Difference between revisions of "Sermon for April 28th, 2013"

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Zechariah 14:1-9

14See, a day is coming for the Lord, when the plunder taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses looted and the women raped; half the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that half of the Mount shall withdraw northwards, and the other half southwards. 5And you shall flee by the valley of the Lord’s mountain, for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall not be either cold or frost. 7And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the Lord), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

Revelation 16:13-16; 19:11-16, 19-21

13And I saw three foul spirits like frogs coming from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet. 14These are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15(‘See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and is clothed, not going about naked and exposed to shame.’) 16And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Harmagedon.

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’.

19Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against the rider on the horse and against his army. 20And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed in its presence the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. 21And the rest were killed by the sword of the rider on the horse, the sword that came from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

One Last Epic Battle

In the larger family of Christianity, Presbyterians have a reputation for being the resident nerds, geeks, intellectuals and eggheads. I think that's why I've always felt so at home in this denomination. But as much as I love gathering with you each Sunday, on this particular Sunday there is another gathering of nerds and geeks that calls out to me powerfully. When I leave church today, I will be headed to the Marriott Hotel by the Airport to take part in the Sun City Sci-Fi convention -- a gathering of science fiction fans, collectors and celebrities that includes our very own Andrew Donaldson, who will be displaying some of the Star Wars costumes he has made himself. I'm taking my son, Grady,(who is quite the emerging sci-fi geek himself) and both of us are so excited we can hardly contain ourselves.

Some people have a hard time understanding what the big deal is about science fiction, and why so many people get worked up into such a frenzy over conventions like these, attending them dressed-up like Klingons, aliens, and androids. Now...I could probably explain what it's all about in great and vivid detail over the course of several hours. But I've learned that explanations of this sort have a mysterious effect on non-geek audiences: Their eyes glaze over, their brains turn into mush, and about three minutes in they become complete and total zombies. And any good sci-fi geek knows how dangerous it is to monologue in front of a zombie.

But there is one thing, one feature of all good science fiction novels and movies, that I'll risk sharing with you today--so if at any point in the next five minutes, you feel the early symptoms of zombification, please refrain from eating the person next to you.

So...here it is, and this may actually be the number one feature of science fiction that captures the hearts and minds of the geekish masses: At some point, near the end of every really good sci-fi story, there is an epic, cosmic, battle to end all battles. The lines are clearly drawn between the forces of absolute good on one hand, and absolute evil on the other. Nothing less than the complete and total fate of the earth, the galaxy, the entire universe, hangs in the balance. In other words, it's kind of a big deal. {{In the Star Wars Universe, this happens in Episode Six: Return of the Jedi, when the entire fleet of the Rebel Alliance is assembled against the Galactic Empire and the Death Star. In the Star Trek Universe, this happens often, but notably in the 74th and 75th episodes "The Best of Both Worlds" where the USS Enterprise and all of Starfleet assemble to save the Galaxy against the unstoppable onslaught of the Borg Collective.}}