Text Messages

Text Messages focus on the backstory of the upcoming text for this Sunday’s sermon. Provided by our pastors, these messages will give some background on that section of scripture text and give a few hints about where the sermon might be going. We hope you find these Text Messages helpful!

Sunday, April 27, 2025

SERMON SERIES:
“The End Is the Beginning”

MESSAGE THEME:
“The Alpha and the Omega”

TEXT(S):
Revelation 1:4–8

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

John 20:19–31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

REFLECTION:
From Pastor Kris Tostengard Michel

Did you find yourself humming after Easter worship? Maybe you remembered the full-throated participation of the congregation singing, “Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain” or the final notes of “Hallelujah Chorus” ringing in the air. Did you know these lyrics come from the Book of Revelation? For many of us, major portions of Revelation are unfamiliar and mysterious, but it turns out that much of our liturgy comes from Revelation.

If we peek at the verses that precede this week’s reading, we see that the name of the last book of the Bible comes from the opening word, “revelation”, or apocalypse in Greek. While modern-day parlance might imply that apocalypse is an end-of-the world catastrophe, it’s actually a genre of literature. The word means, “pulling back a curtain,” or “revealing something that was previously unknown.” The opening verses also let us know that the book is prophecy, meaning it’s a word from God to a particular circumstance. And beginning with verse 4, we see it’s a letter to seven churches, beginning much the way Paul begins his letters to various churches, “Grace to you and peace….”

Although we don’t see it in the English translation, a series of plural pronouns are used to address the seven churches. In the Bible, the number seven means complete. The church is both universal and communal.

Revelation was most likely written late in the first century C.E. when Roman emperors were to be worshipped as gods. For times of political chaos like then and now, it’s a book of hope and promise that this world is not as God intends; God desires a better world. The book begins and ends with the claim that God is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end—the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. God will have the last word. To God “be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

  • What images in the Book of Revelation are meaningful to you?
  • What questions do you have about Revelation?
  • If you’re so inclined, take a moment and listen to “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah” now.

PRAYER:
Gracious God, open our eyes and ears to see what is being revealed in our time, and open our mouths to declare your praise with the whole church in heaven and on earth. Amen.