pat loughery

This weekend we finish our series on The Story We Find Ourselves In – episode 7, Consummation. I just finished reading the last few chapsters Brian’s book again, and then I re-read Revelation (at Starbucks, over a nice iced soy chai latte :-)).

From the Revelation to John, we see incredible imagery:

Consider just some of these:
– Locusts with human heads and lions’ teeth (Rev 9:7-8)
– Horses with the eads of lions and the tails of snakes (Rev 9:17-19)
– A postpartum woman who is given eagles’ wings to fly away from the dragon that’s chasing her (Rev 12:14)
– A blaspheming seven-headed leopard with bears’ feet and lion’s mouth (Rev 13:1-2)
– Demonic frogs (Rev 16:13)

Sometimes I wonder if John of Patmos ate pizza with the wrong kinds of mushrooms before dinner that night.

It struck me today that the final chapter of the story has so muc tension and resolution in it. There’s the ongoing war and plague imagery; death and blood and terror everywhere. There’s glimpses of the throneroom of God; worship and holiness and light.

And of course the end of the story is all beauty and light, goodness, joy.

This weekend we’ll try to add the sense of smell to our worship experience. I’m wondering what 7 bowls of burning incense would do to our senses. I’m also thinking about setting up the room backwards from what we usually do, as a symbol that we’re looking at time from the end (or at least the end of this age and beginning of the next, whatever that means).