1. The beauty of this season ought to draw preachers into the Scriptures own poetry, rich imagery, and paradoxical language to present the holy mystery of Christ’s incarnation.
  2. God will undo the curse and release His creation through the resurrection. In Christ, it’s already taken place. We’re next.
  3. The text is not a legalistic set of principles. It is a description of the way things are for us, now that Christ has entered in.
  4. The creatures and the elders show us what to do now. They hit the deck, sing, and worship, so we would know what the liturgy is supposed to look and sound like.
  5. Two major themes seem to be running through the readings for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost. The first weaves together the widow who gave of her poverty in Mark 12 and the story of the widow of Zarephath from 1 Kings 17, who also gave to the prophet everything that she had… However, the other theme comes by way of the Epistle from Hebrews 9:24-28, which is about the temple made without hands.