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Worship
Service for May 1, 2022
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Sing praises to God, you faithful! Give thanks to God’s holy name!
P: Weeping may linger for a night, but joy
comes in the morning.
L: You turn our weeping to dancing, God;
P: You remove the garments of mourning and
clothe us in gladness.
L: May we praise You and not be silent!
P: We will give thanks to You, O God,
forever!
Opening Hymn – All Hail the Power of Jesus’
Name Hymn #142/43
Prayer of Confession
God, we
confess that there are many hours when we are not mindful of Your
presence. We give up the comfort and
avoid the challenge that come from Your Word and Spirit. Forgive us and restore the joy of knowing
You. May Christ be made known among us
in our acts of love for one another. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Because of the grace of God, the
redemption bought by Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit,
your sins have been forgiven.
P: Thanks be to God! Amen.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Almighty God,
your strength and might overshadow the darkness of the world. Your presence gives us joy and contentment,
even in the midst of suffering. Hear us
as we cry out to You, and enter every situation of need with your life-giving
love. Teach us to trust You through
every trial and problem we face, that we might serve as a witness to others of Your
unfailing love and mercy. In the same
way You come to us with compassion and grace, send us to others with the light
of your hope.
In our caring for others,
we shared concerns with one another. We
now lift them up to You and ask that You also care for….
Hear our inner thoughts Lord as we pray to You in silence….
In the glorious name of Jesus Christ, we now pray together saying…
Our Father who art in
heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – O
Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go Hymn #384/606
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm
30
Second Scripture Reading – Revelation
5:11-14
Sermon “The
Myriads”
The Myriads
(based on Rev. 5:11-14)
To be perfectly honest, my least
favorite time to preach is between Easter and Pentecost. Partly because Easter was really the climax
of the Christian Story. Pentecost itself
is a sub-climax to the story, but there really isn’t much of a build-up to it. And the second reason is due to the offering
of passages from the Revised Common Lectionary.
The Revised Common Lectionary always offers four readings for every
Sunday on a Three Year Cycle – one from the Old Testament, a second one from
the Psalms, a third reading from the Gospels and the last from an Epistle. However, between Easter and Pentecost, they
usually drop the Old Testament reading in favor of passage from Acts and the
gospel reading always seems odd in chronology since they are mostly about
Jesus’ ministry with his disciples. And
the Lectionary schedule usually opts for a reading from Revelation as the
Epistle reading.
From a pastor’s and preacher’s point
of view, it’s difficult to take a passage from Acts and preach on it because
the whole book needs to be studied in its entirety, in my opinion. I find it difficult to isolate one story and
try to sermonize on it as each depends so much on everything that was going on
with the growth of the church and the mission of the twelve apostles after
Christ’s resurrection. And Revelation,
likewise. It is mostly a symbolic or
allegorical story of a vision of the far distant future and requires a serious
study which is not easily conducive to Sunday morning sermons.
So,
between now and Pentecost I always feel discomfort about preaching. Shall I preach on a psalm – not necessarily an
impossible task, but a daunting one? Or do
I tell, or retell, a tried and true gospel story one more time? Or do I plunge head first into the Acts of
the Apostles and the unrealistic expectations (for today) of the growth of the
Christian Church or do I instead go with the Symbolic Vision of the writer of
Revelation, even as the author clearly states that it all came to him in a
dream.
You’ll
notice over the next few weeks, until we get to Pentecost Sunday on June 5,
that I end up jumping back and forth between all of them.
This
morning I am plunging headfirst into the Revelation passage because this
particular passage doesn’t need a lot of background information and isn’t full
of allegorical or symbolic meaning. It
does, however, point to a far distant imagined future where Christ completes
the new creation.
Let’s
first recognize the audience that the author of Revelation was writing to;
namely, small, struggling Christian communities who were enduring significant
persecution from Roman authorities, as well as some internal squabbles from
among one another regarding an evolving theology.
And
now a short explanation of the setting in chapter 5 prior to the verses we
read. In the beginning of Chapter 5, God
holds a scroll which has been sealed shut with seven seals. And an angel of the Lord searches for someone
who is worthy enough to open the scroll and break the seals. This sounds a little like God’s search of Noah
to build the ark to save the world, or the search for Abraham to bless and multiply
the nations, or the search for Joseph to rescue his people from famine, or the
search for Moses to lead the people out of bondage. One person who is worthy enough, in spite of
their flaws.
However,
this is the ultimate search and test; the defeat of evil and the fullness of
God’s reign for all eternity. The angels’
search for such a one is in vain for no one is found worthy to break the seals
and open the scrolls. And so, in the
beginning of chapter 5, John, the author and receiver of the vision, breaks
down in tears. At this point, an elder
approaches John and tells him that he need cry no longer because the Lion of
Judah has conquered and is worthy to open the scroll.
John
turns, expecting to see a great lion, majestic in glory, powerful in might,
ferocious in battle – King of all beasts; worthy of praise and adoration. Instead, John finds a lamb, war-town and
embattled, standing as if it had been slaughtered. This Lamb goes to the throne and takes the
scroll. At this, the elders immediately
fall before him and worship.
Here
is where our passage begins, as the chorus of praise to the Lamb continues to
grow: many angels, the four living creatures (we do not know what these are),
but evidently some type of beasts of creation from God we’ve never seen before
and the elders once again sing with a loud voice. There are so many that they number into the
myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.
For the author of the time, a myriad (or murios in Greek) was
specifically defined as the number ten thousand, but in reality, it meant an
uncountable number, a number so large that it is in truth innumerable. To the ancient writers most people couldn’t
fathom or grasp the number ten thousand, it was so large. Therefore, the word murios was
used. However, today we might use the
phrase billions upon billions instead to convey the same idea or meaning.
The
entire concept of Revelation is for you to imagine. For you to step into the dream world of
possibilities and look beyond what is easily grasped and into a future that is
beyond our imaginations. In these short
verses of scripture, we are to picture a new heaven and a new earth with all
the elders and these strange looking living creatures that we’ve never
encountered before and all the angels that number into the billions praising
and singing to the Holy Trinity; God, Christ, and the Spirit. Can you even imagine such a sight or
sound? Think about how glorious it is when
the pews of this church is packed full and the sound of the hymns sung together
makes the walls of the church fill with joy and wonder. We long for that day. We yearn for those fleeting moments. It is the same longing and yearning we have
for the future when the Lamb who is worthy breaks the seals of the scroll and
reveals that the powers of evil have been banished forever.
And
yet, that’s not the end of the scene. As
the seals are broken, this heavenly chorus sings of what they represent. If you go to verse 12, they sing, “Worthy is
the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive:
Power –
first seal
and Wealth
– second seal
and Wisdom
– third seal
and Might
– fourth seal
and
Honor – fifth seal
and
Glory – sixth seal
and
Blessing” – the final, seventh seal
All
seven seals broken, not just five or six, seven – which often represents the
number of perfection in ancient writings.
If seven represents the number of perfection; which number, do you
think, is given the most importance? The
first one, power? The last one, blessing?
Actually,
it’s the one in the center, surrounded equally by the ones in front of it and
the ones behind it. So, it is number 4
or Might. This Lamb of God, the Lion of
Judah, is so mighty that death will not destroy it, that evil will not
overpower it, that the Lamb is the only one worthy enough, powerful enough,
strong enough, mighty enough to break the seals and open the scroll. This Lamb is mighty. The first three; power, wealth, and wisdom
pour themselves into the fourth one; might.
And might reveals the final three; honor, glory, and blessing.
After
the seals are broken and what was written on the scroll revealed; which are the
attributes of perfection in the Lamb and the final destiny of the future
without evil, with God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit seated on the throne,
there are more voices added to the heaven choir.
Verse
13 tells us that EVERY creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and
in the sea, joins their voices together with the heavenly multitudes as well to
praise and worship those seated on the throne.
I’m not sure what your vision of heaven is, but in this vision, EVERY
creature is there. Not just those who we
think are worthy, who we think will go to heaven; not just those who pass some
kind of litmus test for Spiritual Entry into those Pearly gates, but it is
quite clear in this passage from Revelation Chapter 5, verse 13 that EVERY
voice is there and is raised in praise to those who are on the throne. And it’s not just our human brothers and
sisters, but EVERY creature, as well.
Can
you imagine the sound of the birds that have ever lived singing? Can you imagine the wonder of the leviathans of
the deep singing their whale songs to God?
Can you imagine the triumphant chorus of every human being that has ever
walked this earth singing praise to God?
And somehow that noise does not hurt our ears, but makes us want to sing
our praises even louder.
One day,
the heavens will be filled with the glory of God as we all join our voices with
the Myriads in heaven and sing our praise to God pouring back what has been
poured out on us; blessing and honor and glory and might!
And
the four living creatures said, “AMEN”
Offertory
Doxology
Prayer of Dedication
Gracious
God, we give thanks that through Christ, we live in Your favor. In praise and thanksgiving, we offer these
gifts as we commit ourselves again to Your service as members of the living
body of Christ. AMEN.
Closing Hymn – Fairest Lord Jesus Hymn #306/87
Benediction –
You are the
people of the Resurrection! You know the
powerful love of God! Go into God’s
world proclaiming hope, peace, and joy, in the name of the Risen Lord. AMEN.
Postlude
