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This is another from the series of sermons on sections of Revelation. The trick, as
far as I can tell, is not to try to preach Revelation as something in the by and by,
not a crystal ball on the afterlife. It is a vision, a dream. It is about future hope, of
course, and I take nothing away from that. But it is important to keep this
document written in its time and place in that early second century, most likely at
the height of a wave of Roman persecution of Christians. It was written as a way to
both lift and empower people to keep their faith--and to keep living as Christ had
called them to live, loving one another. So while this is a great text about the
mythological horses bringing their death and destruction, it is about a God who is
deeply concerned that the tears are also wiped away, that people who hurt are
cared for. But how does a preacher make that heard in some meaningful way
today? What and where are the horses? Who sheds the tears of pain and grief
today? And who, if anyone, stands in for God, to wipe the tears away? The start of
this sermon, in retrospect, is too slow for me, but I do work hard to draw from the
"story," not the drying of the tears in the Great Beyond, but a call to the Church,
now, to find the tears being shed everywhere, and, in the name of God, to dry
them. I should note that this, along with a number of other sermons in this
collection, were broadcast on radio. This is the sermon here, though, that begins
with the radio's musical introduction.