If you want really creative exegesis, talk to confirmation students. A couple years ago we were discussing Revelation with the kids I just confirmed this past Sunday. Trying to get at the wrongheadedness of the Left Behind series, I asked if the vision of the new creation in Rev. 21 synched with the violence and destruction usually associated with the rapture.
"Is this about the destruction of the earth?" I asked. "Is it about all of us being whisked away to some heavenly realm nothing like this world?"
They were silent for a minute. Then my most divergent thinker raised his hand.
"Well, the earth can't be destroyed, because then the meek wouldn't have anything to inherit!"
There you go. I've been waiting two years for Revelation and the Beatitudes to appear on the same Sunday. Not sure if I'll use that line, but it's a keeper.
