Tower and Town, August 2022 (view the full edition)Clergy LetterI see trees of green, red roses too What a wonderful world, as we go on holiday or enjoy the Wiltshire downs or spend time with a friend. Yet, as Louis Armstrong's beautiful song plays in the film Good Morning Vietnam, what an awful world, as scenes of death and destruction flash past. At Emmanuel Church we've been studying the book of Revelation in the Bible. Looking over the apostle John's shoulder, we've seen a vision of a wonderful world to come, not marred by the empty pockets, empty armchairs and screens full of war, which shatter our present experience. I used to think heaven was floating on a floaty cloud, in (at best) a floaty nightie, playing tiny harps forever. It didn't sound very exciting. One might think heaven would be like Wiltshire: bluebell woods, rolling hills and not too many people! But in John's vision, the heavenly paradise will be as concrete as a city. By the end of Revelation, Jesus Christ has returned to judge the living and the dead, he's wrapped up this cosmos and brought a whole new heaven and earth together. What a life to long for! The angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. (Rev 22:1-3, NIV). The Bible begins with the wonderful Garden of Eden. It says God made people, not as robots, but free to choose as it were from two trees. One tree represented life in relationship with our maker. The other tree symbolised rejection of our maker, a decision that we know better what is good and evil. As a stone shatters a window, so the wrong choice brought the world under curse. The Bible ends with John's vision of a heavenly new world. Wonderfully, the only tree there is the tree of life, which spreads as far as the eye can see. The picture language reminds me of the prolific passionfruit which my parents planted at my childhood home in Gabon and how, every day, I'd collect in my t-shirt fruit after fruit after fruit. It says the leaves of that tree will be for the healing of the nations. Don't we long for that healing? Finally, as this world metamorphosizes into the next, God's promised blessing will swallow up the curse of Eden. What a wonderful world where God will live with his people forever! I say to my friends, Please make sure you'll be there! It was Jesus, meek and mild, who warned most boldly of the alternative. I know I've done, said and thought things which Revelation says would have no place in God's heavenly new world. I'm so glad the guest list is called, the Lamb's book of life (Rev 13:8) because Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. The first readers were called not to worship Caesar as Lord. Readers today are called to turn to Jesus as Lord and to trust that he died and rose to take our blame and to ensure our place in his wonderful new world. Being in my early forties, I'm at the stage of having to fight off the mid-life crisis. No doubt there are many things I'm failing to achieve or experience. But I'm encouraged by C.S. Lewis that this life is just the shadowlands - the next life will be ultimate reality! So, as we hear Louis Armstrong's tune, let's enjoy a holiday, the Wiltshire downs, time with friends. But as we see empty pockets, empty armchairs and screens full of war, let's not despair but seek by faith the wonderful new world to come. Reuben Mann |