#and there should be like a civil war/natural disaster/zombie apocalypse scenario

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

(one of) my dream games is a super ultrarealistic city-building game and it's (ideally, though unrealistically) set in america or at least in major american cities.

and i mean extremely ultrarealistic. cities: skylines is like dumb as fuck arcade shit compared to what i want. it may as well be townscaper.

i want it to be detailed enough that it's used by actually irl city planners to simulate their building projects. i wanna be taking soil samples and hydrogeological surveys and flood risk assessments. and i want the regulations and zoning to be really complex and detailed.

and again, i want this to be set around real-life locations. there should be an option for "present day" mode where you start working with the city as it exists today or "historical" mode for some previous period in the city's history or "free play" more where it's just the blank slate terrain and no development.

and of course you gotta manage natural resources and tax revenue and population growth and population happiness and all that.

if you wanna make it ideal-ideal then there should also be a complex political/government angle too.

and ideal-ideal-ideal there should also be an army/military dimension as well. and actually you should be able to play as city, county, state, or federal governments. all simultaneously (although obviously these different governments should also be able to govern themselves automatically so you're not having to micromanage).

[nathanjhill]

What will the end of the world be like?

Scripture: Revelation 1:1-3, 6:9-11, 12:1-6, 22:8-11

In recent years, the movies, tv shows, video games, and books that seem to grab us are apocalyptic movies - movies about the end of the world. They are everywhere - and they are all grim. Atomic bombs, alien invasions, zombie hordes, pollution, oppressive governments, zombie hordes, natural disasters, and even the dreaded Sharknado.

These movies may be popular because the end of the world doesn’t seem so unimaginable in our time:

When terrorist attacks can ravage peaceful streets

When hackers can sway election results

When climate change eats away at our coasts and stokes wildfires, hurricanes, and famine

When oppression and injustice and violence have displaced millions

When bombs dropped by drones can snuff out lives with a click of a button

And for so many in our world - those suffering under tyrannical dictators, for refugees fleeing civil war and famine, and even for the poorest of the poor right here in the US, the apocalypse has already come. They are living it.

Author Christopher Finke argues that these “end times” films and media tap into our pessimism but also invite us to think about our rebirth. Maybe these stories about the end of the world capture our imagination because, on some level, we understand how fragile our lives and our society really are - and we wonder. What if we could start over? What if we could reshape our broken, unjust world in a new image? What if we could throw off the shackles of violence, pain, and inequality and write a new history?

Christians have always been interested in the end of the world. Jesus told his disciples that he would return like a thief in the night - so keep watch. The Book of Daniel overflows with prophetic visions about the upheaval of the world and its powers. But the book that paints a vivid, bloody image of the end times is Revelation. Here, we Christians are specifically drawn into a glimpse of what our “end of the world” will look like.

The Book of Revelation is probably the MOST controversial book in the Bible. Scholars and theologians have debated its meaning - whether it belongs among scripture or how to understand it - for a long time. The images it presents do not make good children’s books pictures. Blood, death, war, dragons, natural disasters, and lakes of fire. In Revelation we also find the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster.

But Revelation is more than just dire and grim images - there are also visions of heaven - the tree of life, lambs, angels, and a New Jerusalem. It’s sort of like Christmas but on steroids.

Every generation has an armchair theologian or two who proclaim that they have cracked the code to Revelation and know the precise date when Jesus is coming back. Some have tried to line up the symbols of Revelation with modern day political leaders like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan and George Bush and on and on, but no matter how fine-tuned the calculations and research, with each year, those predictions are proven wrong and we are left in waiting mode for Jesus’ return.

But Revelation doesn’t invite us into a calm patient waiting for Jesus’ return. Revelation is written with urgency. Jesus is coming soon. The battle between good and evil is on the horizon. Those suffering today will not suffer in vain.

Revelation is itself a vision. It is unique. The author, John of Patmos, claims in the opening verses to receive what follows as a Spirit-filled vision from God. John was a first century Christian, not the same John of the Gospel of John, and he likely was a witness to the persecution of the early church from culture and authorities as well as conflicts within the church on what it meant to be faithful to Jesus. There, on a Sunday morning (the Lord’s Day), in an attitude of worship, the Spirit of God falls upon him. Jesus comes to him and says, “Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.”

That word Revelation is what we call the book - and in this religious sense, it does not mean John simply had a bright idea or a sudden insight. Rather, the Revelation is an unveiling of the divine, an image given to him not out of his own power, but from God. God chooses to speak through John.

Following Jesus sometimes leads to these kinds of experience. Most of you come to worship each Sunday morning expecting to experience God’s love - but John’s Revelation reminds us that when we worship God, sometimes God uses these moments to reshape how we see the world. Do you come to worship ready to have our eyes open to the mysteries of God? If not, maybe we should.

The vision that God gives John is filled with symbols and riddles that draw upon the prophetic literature of the whole Bible. Dragons, beasts, lambs, angels, lakes, pits, seals, and trumpets. While we might be tempted to try to map these out and assign historical events to them, John’s vision is supposed to be symbolic. John wasn’t interested in nailing down dates and times - rather, in the words of scholar Elaine Pagels, John wanted

“to speak to the urgent question that people have asked throughout human history, wherever they first imagined divine justice: how long will evil prevail, and when will justice be done?”

In chapter six, a series of seals are opened by the Lamb of God, bringing forth all manner of pain and injustice and sorrow in the world. Death. Violence. Famine. Plagues. Economic uncertainty. In our scripture, the fifth seal reveals the martyrs of God, those followers of Jesus who were crushed and tortured and murdered because of their faith. In John’s time, these martyrs would not have been ancient people - they would have been friends, mentors in faith, church leaders, and risk takers. Revelation addresses right away the injustice of those who have been taken away by the evil of this world - their voices are heard wailing, “how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” How long until things are made right?

Revelation describes a cosmic battle between the forces of evil and the goodness of God - with heaven and earth as the battlegrounds. But rather than introduce new characters, Revelation centers upon Jesus. In Chapter 12, our imagination is pricked when we hear of a dragon prepared to devour a baby who is soon to be delivered by a pregnant mother. Elaine Pagels tells us that traditionally the woman is interpreted as Israel, or later in church history, as Mary, mother of Jesus, and the child is the same baby Jesus, who once again laughs death in the face and lives on. Jesus is rescued from the grave and ascends into the presence of God, prepared to rule the world with justice and righteousness.

No doubt, for Christians so long ago who heard this story, they felt reassured. They heard in this incredible vision the gospel story once again - Jesus had not left them for good. Though times were tough and evil seemed to be on the march, Jesus was prepared to come back and finish the gospel story he began. God would make things right. Evil would not have the final word. Injustice would not persevere. Jesus would reign forever and ever.

In other words, for early Christians and for us, Revelation tells us that the end of the world looks a lot like the Gospel.

History will somehow have meaning. There will always be hope, even if we cannot see it in the present struggle. All of future, even the end of the world, is in God’s capable hands.

The end of the world looks like God coming back to us to confound and disrupt evil.

The end of the world asserts God’s sovereignty over the emperors and kings and presidents of our age.

Revelation ends with God coming down from heaven to dwell with all of God’s children and bringing fullness to Creation.

Jesus tells John not to “seal up these words”. This vision wasn’t meant to be a secret message that only the insiders had the ability to decipher. Nor was it meant to be dark and grim news, no matter how many Christians in recent years have tried to use Revelation to scare us.

This vision is good news.

Friends, I don’t know about you, but I know about me - sometimes, I have reached moments of my life where it felt like I was experiencing an end. An end to a relationship. An end to my faith. An end to a job. An end to an opportunity. An end to a passion. An end to love for myself or my neighbor. An end to my ability to get up in the morning and face the day. An end to a desire to try to make the world a better place.

Those moments can feel apocalyptic.

They can feel like my story is over, like God has finished with me.

But I want to remind you in God’s hands even our endings can become beginnings.

Even when injustice or wickedness closes a way to you, God’s power laughs in the face of that evil and proclaims - “all things are possible”.

Even when our hope is running on empty for a situation in our lives and in our world, God’s goodness is on the march.

Even when the stories in the paper and in our social media feeds have us feeling low, God’s arc of love is drawing all things into Christ’s reign.

Even when we are getting a little worn out from imagining a bold future of our church, God is prepared to dole out heavenly visions if we dare but look with openness to God.

In God, those endings can get turned around.

Brothers and sisters, though we may be tempted to buy into the doom and gloom end of the world scenarios, scripture reminds us that God is ready to come back to us. Last Sunday, we lost a dear saint of our church, Ches. And for me, Ches’ devotion and care to his wife, Ruth, who preceded him a few years earlier, becomes for me a profound image of the end that we followers of Jesus wait for. When Ches lost his wife, his heart broke. Yes, he suffered. Yes, he felt alone. Yes, it seemed like a terrible end. But every Sunday when he was in church after her passing, he chose to sit in a chair closest to the memorial garden where her ashes are buried, so in his words, he could be close to her. He waited and watched for the moment when he would be reunited with his love. That for me is how the world will end for all of us who place our trust and hope in our loving God.