Dreaming Together at the End of the World 5/7

That's What She Said

Presence, physical and emotional, at gatherings of the church. In this dream, John sees a river that is clear as crystal, and whose water gives life, flowing from the throne where God and the Lamb (Jesus) are. The river flows down the middle of the streets, so it is always accessible, and there is a tree of life whose leaves are medicine that can heal the nations. God’s subjects serve God faithfully and bear God’s name on their foreheads. God will become their light.

John, from the midst of the hardship and loneliness he is enduring, from the midst of wondering where God is, imagines God’s life and healing power flowing from out of Gods’ own self, always accessible; he likewise imagines all of God’s people working in service of this God, always having all that they need. He imagines a tree that provides peace among nations. What was it for John to dream of coming to God for all that is needed, and for it to be easily accessible, at a time when God might have seemed silent? For it to be easy to access all that is from God, including life and world peace? What is it for us to conceive of a God of abundant life who actively provides for the healing of this world, accessible to us as we serve God? What is it for us to attend gatherings of the church with this vision?

In this dream, John, who’s clearly been through hardship, imagines a situation in which the Lamb, the not-powerful, peaceful, gentle one, shepherds those who have suffered. What was it for John (possibly a refugee?) to witness a divine community in which everyone had everything they needed? What was it for John to imagine the one who had suffered (the Lamb) as the caregiver for the ones who suffer? What does this do to hierarchy? What is it today for the tormented and suffering to wear their suffering as robes for all to see— and allow themselves to be comforted and cared for in community? Or for those who have suffered to provide that community for others?

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