First Presbyterian Church
A Peace of a Quilt
Sermon for October 7, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

A Peace of a Quilt by Susan Barnes I preached this sermon in front of my quilt “Revelation 22:2 – the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” I made it for the Peacemaking offering in 2007. The quilt is now hanging at 100 Witherspoon St. in Louisville, and Presbyterian Church (USA) headquarters. If you would like to see it online, go to www.pcusa.org/peacemakingoffering . I'm not sure how long it will be on the website. It may be better to go to www.pcusa.org/peacemaking/intl/banner.htm . [Webmaster's note: click here to view the quilt. Click again on the quilt to enlarge it.]

Here are some of the notes I used for the quilted banner and the sermon.

Ezekiel prophesied during the Babylonian deportation. He warned Judah that they would be punished for thief failure to honor God's covenant. He details their sins of injustice, oppression, murder, and abomination. God's judgments, and calls for their repentance. It takes him 36 chapters. In this next to last chapter of Ezekiel is his vision of the people of Israel restored. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Ezekiel 47: 7-12.

7 As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. 9 Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes.

10 People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12 On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing."

This ends our reading from Ezekiel. In this great restoration, the trees offer plenty of fruit. The river provides fresh water and fish. And even though the river purifies everything, it leaves the swamps and marshes alone. In those days, people dug ponds and canals near salt marshes to make evaporation ponds to harvest sea salt. The leaves of the tree for healing, I think, are herbs.

John of Patmos used much of the tradition of Ezekiel in Revelation. John points out problems Christians need to know about; many Christians focused on surviving, and collaborated with the Romans. This kept them from following Jesus. Revelation is full of dramatic action and symbols to help us remember we're supposed to seek God's guidance. Each church is compared to a lampstand, Even though they are being persecuted, they can still give light.

And then there are all those scary stories, of terrible things happening. One scary story is about a pregnant woman. (Revelation12:1-17) She was crowned with twelve stars and had the moon under her feet. She gave birth to a son to rule the nations, but a red dragon came to devour the newborn.

Instead, the son was taken to God and the woman was given eagles' wings to fly away to the wilderness where she was nourished. They dragon sent a river to drown her, but the earth swallowed the river. Revelation 21:4 speaks of God wiping away tears, so I reunited the mother who had flown away to safety and child on the throne. You can see them in a square with a picture of a woman and a baby on her back.

Revelation was written in the late first or early second century. Christians and Jews worshiped God, not the emperor, and so they were suspect inhabitants of the empire. Sometimes Jews had special legal protections, but Christians did not. Roman rulers sometimes killed Christians unless they publicly denied their faith. So John envisioned a time and place where everyone and everything would be safe, which brings us to chapter 21.

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Revelation 21:23- 22:5.

23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day-- and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Here are some of my notes:

Lei Garcia, a peacemaker from the Philippines, came to our church two years ago. She said that we all have a concrete image of violence, but usually have abstract ideas about peace. She challenged us to have concrete images of peace. She shared her concrete image of peace, which is of a child playing outside. That means the land is safe to play in; there's no pollution, no landmines around, no fighting nearby, no wild or feral animals to harm the child. It means there is an adult nearby, making sure the child is safe. The child has enough food and water to have energy to play, has not been conscripted into the army, is not a child laborer, and does not need to be the primary caregiver for the younger children in the household. That's why I put so many children under the tree on the grass. Because all the nations are included in Revelation 22, I used children with as many skin colors as I could find –about 15 different fabrics. I used two pieces with globes on them (in the grass), but they are a little difficult to see.

I had a hard time thinking of how I could get the images of healing in leaves. I know medicinal tree leaves are steeped in tea, or powdered and made into a porridge or flatbread. I had wanted to do a moringa tree. All that took finer detail than I could manage.

I found fabric made by Hancock Fabrics from the drawings of young patients' at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. The children had been asked to draw their dreams, and naturally they drew themselves grown up as ballet dancers, police officers, firefighters, doctors, and nurses. So I decided to use the images of children dressed up as medical personnel. I liked the crosses being in the tree also. They double as the red cross symbol of healing, as well as the symbol of salvation in the empty cross. There's also a baby asleep in the tree, as sleep is healing also.

I included the river running through the street. I tried to make the river bank look paved with stone, like a street curb. The river was supposed to be smaller, but I couldn't make it look watery enough until I made the river wider and included a bank on the other side. Since the water was supposed to be like crystal, I sewed on a few crystal beads. The heavenly city would have plenty of green space, which accounts for the lawn. You can see the square city buildings in the background.

Revelation 22:2 draws on old testament traditions of great trees and rivers. In Ezekiel's vision, the water flowing by the trees enters the sea of stagnant waters and turns the water fresh. So on the right side of the quilt, you see a unicorn's horn. Legend has it that a unicorn's horn purifies what it touches. The river in Ezekiel is full of fish, so there are fish here and there in the river.

At the top of the tree are some cheerleaders. That's from the trees clapping their hands and singing for joy in Isaiah and Psalms. Isaiah 55:12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Psalm 96: 12-13 Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

I put a woman at the base of the tree trunk because Lady Wisdom is compared to a tree. Proverbs 3: 18 [Wisdom] is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.

I wanted to make a quilt that showed the glory and joy of Revelation 21 and 22, when everything is taking care of and evil and suffering are no more. Making this quilt was a joyful experience.