18 November 2024; Revelation 1:1-4; 2:1-5

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We begin a series of readings from the Book of Revelation.  It is also known as the Apocalypse.  Apocalypse is about decision, about the endtimes, about choice.  If real life is like running for office, apocalypse is about voting: we vote for one, not for two.  If real life is living together, apocalypse is for separating us from them.

In the early days of Christianity, Christians were known for their love for another and their unity.  At the time of the Book of Revelation, the Church at Ephesus had lost their first love and were divided into true believers and the others called false apostles.  There were divided into the “us” and the “others”.  The author called upon them to repent.  Both the “we” and the “they” had to repent.

The letter to the Church at Ephesus is one of seven letters in this Book.  Seven is given a prominent place in the Book of Revelation.  There are seven seals, seven lampstands, seven Spirits, seven angels, seven stars, seven torches, more than ten groups of seven.

In mathematics, seven is a prime number; its only factors are 1 and 7.  Prime numbers from 3 on up cannot be divided equally.  Any number divided by seven, for example, is a recurring decimal.  One divided by seven equals 0.142857142857142857 on and on and on.  Prime numbers are symbols of unity and togetherness.

The one who holds the seven stars and walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands knows our labors but calls on us to repent and to do the works we did at first.  The shoe fits each one of us.  This holds in our church life and in our life as a nation.  God has called us to love one another as we relate to God and as we relate to fellow citizens.  This applies to our interchurch relationships and to how we interact, Democrats and Republicans, after our November elections.