Saint Michael and All Angels: Revelation 12: 7-12

A dogged resolution to stick to the Book of Common Prayer’s set readings through the year takes a Quaker to some strange places, and nowhere in the Bible is stranger than the Book of Revelation.   It is difficult territory for anyone to navigate but more so for Quakers, who tend to not  spend much

Revelation 3: 7-22: a tale of two cities

Revelation 3:7-22: a tale of two cities … The final part of John’s virtual road trip around western Turkey takes in two very different cities with two very different churches.  This allows us to end this section of Revelation with a “compare and contrast” exercise that is as relevant now as it was in the

Revelation 2:18 – 3:6: the letters to Thyatira and Sardis

Our journey through Asia Minor continues to a small city south of modern Istanbul famous for its dying industry.   Careful readers of the New Testament will recognise the name as the hometown of Lydia, who encountered Paul and Silas in the Greek city of Philippi and was baptised (Acts 16: 11-15).   Lydia was,

Revelation 2: 8-17: the letters to Smyrna and Pergamum

The seven letters in Revelation are arranged in a series that reflects both geography and spirituality.   If you started from Patmos, the first of the seven towns you would encounter on the mainland of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) would be Ephesus, and then the remaining six letters form a logical sequence for a traveller:

Revelation 2: 1-8: the letter to Ephesus

Straight after his introduction, John presents open letters to seven of the young churches of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), starting with Ephesus.   Each of these takes the form of letters we are familiar with from elsewhere in the New Testament but are much shorter, and each follows a standard form, starting with commendation for

Revelation 1: The beginning of the end …

There is nothing else quite like the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.  It stands apart from all the other writings in both style and content and, it must be said, in the attraction that it has for Christianity’s fanatics and downright nutcases.   Looking for sober interpretations of any biblical passage on the