Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to
repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning
and the End.” Blessed are those who wash their
robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life
and may enter the city by the gates.
“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this
testimony for the churches. I am the root and the
descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The
Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who
hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty
come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as
a gift. The one who testifies to these things says,
“Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.
Amen.

John 17:20-26

“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of
those who believe in me through their word, that they
may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in
you, may they also be in us, so that the world may
believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have
given me I have given them, so that they may be one,
as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may
become completely one, so that the world may know
that you have sent me and have loved them even as
you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also,
whom you have given me, may be with me where I am,
to see my glory, which you have given me because you
loved me before the foundation of the world.
“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I
know you, and these know that you have sent me. I
made your name known to them, and I will make it
known, so that the love with which you have loved me
may be in them and I in them.”

Sailing on the Aegean

It’s good to be back with you this morning. Shari and I have been sailing. At least, they call it sailing. The big ships don’t use sails anymore, but they still call it sailing. And so we were sailors on the sea; on the Aegean Sea, where Paul the Apostle sailed. It was wonderful to experience the Aegean Sea, to think about the geography and history, and to reflect on all the things that have happened on and around the Aegean Sea.

We are One

While we sailed into port early Thursday morning, getting ready to return home, I had a chance to listen to the audio recording of Don’s sermons he preached while I was away, and it was good to hear his message once again. Don was my pastor for many years in Norway-South Paris, and an inspiration to me. He has a gift for connecting with people and talking about the faith life. As I listened to his voice from halfway around the world, while sailing on the beautiful blue Aegean Sea, under the enormous circle of the wide open blue sky, I felt a sense of the greatness of the entire Earth, a sense of living on this thing we call Earth, this planet, with sea and sky, the great orange sun, the moon and stars, and it was an experience of unity, of totality, of completeness: an experience of Earth, Sea and Sky, as One, a complete Oneness, and you and I and all human beings everywhere, all on this great globe, we are all part of this Oneness, and so, in other words, all part of God.

What is God?

What is God, and how do we experience God?

I think that is the question our scripture reading is pointing to this morning. To see the great ocean and the great sky is one way we can experience God. And here on the Maine Coast, we are fortunate to be near the ocean, and to be connected to the ocean. Probably there have been ships sailing into Searsport Harbor from the Aegean Sea, and ships sailing from Searsport to the Aegean Sea. This whole great Earth is connected. We are ONE. God is ONE.

Sailing on the ocean, I got a feeling of just how big this planet is, and traveling, seeing so many people, there is always a sense of just how many people live on Earth. How many people there are–alive– and we are part of that living humanity, the living Oneness.

What is God, and how can we experience God?

Well, of course, God is beyond any definition. It is impossible to say exactly what God is. Words don’t go there. But that doesn’t stop people from trying to describe the mystery.

It’s good to try to describe the mystery, because it puts us into a different headspace. To consider the question, “What is God?” gets us out of our small self and opens us up to a living experience of the vast and infinite universe that is right here and now. This is a different way of thinking, a different kind of knowledge.

The Cosmic Christ

Today is the seventh Sunday in Easter. It’s the last Sunday of the Easter Season. This morning in our readings we have some texts about what is sometimes called the “Cosmic Christ.” This is another way of talking about the “Risen Christ.” Christ Resurrected, the Living Christ, the One who is Here, Right Now; the Holy One; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

And so, all these reading, I think at least, for me, are meant to take us out of our small world and into an expanded view of things; to get us into a cosmic view, if you will, a gigantic view, to explode our heads, if you will, to expand our horizons. In other words, to help us break free of our limited concepts of what Christ is, what God is, and what Reality is. And this is bigger than politics, bigger than our personal problems, bigger than what the neighbor said, bigger than our usual daily habits and patterns.

Expanding Our Horizons

Shari and I had a wonderful time on our vacation. We went on a big trip, traveling to the other side of the globe, to visit Greece and Turkey. And you know, it’s good to get away and see new things. This world is really, really big. And there are so many people living on the planet. It’s easy to forget how big they are, and how many people there actually are. We get so caught up in our daily routines. We have the same patterns, the same thoughts, the same things we do every day, over and over, and, well, you know, our world can get kind of small.

I notice this in myself, too. I notice it in people I talk with. Our view of things can get myopic. “Myopic.” Now there’s a five-dollar word. My dad used to tell me, “Ed, in your sermons, don’t use five-dollar words. People don’t like that.” But I don’t know. Every once in a while, I like those five-dollar words. They make me feel just a little smarter than I am. So there is one of my own delusions for you.

Myopic means “nearsighted.” You know this already. Most of us wear glasses. I had perfect vision until I turned 50, and then all of a sudden, I needed glasses. So myopic means you are not able to see objects that are far away. Nearsighted. And figuratively, it means a lack of insight, a lack of imagination, a general lack of vision not being able to see a bigger picture, getting stuck in minutia, not being able to see the forest for the trees.

And so here, in our readings, we are invited to break out of this myopia and to think about some big things, some really big stuff. Like, What is God? What is the Risen Christ? What is it, Really? And I think these are questions we all have, especially if you come to church enough, sooner or later you are going to ask these questions: What is all this, really?

And so this can push a person into inquiry. Spiritual inquiry. Wanting to know. Actually know– in your own experience, not just intellectually and conceptually, but experientially, to know at the very core of your being, at your gut level–to know– What is this?

The readings today are like a smorgasbord. (There’s a good Swedish word.) A buffet, a table full of all kinds of different food. And you can choose your favorite. Choose your favorite expression from these readings. “What is God?” And so we have this smorgasbord of readings to help us try to answer that.

I want to look at just one this morning. From the very last chapter of the Bible, in Revelation 22, John of Patmos is writing the conclusion to his visions, and writing in the voice of Jesus, the Risen Christ, he says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Each experience we have has a beginning and an end. For example, a vacation trip. You go on a vacation, there is a beginning. Pack all the suitcases, stop the mail, load the vehicle, close the front door, and then drive away. Vacation begins! And then, two weeks later, you come home. It was a fabulous trip with many interesting experiences, time to rest and relax. No phone calls, no emails, no passwords or updates, you know, and then, it’s over. You come back home.

So there is a beginning and an end. But notice, the beginning is also the end. In other words, you leave home, and then you come back home. Usually we tend to think of experience as linear, as in a timeline. But we could also see it as a circle. The beginning is also the end. The Alpha is also the Omega. Every point in a circle is both the beginning and the end. Draw a circle. You put the pen down on the paper–that’s the beginning. Then drawing the circle, you come back to the beginning point. So this is a way to think about God. God is the beginning and the end. And these two are the same. In other words, God is always here. To contemplate this throws us out of our usual way of thinking. And it is supposed to. We cannot answer the question “What is God?” with linear thinking. A different view is required. A different way of thinking. A different kind of knowledge. In other words- non-myopic.

“What is God?” catapults us into poetry. We have to shift into poetic forms of thinking to really get at this question. What is God? The crescent moon and Venus rising at dawn over the Aegean Sea. What is God? The Alpha and the Omega. And how do we do this? How do we break into this visionary way of seeing? John of Patmos tells us in verse 14. “Blessed are those who wash their robes.”

Our time is up for now, but there is more to say about this Oneness, and I want to continue talking about this in the coming weeks. I’ll have more to say about our trip, too, as we go through the summer months together. It’s good to be back home with you. Amen? Amen.