomprehensible. You could say what we've been told about God pales in comparison to what God reveals to us in Jesus. The center of your salvation is not an emperor who makes demands on you.

It's not a politician who makes promises they won't keep. And it's not the safety of a tribe where you think sameness equals security. Like, do you ever stop to think that God likes more people in the club, not less? That so much difference could coexist and actually be key to our survival, to our thriving? That God might elbow God's own way into the middle of the multitudes just to enjoy the beauty.

You cannot see the end of salvation. And four riders on horses with war and death at their command have no power over the multitudes gathered around in awe. We overwhelm the worst of what we are with love and with togetherness, with creativity, and wild visions of a brighter future with song and celebration and hearts wide open to amazement. We overwhelm the worst of what is within us by committing ourselves to an alternative community that gathers with difference and with ordering of our desires around a cosmic scene of plenty and belonging and room for you to be who you are. Don't be mistaken though.

This is not a passive vision. Revelation is about resistance. It's about you standing in the world, the horses of the apocalypse racing past you, but you standing there representing something different, something that looks like love and second chances and patience with ourselves and others. It looks like stillness in our bodies and minds and gentleness of our actions and the fierceness of our compassion. It looks like suspending judgment.

Until we do the work to hear a more complicated story, it looks like learning something new about someone or something you didn't understand. It looks like being so committed to the goodness of someone else, of everyone else, that you can't help but get caught up in that goodness too. Even though we could end with the multitude, it is that good. There is one more scene I wanna draw you to before we go. One that I really believe can encourage you through a season that includes shorter days and longer nights.

There's one more scene of deep peace. It's a perfect contrast to the riders. The close of the interlude goes like this. An elder in this myth shaped world asks John, who are all these people in white robes? And John says, you know who they are.

I just like that attitude. You know who they are. And the elder says, right. They are those who have come out of a great tribulation and most likely that means they've come out of their current reality that includes both suffering and divine protection. So the elder goes, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

Again, these are images of protection which we see in the temple imagery. Verse sixteen and seventeen, with these shout outs to the prophet Isaiah. Never again will they hunger. Never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them nor any scorching heat, for the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and the shepherd will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

The point of the interlude is to reassure the people listening to John's far out vision that they are secure in their identity. Yes. Yes. Yes. The world they live in might seem bleak, and injustice has a way of trampling us.

But there is beauty in life, and there is hope. So don't give up. Don't write the ending before it's over. Now, I have to say, there have been many times in my life when I have read the Revelation of John and just rolled my eyes and closed the book. It is strange.

Right? It's so strange. It doesn't really feel like my world, and it feels violent in a way that I prefer to just push off from the side of the pool from. But through our work in this series on the upside down apocalypse, I have found Revelation to do more of what it is meant to do, to comfort us, to remind us of what we love most about faith, the depth of love here, the generosity of God, a just solution to what brings harm. I found Revelation able to connect us even more to the world we actually live in.

Lately, Revelation has felt like Compline or nighttime prayers for me. Maybe you know them, you likely don't, but Compline are liturgies that can be said in a monastic community or all by yourself before you go to sleep at night. When I get trampled by stress or grief or worry or the state of the world, I do. I turn to Compline prayers. Like revelation, they shape faith and trust when it feels like the world is on fire or your heart is broken or you are just afraid.

So I end today with this Compline prayer. It is a model of keeping faith as we boldly stare down the forces of death that do come at us. So riders be damned. Our lives are held by the God of the cosmos. The God we see in Jesus, the lamb, the shepherd, the God who does not baptize our violence but subverts it with healing and living water and so much togetherness and more goodness than your eyes can ever trace the end of.

Compline prayer is revelation. Let us pray. Calm us, oh lord, as you calmed the storm. Still us, o lord, keep us from harm. Let all the tumult within us cease and fold us, Lord, in your peace.

Amen.