No Ground Under Our Feet
June 12, 2021
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Revelation 18: 1- 8 (NRSV)
1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendour. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted:
‘“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!”
She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.
3 For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.’Warning to escape Babylon’s judgment
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
‘“Come out of her, my people,”
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
6 Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Pour her a double portion from her own cup.
7 Give her as much torment and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
“I sit enthroned as queen.
I am not a widow;
I will never mourn.”
8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
We see John’s vision of the ideal city at the end of Revelation. In today’s passage, we encounter the fall of Babylon the Great. A city, which prospered at the expense and oppression of others. The following poem, which I wrote a few years ago, expresses something of the conflict we experience in today’s world. It also points to the ultimate solution:
The world is changing
so rapidly that we find
no place to stand
for there is no ground
beneath our feet.
Truth is in short supply
in this crazy world
which left to its own devices
results in endless lies
and fake news ever prevailing.
Yet reality can be sought
and found upon the long
and winding road
rather than bought like
cheap candy-floss at the fairground.
Justice is in short supply
in this screwed up world
where everyone does
what is right
in their own eyes.
The weak are downtrodden
and continually oppressed
with no place to rest
their weary heads
and no bed to sleep upon.
Mercy is mocked and subjugated
in whitewashed citadels
where power and might prevail
and the lowly are despised
finding no place of refuge.
Love is distorted and profaned
in a world devoid of compassion
where sexual abuse reigns
without restraint
and perpetrators go unpunished.
Compassion and care
are a vestige of the past
and harshness rules
in this world
of government by spin.
Now is the time to resist
the craziness of the hour
when power seekers
with strange hair
appear to triumph.
We must stand against
corruption and deceit
trusting the One
who will make all things new
at the time of his coming.
For the world shall be turned
the right-way-up
and all wrongs righted
when he sits upon the throne
and puts all things to right.
Justice and mercy will prevail
in a recreated world
where truth shall be seen
and love displayed
for all to see.
Where at last there is a place
to stand and ground beneath our feet.
PRAYER
Come, Lord Jesus Come.
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