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. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 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.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
(Revelation 21:1-6)
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I'm a great fan of Charles Dickens. As a lot of people probably were, I was first exposed to his work through the movie “A Christmas Carol.” That went on to reading the short novel of the same name written by Dickens on which the movie was based, then I moved on to reading some of his other Christmas stories, and then on to some of his more substantive novels. I'm no expert on Dickens, and I certainly haven't read everything he wrote, but I am fairly familiar with his writings, and so I want to begin my remarks today with an apology to Charles Dickens: I'm sorry that I stole my sermon title from one of your novels, and I'm hoping that Durham's finest don't come in to arrest me for violating copyright! (Of course, if they do, I could always say that I “borrowed” the sermon title, or that I'm honouring the memory of Charles Dickens by using the title for my sermon today.) But the title does fit, so I'm hoping that he would – if he were here with us – find it in his heart to forgive me.
“Great Expectations” - the novel by Dickens – revolved around the character of Pip, an English orphan who, in a whirlwind of a life, rises to wealth and then finds himself ultimately humbled by his arrogance. Pip is a complex character, and he's hard to sympathize with most of the time. Basically, he's an arrogant snob who behaves badly and isn't even very nice to those wh have treated him well. The title of the novel refers to Pip's own “great expectations” - which are constantly changing depending on his circumstances at any given time. Those expectations are first met by the arrival of a fortune which gives him the hope that he might achieve another great expectation – becoming accepted as a “gentleman.” He also has great expectations around Estella – the adopted daughter of the colourful Miss Havisham. In some ways I think that Pip represents us all – not because he's not a particularly nice guy, but because he has great expectations for his life; hopes and dreams – some realistic; some not. We all have great expectations and hopes and dreams. Some of them work out and others don't. As Christians, I hope we have some great expectations – of God and of one another. The expectations we have of God are well placed. God won't disappoint us. The expectations we have of others are a little more tenuous – because inevitably people will disappoint us. But I think it's good for us to expect the best of God and the best of one another. I found myself thinking about the expectations we have of God when I saw that this passage from the Book of Revelation was up in the lectionary for this week. For many people, Revelation isn't an especially comfortable book, and it's difficult to understand at times. But it also paints for us some wonderful pictures of God's plans and purposes, and it's those divine plans and purposes that should give us great expectations of God as we look ahead.
What we read today represents for me the best of God, and the best of what God offers us, and the best of what we're destined for. What we learn from today’s reading is that God is both creative and compassionate. We look at the world around us and we become painfully aware that all is not what God would want it to be. And that can only cause us to reflect more deeply on these qualities of God. I don’t believe that God is absent or uncaring when we face the challenges this world can throw at us. God is there, and what we know is that God isn’t finished with either us or our world. In Romans we read that the creation itself has been “subjected to frustration.” Our sin has caused the creation to be something other than what God had planned. We can start with climate change and move on from there as examples of creation being frustrated. But Paul goes on to say that creation is also “groaning as in the pains of childbirth.” Something new is coming; something wonderful is emerging. God is actually creating “a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem is coming from God.” It’s a radically different creation from what we know now – a place with no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain. This is God’s compassion. All things will be well. I don’t believe that God simply holds out a future hope. I believe God is here and with us right now, reaching out to us, comforting us, holding us close.
It’s why this vision from the Book of Revelation is so important for us. It gives us a glimpse into the mind and purpose of God. As Paul wrote, the troubles we’re experiencing right now “are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Temporary troubles – whether on a grand global scale, or whether the personal concerns we bury deep within our hearts - cannot defeat God. We spend a lot of time worrying about the future of the church – but we don’t have to do that. It’s God’s church, not ours. All these things might obscure our view of God, but God is still there. God is with us and we belong to God and that can’t be changed. And the future is even better. “Alpha and Omega.” Or past and future. Or beginning and end. Or what was and what will be. God will be part of it all. Forever. Eternity. It all belongs to God – and because God is with us and we belong to God – we’ll be a part of that. The great expectation is that finally, one day, there will be no separation between us and God. And that makes the troubles of this world bearable for us and it pushes us forward always with hope and always with confidence, because we have great expectations of this God who calls us to faith.
And let’s not forget that God has some great expectations of us as well. “Love one another as I have loved you,” is what Jesus asked of his disciples. That’s a tall order. Jesus gave his all. That’s a lot. And maybe – hopefully? – we’re not called to give literally “all” for one another – but I think we are called to reflect to each other the very best of God within us; we are called as best we can to share the love of God with each other. Those are the great expectations God has of us; those are the great expectations we have of each other.
Too often, we forget that our faith is a faith built on great expectations. We settle for less rather than more. We settle for being ordinary rather than being outstanding. We settle for mediocrity rather than excellence. I think our faith is supposed to push us for more. I think that the words of the Book of Revelation give us an incredible vision of the expectations we should have of God; I think the words of Jesus in John's Gospel give us a sense of the expectations we should have of each other. We may not always be able to reach the heights of those expectations, but it should never be for lack of trying.
Great expectations come with risks, because great expectations can lead just as quickly to great disappointments. And we all have to deal with the disappointments. All of us have to come to terms with shattered dreams sometimes – with lives that perhaps don’t always turn out the way we would have wanted them to; with hardships that we never expected to be facing; with grief that overwhelms us; with people who let us down. And it can be tempting to start to think that we should give up on God as well. But God never gives up on us. Jesus will never disappoint us. God is with us, and we will be with God – and all shall be well. That is our greatest expectation as people of faith: that all shall be well, because God is with us.
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