No More Pain! - Father Dave's Blog

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” (Revelation 21:1)

This is the beginning of the final bit of the final book in the Bible, and it’s a vision of final things – of the end of world history as we know it and the beginning of a new age. This is the climax of the Biblical narrative!

Of course, the Bible is made up of a lot of books, and each of those has its own narrative. Even so, when read together they can be seen as a single story, and it’s the story of humanity’s journey from the garden to the city, We start in the Garden of Eden and we end up in the New Jerusalem where ‘the sea will be no more’!

Now, forgive me if I focus today on what may seem like an odd line – that ‘the sea will be no more’ – but this is a vision of Heaven, and if you’re like my partner, Joy, you might be asking, ‘How can it be Heaven if there is no ocean?”

Joy loves the ocean and the beach, and swimming in the waves, and I love to watch her enjoying herself there, but from a distance as I’m actually a little scared of water.

I know that doesn’t sound like me. I perform fearlessly in the boxing ring, and I’ve kept my claim in multiple warzones. Even so, I am a little aquaphobic, and have been ever since my eldest daughter had a boating accident when she was very little. I managed to get her out from under the sinking ship (thanks be to God) but then almost drowned myself, and it left me with a dread of the sea, and with a deep awareness of how a fun day on the river can suddenly turn toxic.

There are hidden dangers in the sea. Mysterious things lurk under the water. It may look calm on the surface but there’s violence going on under the waves. Scaly and scary creatures are hunting and killing each other down there, and we never know when Leviathan or Behemoth might emerge from the depths!

If you’re not familiar with those two, Leviathan and Behemoth are sea monsters, mentioned in the book of Job (chapter 40 and 41) and in two of the Psalms (74:14 and 104:26), and they symbolise all that is chaotic and opposed to God’s good order.

The ancient Israelites were never a sea people. It was the Philistines and other unfriendly neighbours who lived on the coast. So often when you see Biblical figures get into a boat things don’t go well. Think of Jonah trying to catch a ship to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3) or of the three times Saint Paul was shipwrecked (Corinthians 11:25).

Of course, many of Jesus’ disciples were men of the sea. They caught fish for a living. Even so, in so many of the Gospel stories where we see the disciples in their boats, they’re about to drown (Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25)! Jesus could calm storms (Matthew 8:23-27) and walk on water (Matthew 14:22-33) but the rest of the crew seemed to be a bit at sea when on the water (pun intended).

Biblically speaking, the sea symbolises all that is chaotic. If we go back to the start of the Biblical narrative, we’re told that in the beginning “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2).

It’s the Hebrew phrase ‘tohu wa-bohu’ that’s translated here as ‘formless and empty’. In other versions of the Bible, it’s rendered as “chaos and desolation”. Either way, it’s all water, and the Spirit of God is hovering over it with a view to pushing the water back to create land and life (Genesis 1:9), after which the waters then stay in their place, at least until the time of Noah when they all come flooding back (Genesis 6-9).

Forgive the rambling, which you may see largely as me trying to justify my water phobia. Even so, what I want to leave you with today is not a fear of water but rather an appreciation the great Biblical vision that one day ‘the sea will be no more’. There will be no more chaos, no more monsters lurking in dark places, no more violent men hiding in the shadows, no more death, no more pain.

My mind goes to a short video I saw this week of a father in Gaza, holding his baby daughter who was sobbing as they listened to the sound of warplanes overhead.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

Hear the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Our Sunday Eucharist

We enjoyed a very special Mother’s Day Sunday Eucharist last weekend, though we were predictably short of mothers, most whom, I assume, were off celebrating with their families. A big thank you to Rob Gilland and Rev. John Jegasothy who made up the panel with me. It was an especially big effort from John as he was in the car en route to a Mother’s Day event when he joined the broadcast!

Two shorts from last Sunday are below. See the other shorts on our Sunday Eucharist Instagram page or watch the full replay via our YouTube channel.

This coming Sunday we have a very exciting line-up, with Eric Fistler joining David Baldwin and myself on the panel. This will be Eric’s first time going live with us! 🙂

Eric, if you don’t know him, is Senior Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake, Illinois (USA). He’s better know to me as co-host of the Pulpit Fiction Podcast to which I’ve been an avid listener for years, and a more recent contributor.
I do consider it a great privilege to have Eric with us, and I’m sure we’ll enjoy some stimulating Bible Banter between Eric, David, myself, and the rest the team.

Please do join us this Sunday, and please invite your friends. Refer them to the Facebook Event Page or encourage them to sign up directly through Streamyard. We do still need to grow a little if we are to remain viable, and the best way for us to grow is through you recommending the broadcast to your friends.

We broadcast, as usual, on Sunday from noon (Sydney time) via TheSundayEucharist.com, Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard. I do look forward to sharing this Eucharist with you. 😊

Let me work your corner

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What’s On?

Saturday, May 17^th – Sparring Day at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 8 am
Sunday, May 18^th – Our Eucharist from noon @ thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, FaithiaorStreamyard)
Tuesday, May 20^th– Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
Thursday, May 22^nd – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Saturday, May 24th – “Rise Up for Syria” rally at Sydney Town Hall from 2 pm

I want to conclude today with a few words about Syria. I published a video recently, entitled, “Praying for a Resurrected Syria!”, in response to a request from the ‘West Asian Friends Association’, which was recently founded in Greece. That’s it below.

Syria has been back in the news this week, but I don’t see prayers being answered. Self-appointed Syrian President, Al-Jolani, has shaken hands with Donald Trump, and has apparently agreed to sell Syria’s soul in return for a lifting of the sanctions.

I appreciate that the sanctions have been killing Syrian people for many years now and, indeed, it was the sanctions that weakened the country to the point where the terrorists could take over. Even so, as political commentator Marwa Osman, points out, there is much that the lifting of the sanctions does not include:

It doesn’t end illegal occupation of Syrian land by America, Turkey and Israel
It doesn’t end the looting of Syria’s oil by the US.
It doesn’t stop the constant Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory.
It doesn’t stop the theft of entire factories by Turkey
It doesn’t let Syria freely trade, grow, or build without U.S. oversight.
It doesn’t address the crushing unemployment.
It won’t restore the Syrian Lira, nor bring back security or unity.

I’m praying for a fully resurrected Syria rather than a patch-up job. My main focus now though is on seeing an end to the massacres of minority groups. If you share my concerns, join the global “Rise Up for Syria” protest next Saturday, May 24^th.

The Sydney protest will be held in the Sydney Town Hall Square from 2pm, and I’m privileged to have been asked to speak at the event. Our focus will be on the massacres, kidnappings, and the enslavement of women and children. Download a copy of the flyer and share it with your friends.

And finally, some good news … 🙂

Just when I was losing all faith in the established church, the Uniting Church of Australia has come out with a courageous statement in support of Palestine, appropriately titled, “If we do not speak, even the stones will cry out”.

You can read the statement here or download the PDF version via this link.

May the Lord bless and strengthen you for the work to which you have been called.

your brother in the Good Fight,