Mtr Kelli Joyce

Dear friends in Christ,

Today's reading from the Revelation to John is the sort of thing that gives me cold chills. Just the thought of "See, I am making all things new" is enough to bring tears to my eyes. It's the glorious culmination not only of the narrative arc of Revelation, but also of the history of all creation. New Heaven, New Earth, New Creation, New Jerusalem. "Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." In this chapter, for lack of a better way of putting it, John is describing the making-right-again of everything that has ever been. And this is indeed our hope as Christians - that God's will for us is everlasting life in a New Creation of peace and holiness.

We think about the end of days as part of Advent - Christ's return in glory, to judge the living and the dead. And that theme of Advent is what was on my mind when I heard the Schola Cantorum perform Edgar Bainton's "And I Saw a New Heaven" at one of our recent mid-week Feast-Day Eucharists. I got chills when they reached the section of the text that says "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.'" I found myself wondering if this song is ever used at Christmas Eve when we celebrate Christ's birth. Because, just as our preparation to celebrate his first coming puts us in mind of his promised return, so also can our reflections on God's ultimate plans for the salvation and healing of the world put us in mind of the implications of his Incarnation as a baby. "Look, God's home is made among mortals."

In peace,
Mtr. Kelli