The EndMartyn Payne |
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On your marks: God sometimes feels so close while at other times God seems to be out of reach and out of sight. Sometimes God startles us by the immediacy of his presence but then God is gone again, drawing us on by his very absence. This has been the experience of God's people all down the ages, ever since we cut ourselves off from intimacy with God at the beginning. This is just as true an experience of God for the 'great names' of the Bible as it is for Christians today. God calls us to 'live by faith, not by what we see' (2 Corinthians 5:7) because 'faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see' (Hebrews 11:1). Today's story focuses on the story of the vision that John has at the end of his life - a moment of seeing the invisible that encourages him to go on believing and making him ready for heaven. It is part of a series of stories linked to the big Bible story of 'Hide and Seek'. Get set: You can find a retelling of this story in The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 363. The story is told in the Bible in Revelation 1:9-20. Go! 1. It seems that John was the only one of the twelve original disciples to survive into old age. He had been the youngest and now he alone was left from those first days. Some say that he spent many years caring for Jesus' mother (based on what Jesus asked of him at the Cross - John 19:26-27) and tradition also claims that, when he was a very old man, and during the reign of one of the emperors in Rome who was violently opposed to Christianity, John was arrested and exiled to the Greek island of Patmos. He may even have had to work in the stone quarries there in a labour camp. John's earthy life was almost over, and his present situation was dire, when he was given a glimpse of heaven that begins with a vision of Jesus, which is the focus for this session. 2. Play a game with your group. You need to collect together a number of photos or pictures of famous people from magazines and newspapers. Place them all face-down in a pool in front of the group. Now, one member of the group at a time should pick up one of the people - making sure that the others do not see - and try to describe that person, using only a physical description. Can the others guess who it is? How easy is it? If they can't guess, that same person can give another type of description, focusing on the sort of things that the famous person says or does. Which way of describing a person is easiest for others to guess? Of course, we have no photos or pictures of Jesus from the Gospel stories and so no one really knows what he looked like. Unlike today's writers, the Gospel authors never thought to give us a physical description. It was what Jesus said and did that mattered. This is a real challenge to our present-day culture, which is very obsessed with people's appearance. 3. So, from where do we get our ideas of what Jesus looked like? Most representations have their roots in the early religious art of icons, which showed Jesus in a particular way - usually with a beard and long hair, a long and sombre face, and large piercing eyes that follow you everywhere. There is no evidence for this in the Bible. In fact, some of the even earlier wall paintings of Jesus in the Roman catacombs show him as a young man without a beard. What do the group think about this? Would it have been helpful to have a picture or photo of Jesus? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of knowing what Jesus really looked like? One of the few descriptions that we do have is in the vision of Jesus recounted by John in this story. Read the retelling of this from The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 363, but also look at Revelation 1:9-20. Now, imagine that the group has to draw up an identikit picture of Jesus from this description. Ask them to make notes of what they hear and then try to piece it all together. The key parts of the description in verses 13-16 are: He had a human form (he was a'son of man') He wore a long robe He had a gold cloth around his chest His hair was white – like snow or wool He had flaming eyes His feet were like bronze His voice sounded like a waterfall He had stars in his right hand A sword came out of his mouth And his face shone like the sun. All this is beyond imagining and so it is no wonder John fainted at the sight (v. 17). What sort of identikit picture might the group come up with? Can they make a quick sketch? Are they convinced that all the imagery is an exact physical description? Do some things say more about the sort of person Jesus is rather than what he looks like? 4. When Jesus does eventually speak, he gives John something more to go on, including the words 'I am the first and the last'. We hear this again at the end of John's book in 22:13, where Jesus also says, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' which is another way of saying 'first and last' as they are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, like our A and Z. I wonder whether John recognized this way that Jesus had of talking about himself. It was one that Jesus used in the Gospels and John had been so impressed by it that he used it in his own account of the life of Jesus, in which Jesus describes himself by a series of 'I am' statements. Collect together the following items to represent each of the 'I am' statements from John's Gospel and lay them down in a line so that the whole group can see them, reminding them of the key statement that Jesus made each time:
Allow everyone time to reflect on these different images and then ask the group which one they like best. Which do they think is the most important one? Which one of these images is particularly special for them at the moment? You might like to turn this into a craft activity - each member of the group creating from a variety of craft materials a collection of their own 'I am' symbols to keep in a special box, which will be a way of holding on to these glimpses of God that help us to go on believing in a God who is invisible. 5. Jesus also says to John, 'I died, but now I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys to death and the world of the dead' (v. 18). This must have been a great comfort to John because this more than all the other things confirmed that here was the same Jesus he had always believed in - the one who had come back from the dead, the one who would be waiting for him when this life was over. For now his present circumstances could only get worse, but this was not the end and death would not have the last word. This 'seeing' of God in Christ came just at the right time for John and through him is now passed on to us so we can go on believing. As a way of remembering the truth of this statement, cut out some key templates from strong card, one for each member of the group. However, the metal part of the key that goes into the lock should be specially shaped as three crosses. Cover the whole key with silver foil and decorate it. Here is a way of remembering that Jesus' death opens the door of heaven for everyone who believes. 6. There is a reflective story of the life of John on the Barnabas website that you might like to use. Go to Revelation - John's final work - a reflective story. 7. For a time of prayer linked to this session, use some of the 'I am' symbols suggested earlier and have these ready as you gather in a circle. Your prayer time should focus on people who are having a hard time because of their faith. Maybe your church supports an organization working with such people or else you may have links with Amnesty International, which campaigns for those imprisoned unjustly. Mention countries and people and for each one encourage the children to choose a symbol that they can put in the middle that will be a particular comfort to those people. For example: We pray for those who are suffering that they may know the way through (put down the candle light). We pray for those who are having a hard time that they may find a way out (put down the door). We pray for countries where it is hard to be a Christian that they may have enough strength to keep going (put down the bread roll). |
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