The readings for today look at members of the church, people from all nations who prepare and await the realm of God and who seek to reassure us that the Lamb of God will be like a shepherd and will care for all who believe. In reading portions of Revelation as today’s reading, one can easily and perhaps advisedly forget that this book is replete with images of violence and warfare.  That can be particularly troublesome given the challenges we face around the world today.  And although these images ought to be wrestled with and critiqued vigorously, this particular passage (Revelation 7:9-17) offers us such a powerful eschatological vision (a vision of the end of time) that we can be forgiven for relishing it with minimal attention given to elements of the larger context of Revelation. 

In the passage, we see a multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language “standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands” (verse 9). They are victorious but this conquest is paradoxical in that they are presumably the slain from just a few verses before (Revelation 6:9-11).  There they cried out for justice and now they cry out in worship. Now tears of pain have turned to tears of joy.

	The LGBT communities continue to cry out in the pain of unjust persecution. How would you envision a world in which these tears would turn into tears of joy?  What would victory look like?

From time to time, liberation movements benefit from telling and re-telling their stories. On the other hand, both Deuteronomy 34:1-12 and 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 pose a danger for liberating practice. Both texts can nourish an inflated image of the hero, celebrating singular (male) leadership while neglecting the struggles of the larger community. Helpfully, 1 Thessalonians hints toward another way of recalling the past. Paul's image of a nurse nurturing children undermines vain heroic aspirations. Such nursing was often the task of slaves. It required caring for the infant, with no reasonable hope of personal gain or reward. Beverly Roberts Gaventa has noted the surprising fact that Paul describes his ministry in maternal (rather than paternal) terms when he refers to the process of nurturing congregations [see her Our Mother Saint Paul (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007)]. Just as he recalls his own ministry, Paul celebrates that faithful response among the Thessalonians themselves (1 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

Martyrdom is not a particularly cheery topic and is largely foreign to Christians in the United States.  Nevertheless, it is a very real aspect of life for many of our brothers and sisters globally.  The persecution and exile of Iraqi Christians after the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein or the devastation wrought on the people of southern Sudan are current examples.  Unfortunately, our world is still marred by the persecution and even execution of minority populations whether they are united by religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.  But it is often in these communities that we find saints. 

Many Christians have a very limited view of who is considered a saint.  Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that not everyone who calls him Lord will enter the realm of heaven, but only those who do the will of God.  It is in persecuted communities that we often see God’s will displayed most vividly.  Among these people we find the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers (Matthew 5:1-12).  Jesus tells us that God has not forgotten these persecuted ones.  Theirs is the realm of heaven. 

The blessedness promised in the Beatitudes is not only eschatological.  “O taste and see that God is good; happy are those who take refuge in God” (Psalm 34:8, The New Testament and Psalms: an Inclusive Version).  Those who are experiencing injustice cry out to God and our readings for today remind us that God hears and is near to those who suffer.

	Describe an instance where you observed saintly behavior within the LGBT communities and their allies or in a community that was not ostensibly Christian. How do you think God views these persons when they live in ways congruent with God’s will?

We must be careful, however, not to glorify suffering or treat it as a calling, per se.  The suffering of the saints is not something to be aspired to, but rather it is the likely result of a life lived faithfully as God has created and called us to be. For our self-protection, we must choose when and when not to bleed. One of the blessings afforded by ideals like the separation of church and state is that we have been largely protected from the some of the worst types of oppression.  This governing philosophy and those like it open up a greater possibility for the faithful to live honestly and openly without persecution.  The LGBT communities in the United States and other Western nations enjoy a relative freedom that many of our brothers and sisters around the world can hardly imagine.  We ought to rejoice at such political advancements and work for their non-violent promulgation around the world in order that the suffering spoken of in Scripture might be minimized.

	In what ways do we glorify suffering instead of working to minimize it?  What is or isn’t the intrinsic value in suffering?  Is deliverance from suffering, whether realized or hoped for a justification for suffering itself?

As we work to minimize suffering, we should also recognize that the testimony we have from Scripture is that the faithful, while diverse and numerous, are not a majority.  If we seek to be faithful to God’s creation and to God’s calling, we must be prepared to contend in a world that does not know us because it did not know God.

1 John 3, written around 90-100 CE during a time when there were deep problems in the church, provides a word of hope to those who suffer: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.  What we do know is this:  when Jesus Christ is revealed, we will be like Christ, for we will see Christ as Christ is” (verse 2, The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version).