I cannot be the only retired clergyman who listens to one sermon while mentally writing the outline of a quite different one. Last Sunday the cathedral I attend commemorated All Saints, and the preacher shared with us some well-chosen insights from the gospel reading of Matthew’s Beatitudes. Meanwhile, I was pondering the other quite different reading set for the day, a passage from Revelation 7. In this reading we hear of a vision of heavenly worship and the involvement of a ‘great multitude which no one could count’. A link with the All Saints festival is established through the fact that the elder, interpreting the scene, declares that this huge throng of people are those who have passed through trials of persecution, ‘the great ordeal’ as it is described. These martyrs have now reached the place of their reward. They now enjoy the bliss of being in the presence of God for ever.
As I thought about this vision, it struck me that there was something more going on in this passage than a New Testament attempt to evoke the reality of heaven. It is probably not a useful exercise to ask how the author ‘saw’ something so obviously beyond human conceptualisation. The passage as we have it is evocative of the visionary language of Ezekiel and Isaiah. Even though the visionary language may be borrowed, there is still a strong sense of the author communicating his own sense of the glory and wonder of the divine presence and inviting the reader to share his experience. We are drawn from the mundane to consider the eternity of God, before whose presence we all hope one day to enjoy being.
The striking series of words which captured my imagination in the vision were these. ‘As I looked, there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages….they worship him day and night within his temple.’ Apart from appreciating this passage as one trying to communicate the reality of God’s presence, I found myself struck by the universality communicated in the vision. The vision symbolically saw the entirety of humankind brought together. Christian saints were to be found in every nation and tribe and language, not just the groups we belong to or approve of.
Those of us who went to Sunday School in the 50s and 60s probably sang the chorus, ‘Jesus died for all the children….. red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight’. No doubt this hymn has gone firmly out of fashion, along with many other choruses from that period. Nevertheless, it was trying to teach children the lesson that Christian discipleship belongs potentially to humanity in its entirety. The modern word to capture this insight is inclusivity. If there were to be a modern version of the vision of John, he might have said something along these lines. I saw a great throng from every class, colour, sexual minority, and ethic/religious group. People were caught up in the worship of God on the throne because of their membership of humanity and through their attempts to feel after God and find him.
At a time when the tendency among many Christian people is to withdraw off into their small like-minded groups which are described as ‘orthodox’ or pure, I am suggesting that these few verses from Revelation give us a different picture. Inclusive Christians and Inclusive Evangelicals are far closer to the spirit of the author of Revelation who ‘saw’ something far more glorious than our current narrow tribalisms. This is doing so much to destroy the Church with all the power of hate and division.
A further point from the Revelation vision is that it was beyond the scope of human measuring capability to count those worshipping God. This detail implies that God is simply not interested in counting numbers or setting up boundaries between the saved and the unsaved. Such boundaries seem to serve the purpose of boosting the insecure and convincing them that they have some kind of prestige in commanding the greatest numbers.
In recent weeks we have been made horribly aware of one of the major divisions among the human tribes that exist in our world. The present conflict in Gaza began as a hideous outburst of racial and tribal hatred. This had been nurtured to its present explosive state by decades of injustice and division. If one had thought that a situation of uneasy peace between Jew and Arab in any way existed over the past decades, the sheer brutality of the past days has shown how little progress has been made in the task of reconciliation. Similar festering hatreds continue to exist in countries such as India and the United States. The word tribe refers to many types of difference that exist between groups of human beings. The problem with any type of tribal behaviour is that people will always cling to their group as a way of feeling safe in the face of the unknown and feared.
The recent divisions within the Church over the issue of same-sex marriage have erupted recently with extraordinary ferocity. We are now in the crazy situation of being expected to define our loyalties in the Church according to what we think about same-sex relationships. While there have, in the past, always been differences within the Church of England in terms of belief and practice, there has never before been a single issue which threatens to sunder the Church apart. Most of us thought that this issue would never become a first order matter so that Christians would feel it necessary to shatter centuries of common life simply to go off to belong to a completely independent entity. Is it not a poor basis for schism to found a new entity which is based on the intensity of one tribe’s intense homophobia?
Returning to the book of Revelation, it would seem that the writer had a powerful vision of how human beings, normally divided through race, tribe, language and political/sexual identity, somehow could be joined up together to form a huge united group. They fulfilled this calling to be united in and dedicated to the everlasting worship of God. Some might question whether a state of everlasting worship is something they want to be involved with. We might find it hard to imagine how an endless contemplation of the divine would be something to aspire to. In answer to this conundrum, we can mention the words of Augustine who no doubt also struggled with the limit of human imagination and longing, ‘Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you’.
The Revelation passage is a strong indicator that all the things that divide us in our membership of humanity are of limited significance when set alongside the dazzling reality of God’s presence. If that is true on the far side of the grave, then we need here to renounce our tendency to hunker down behind our variety of tribal loyalties. We should be learning to see that all the differences that we cultivate in life to make us feel superior to others are of no lasting importance or value. The revelation that came to John was of a sea of humanity all united in the single activity of worshipping God, and this showed him clearly how humanity can be one. To do justice to this powerful transcendent vision, we need to be able, at the very least, to resist the temptation to look at people who are not like us and think of them as somehow inferior. Above all, we must be able to renounce the common phobias inside us that we have about other people. There is something pretty shameful about looking down on someone. Of all the sins of which we are guilty, possibly the most prevalent is this act of shunning another for being different from us. It is probably necessary to be alert to the possible malevolence of other people which may affect our human flourishing but there is never room for pushing another away on the grounds that they are different from us.
The vision of Revelation and the sight of a vast multitude worshipping God has entered into the Christian imagination in many ways. What we have begun to glimpse in this piece is that God’s welcome to ‘every tribe and nation’ speaks of a hugely and overwhelming inclusivity. This is something we seem to be so bad at realising in our church life. There is, in God’s kingdom, no room for phobia, prejudice or shutting out of any kind. All are called to the worship of God and, as far as possible our acceptance and service of those human beings we encounter in our daily life.
This sounds lovely – but it’s not quite lined up with the text, is it? John (Gospel, Letters and Apocalypse) draws sweeping lines of inclusion, but simultaneously polarises and excludes. Here Rev. 21:8 fights your schema, to my eye at least: ‘But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.’
Doesn’t that beg the question how we define ‘sexually immoral’? And why on earth should the cowardly be eternally condemned? Jesus compared himself to a person who wouldn’t extinguish a smoking candle or break a bruised reed. That doesn’t sound like a judge who would be harsh on weak characters.
As always, you can find verses in the Bible which happily contradict one another!
Indeed, as Janet says how we interpret the terms makes such a difference too. Murderers? How strong are your pacifist / conscientious objector / anti abortion views? I’ve known people in those camps regard what are sometimes quite necessary actions due to circumstances as murder.
The same with ‘idolators’ and ‘all liars’ – so there will be very few politicians in heaven then? Or patriots, or enthusiasts for particular interests, or other religions?
And the people who are genuine, committed and believing Christians, including sensitive heterosexuals who struggle with their sexual orientation? Depending on how narrowly you read the various injunctions, very few of us are going to be there in glory, save for the grace of God
We could argue this one for ever, until Mary calls the cattle home across the sands of Dee……. (and if you know the song, she never came home – the quicksands got her.)
Janet, “cowardly” means those who use others as human shields (materialist). Chris, and Stephen, I take it as read that the rest of the picture is not explicit but implicit in what you have written.
My observation of the C of E, which is now 100 % “evangelical”, is that it (and “evangelicals”) are out to influence (materialist) (the philosophy of Kahnemann, which repelled even the nihilist Dennett).
“Christian life” has no longer to do with sizing up one’s neighbour or believing in Holy Scripture and Holy Spirit. What happened to prayers for match-making? Wouldn’t a God of the sort in the Bible want to match us? Prayer is universally seen as a manipulation (sorcery) against one’s own neighbours instead of believing supplication. Why are evangelicals complacent about the predation by proxy coming from authority which has caused all the loneliness? Stott, writer of superficial books, was too close to authority.
Heavens were shut by the abolition of real prayer by 1966 and further by political (materialist) body theology (sex obssession) by 1983, exacerbated by the current (materialist) gender theology imposing official roles and styles on individuality, leading to grotesque copies (not the other way round).
Even women and girls (half the population) aren’t conscious that they don’t know how to signal to men and boys how to relate. How are men and boys going to relate when they have been told to prey on others. Because I am eyewitness and it happened more than three years ago, I don’t get listened to. I am an old man and my RE teacher brought in the predator philosophy as “civics” as a pretend “discussion”.
Things don’t work together for good for those who don’t supplicate to God to care for us after we spew out of the end of their “evangelising” machine, as I did in my late teens. I have been asking churches what next. “Que sara sara” is logical necessity (inevitable outcome), instead of getting my kindly God on the job of opposing propaganda and inspiring relating (causal necessity).
The C of E has many roles. I would suggest they pull out of marrying for a period.
The inspiring testimonies on the “Place of lament” page by Trish, Joanna, Adrian and Alison Schofield, refer to this.
Michael, you knot’s not true that the C of E’ is now 100 % “evangelical”’. The proportion of evangelicals has grown but there are still Anglo-Catholics, liberals, and non-aligned members and clergy. No one could call e.g. the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Blackburn, or the Bishop of Chichester evangelical. And most evangelicals, far from being out to ‘materialise’ Kahnemann’s philosophy, have never heard of him.
Perceiving a chance to influence (dominionism) by divine right (dispensationism i.e self-fulfilling prophecy in church development), by limiting its criticism of libertinism to its effects among ordinary people, was too big a temptation and the reason the well-connected evangelicals in “mixed denominations” were warned against that as mass media opportunities loomed.
Meantime the factions have formed their own “Societies” as ginger groups. The main raison d’etre of the factions is to tiptoe around each other so as to not lose influence. One thinks of the 1840s (probably before the time of most of you 😉 ) but I dare say there was more prayer then?
Had the amount of prayer raised up by Anglicans and by evangelicals in general, lessened? I think that prayer has been taught less. Prayer as a form of superstitition was increasingly valued.
Of course there are good bishops in some regions, and certain clergy under those are less enlightened than them.
My argument and apparently yours, and Stephen’s and Chris’s is surely that the changes that impacted us personally (e.g what authority wrongly told me and children around me about our personal most private lives) is something that C of E factions copying the evangelicals in influence seeking (as substitute for supplication) haven’t addressed. This leads to the lack of care Trish, Joanna, Adrian, Alison, you and I have testified to. The single and everyone with varied neurology are targetted as were critical spirits in schools.
The Bible doesn’t say that men have to be against women like those schoolteachers and many newfangled evangelicals say. God created us male AND female together (additive) – all the time and not just when “copulating”.
It’s wrong to equate libertinism with an orientation issue without stressing Holy Spirit filled virtue cultivating in ALL matters not excluding intellectual. If evangelicals wish to not educate themselves or embrace spiritual insight their influencing will be materialistic.
The young and middle aged of the last few decades know very well they are condemned to loneliness. A real Gospel would aim to give us hope that we shall have Another Comforter (since Ascension) who will give our peers ability to care.
I aimed to show you that there is no dichotomy between your position and Chris’ as here stated, if you believe in all the meanings of Holy Scripture. Cowardliness is using us as human shields.
‘We are drawn from the mundane to consider the eternity of God, before whose presence we all hope one day to enjoy being.’
To worship Him as one. If you’ve had the dubious experience of sampling different churches and denominations, or even spending considerable time in different traditions, it’s remarkable how similar they are. Obviously there are intellectual distinctions left, right and centre, but basically humanity has the same old tendencies to pit himself against others, to show off, to ascend the hierarchy, and mostly to make church about him, and not Him.
Hopefully this will all be stripped away in the vision of heaven in Revelation. Wouldn’t it be great if we could put some effort into breaking down these artificial and pointless barriers before then as well?
One of the advantages of the internet age (and there are downsides obviously too) is that shortcomings in all leadership streams from every denomination, are patently clear. It’s hard to find a single one which hasn’t horlicks-ed it up. Almost none would qualify for the great hereafter without a supreme Grace. This becomes much clearer as we look outside our bubbles and learn humility as we age.
‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.’
Beginning at the eldest.
I hadn’t aimed to go on at length with diachronic observations and synthesis (partly owing to yourselves) – but to sum up I recall that the charismatic phenomenon of my late teens to mid twenties shied from publicity, and promoted empathy and intuition within reason (as well as slightly often, beyond), and prayer was made in belief. Muscular Christianity perhaps in a Bash Nash mould, to be emulated competitively by more than one movement, has seemed to gain the upper hand (Pinkvicar has blogged about shaming). Holy Spirit, Who is God With Us Continuing, providentially un-depraves us (theologically) for each moment.
I’m watching a Colombian church where a boy veteran of a talent show (who had had a grave lung condition in infancy) seems to be a cantor (and I don’t know what that church are like at other moments). The gifts can come through all of us – AND incidentally, especially on weekdays – AND not solely by permission of bosses. To risk turning Stephen’s blog into a prayer column I pray that these fruits may manifest in all UK churches from now as well as in all countries, Amen!
An excellent teaching piece; comprehensible and with an appropriate visual aid. Worthy to be absorbed slowly and carefully more than once. Thank you Stephen.
Thank you, Stephen. I found your piece helpful in a positive way.
I struggle with the inclusivity / exclusivity of the gospel message; so much of it is the conflict between emotion (I don’t like excluding anybody, particularly from eternal life) and the clinical reasoning of evangelical theology, which in the reformed form that I know can be very narrow and exclusive indeed.
The issue came up again on Sunday morning – for me, at least – with the annual Remembrance parade. A very good service, actually, using material from the Bible Society, but it was the prayer which raised my questions. It ran something like this – “Oh, God who has gathered to your eternal rest all those who gave their lives in war….”
Has he? How do you balance that, which to me had very clear universalist implications, with the dogma that only those who trusted in Christ’s salvation are in heaven? Only God knows for certain – whether we presume to or not.
Lutyens encountered similar reservations when he designed the wording on the Cenotaph, insisting it could not be specifically Christian in its wording because it also covered men of all the other faiths who’d died for the Empire. The book ‘Requiem Healing’ mentions this – during the Great War the CofE borrowed the Muslim idea that those who died for their country get a free ticket to paradise, as a means of comforting (false comfort?) their relatives. Never officially taught, it was certainly widely inferred, and inscribed on memorials.
Certainly I know that the vicar of Hanmer in 1916 declared in his Easter address that “to fight manfully for Christ” meant “join the colours. The soldiers of Christ,”, he proclaimed, “wear khaki.” Like many other clergy, he acted as a recruiting officer, and, yes, that little Marcher parish cenotaph has a depressingly long list of names. (My late grandmother kept notes of all his sermons.)
Once again, we’re back to the ‘scandal of particularity’ , the demand to make a decision and ‘what think ye of Christ?’ I only know this – the other night, praying in despair for the innocents in Gaza, the babies in that hospital and the children in the unsafe areas, I pleaded with our Father to forget the (expletive deleted) theology we lay down, and receive them into his eternal kingdom out of love. They’re barely old enough to walk, never mind carry a rifle – or make a decision about a Christ they’ve never had chance to hear about!
I agree Stephen that All Saints Day should be celebrated by the reading of that passage in Revelation. The point you made about thinking we are superior and knowing better than others is very important. The letting go of this idea is the beginning of accepting others in love.