Take And Swallow

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me.  Then the voice spoke to me and said:  "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.  He said to me, "Take and swallow it.  It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey." 

I took the small scroll from the angel's hand and swallowed it.  In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.  Then someone said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings."

We didn’t eat scrolls for Thanksgiving.   But we certainly put a lot in our mouths that was sweet as honey and tasty as turkey with stuffing.   Perhaps many us suffered with too much intake and then sour stomachs.   Rolaids and Tums for most I suspect.

This Revelation message to us a day after Thanksgiving is for us to speak up against injustice, tyranny, and demagoguery – to be bold enough to pick up a scroll and proclaim the words on it such as a declaration of resistance to efforts that undermine our democracy and system of justice.

We likely will be criticized by some for our speaking-out, and our stomachs may sour from the stress that will cause us.  Still, the angels wait for us and hold out those scrolls.  Let’s take them and swallow.

Deacon David Pierce