From Everlasting to Everlasting (Psalm 90)

 All Saints Sunday can be a day of big emotions:

• Gratitude for the lives of those who we have known who have passed away, and their blessing and influence on our lives.

• Sadness that they are no longer with us.

• Wonder about the meaning and mystery of life, including life after death.

• Contemplativeness as we consider how we are living our own lives, and what legacy we will leave to those close to us after we are gone.

These thoughts and emotions, in turn, may lead us to wonder: What is our purpose? What are our own thoughts about death, and about life?

One day, I pondered the question: what is it that can help me face death without fear? Is there anything that can help me face death without fear?

I pondered this for a while.

Eventually, I realized that there is something.

Love.

To be surrounded by the love of family and friends….

To be able to share my love with them….

And to know the love of God, from which nothing—not even death—can separate us.

I realized that if I have love, then I’m not afraid.

Last week, I preached about how love is the greatest commandment. And I’ve mentioned how much I have learned from you, from the people of Bixby Knolls Christian Church, when it comes to love.

You have taught me more than you know, by the way you have shown love to me, and the way you show love to one another.

And it’s only natural that some of you have asked, out of love, how it is that I am now choosing to leave Bixby Knolls Christian Church.

It began as a decision rooted in financial necessity. Almost a year ago, when we had our congregational meeting, it was brought to our attention that the days of Bixby Knolls Christian Church being able to maintain current levels of spending on staff salaries were limited. 

That notice entered my mind and my heart, and while, at the time, I hoped that things would change and I would be able to stay, I realized that I needed to prepare for the possibility that things would not change—or, at least not quickly enough for me to stay. 

This is not a criticism of anyone, for your level of generosity is, and has been, more than I could have ever hoped for.

So I began updating my profile in the denomination’s search and call system.

I don’t know if you realize it or not, but updating one’s profile in the search and call system means answering questions of purpose, of calling, of strengths and weaknesses. In other words, answering questions that are very similar to the questions you all have discussed in those after-church meetings.

Questions of “What is your ‘why?’” My questions used slightly different language, but they were basically the same.

And it took me a while to answer them. First, I read in my profile the answers that were already there; the answers I provided the last time I was in the search and call process, 16 years ago, which eventually led to me becoming pastor here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church.

I thought about all the ways I’ve grown and changed since then, how you all have helped me grow and improve as a pastor over the years, and what my strengths and growing edges are today, and what type of ministry God is calling me to today. 

It took me a month to write new answers to those questions. I didn’t want to rush it. I saw the value in the process, the journey, and didn’t want to rush to answers or solutions too quickly.

And what a powerful, beneficial process it was for me. It truly did help me gain a greater understanding of God’s call on my life, at this point in my life.

And as we all were pondering questions like this—me, in search and call, and you, in the New Beginnings conversations—I began to sense that God was calling me to a new adventure, a new chapter, a new journey (or whatever you want to call it) … and that God was calling Bixby Knolls Christian Church to a new adventure, a new chapter, a new journey…

And it was then that I realized that I was being called to a new ministry for more than just financial reasons. I realized that God has greater things in store for both you and for me. New journeys and new adventures.

And through this process, I’ve learned to trust God more. I thought I knew what I wanted; but I made a commitment to being open to whatever it was that God wanted.

And the journey had many twists and turns. Sometimes, I was so sure that God was calling me in a certain direction, only to have God put up a roadblock and say, “Nope! That’s not the direction for you!”

And I’d say, “Really?!?” Because I was so certain that it was.

And I’d alter the coordinates, and my personal spiritual GPS would recalibrate and recalculate, and I’d head off in some new direction, not knowing where this journey would take me, or how many other detours there would be along the way…

But with each detour, each roadblock, each surprise, I learned to trust God a little more.

And I’ve become a little more philosophical, and a little more able to trust God to lead me, even when the future seems unclear.

Our scripture today is a psalm that is labeled, “A prayer of Moses.” Most likely, it was written by someone many centuries after Moses, someone who perhaps tried to imagine what it was like for Moses.

 Moses learned to trust God as he led the Israelites out of Egypt, and through the Wilderness, and, eventually, to the promised land where they would be made into a whole new people and a whole new nation.

It was an incredibly difficult journey, through the wilderness, filled with wanderings, detours, and countless challenges. The people, and even Moses himself, wanted to give up at times.

Yet, in the end, Moses could see how God remained faithful, and how God was with them, and how God was leading them.

“Lord, you have been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”

Our God is the God of our ancestors. Our God is the God of all those who have died: those whose names we read this morning, and all those who died in years past.

When we get impatient, or when we wonder why things happen when they do, or why we are being led on a journey into the wilderness, this prayer of Moses reminds us: “a thousand years in God’s sight are like a day, or like a watch that passes in the night.”

This prayer of Moses reminds us that our own days are limited. They pass by quickly. 

But with the passing years comes new wisdom.

Richard Rohr has written a book about how a person’s spiritual journey evolves and matures in the second half of life. In the first half of life, he says, one’s spiritual purpose is about constructing a good, solid container for faith. In the second half of life, our task changes; the task then becomes filling that container.

For me, I think the second half of life involves asking more questions than answers, and knowing that the answers aren’t even that important; but that asking the right questions is.

But the one thing I still hold on to is love, as well as trusting the one who is the source of all love.

I know that many of you feel anxiety and sadness at my upcoming departure. It will, for me, be a difficult goodbye. But I want you to please trust God with the future of Bixby Knolls Christian Church. 

You may have a lot of questions, and that’s good. 

The answers may not come as quickly as you’d like, and that’s OK. 

The God of our ancestors will be with you. The God who has been our dwelling-place in all generations will be with you. The God who was with the Israelites on their 40-year journey to the promised land will be with you. The God who has guided this church’s ministry for over 77 years will be with you.

That God can be trusted. I know this better now than I did a year ago, or at any other point in my life.

When the future is uncertain, trust God.

When life’s journey takes an unexpected turn, trust God.

In any and every circumstance, trust God.

From everlasting to everlasting, trust God.

Among the Saints (Ephesians 1:11-23)

 

1. All Saints

I hope you had a good Halloween… We didn’t get as many trick-or-treaters on our street as we used to, but those who did show up wore wonderful costumes, and we enjoyed greeting our neighbors and handing out treats to them.

I know some churches are against celebrating Halloween. Yet, when the church started observing All Saints’ Day, the church also started observing Halloween - or All Hallows Eve - the night before, as a time to acknowledge death that is part of life. 

It was a holiday begun by the church, a day when we acknowledge death as real; and then, at midnight, when Halloween becomes All Saints Day, we then acknowledge that the lives of God’s people continue even beyond death.

Our scripture this morning makes several mentions of the saints, by which it means all the people of God. The scripture also makes several mentions of the inheritance that is ours through Christ. Specifically, it talks about the riches of God's glorious inheritance among the saints.

We have received an inheritance from God, through Christ. We have received an inheritance that has been passed down to us from the generations of saints and ancestors who have gone before.

All this, we acknowledge on All Saints Day (or, in our case, All Saints Sunday).

We acknowledge that death is real. This is important, because we live in a society that tends to ignore death, to deny that death exists. But ignoring death only makes it harder for us to find healing in grief.

2. Rip Currents

At the past couple of funerals I’ve led, I’ve told a story about how, when I was a kid, I learned about the rip currents on our local beaches. Every kid or adult who swims in the ocean should know about rip currents.

A rip current - sometimes called a rip tide - is when the ocean’s waves create a current that pulls you out to sea. Before you know it, you’re in deep water, and your feet can’t touch the ground.

I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s what grief feels like. It feels like you’re being swept away by a current, and your feet can’t touch the ground; there’s no solid ground beneath you.

As you get pulled out to sea, your instinct is to swim as hard as you can back toward the shore; but you’re swimming against the current. You won’t make it; the current is too strong. You’ll just wear yourself out.

That’s what it’s like when you try to fight against your grief, or ignore your grief.

What you need to do when you’re caught in a rip current is to let it carry you. Just go with it. 

Then, swim parallel to the shore, not toward the shore. This way, you’re working with the current, not against it. 

Eventually you’ll get free of the riptide, and then you can swim to shore. In fact, the current will help carry you there.

That’s how you work through grief. You can’t fight it. You can’t try to swim against it. You’ll only wear yourself out. 

You need to go with it - let it carry you - until you can swim parallel to the shore, and then, eventually, find your way back to solid ground. Eventually, your feet will touch solid ground again - but not until you’ve floated along with grief for a while.

When my parents died, it was family, friends, and the church that helped me carry my grief. They were like the current that carried me, until I was able to reach solid ground and stand on my own.

3. Grow Around Your Grief

That grief is still there, still with me, just as the grief you experienced when you lost a parent, or a spouse, or a child, or a relative, or a friend, is still there. Grief never goes away.

Some people expect grief to go away or get smaller over time. I saw an image of a jar with a ball inside. The ball is grief, and the jar is us. And the ball filled the jar; it barely fit in the jar. The ball filled the jar the way grief fills us. It fills us, and there’s no room for anything else.

Most people expect that, over time, the ball will get smaller; and as it gets smaller, it makes room for other things in life. Happiness. Joy. Laughter. 

But that’s not true. The ball stays the same. The grief remains. It doesn’t get smaller over time.

But what does change over time is that the jar gets bigger. The grief doesn’t shrink, but we grow around our grief. We find that we become stronger and more capable of carrying that grief.

4. Transform or Transmit

I’ve started reading a book about the Advent scriptures. It’s actually the second Advent book I’ve read this fall. (Hey, Advent is only three weeks away!)

This current book is by Kelly Nikondeha, and it begins by talking about the years leading up to the time of Jesus. That was a time of grief and mourning, as the Jewish people suffered tremendously under oppression from various rulers and empires. 

Kelly Nikondeha writes that it’s important to acknowledge the tremendous grief that was present in that time. She writes that “grief work is the seedbed for Advent hope.” Advent begins with grief.

As I’ve already said, we don’t want to talk about grief or death or dying. Why can’t we just jump in to the birth stories and the shepherds and the angels and the star? And “Joy to the World?” Why should we start Advent, or the weeks leading up to advent, acknowledging grief and sorrow? 

Because, she writes, “only the pain we name is available for transformation.”

That statement reminds me of another quote, this one by Richard Rohr:

“If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.”

We don’t have very many opportunities to acknowledge our grief, or to talk about those we miss, and what they meant to us. The world doesn’t want to hear it, we think. The world wants us to move on. The world wants us to be happy.

5. Healing Grief

But taking time to acknowledge our grief is healthy. It brings healing. Grief has tremendous healing power, if we allow it to work through us, and if we don’t fight against it. We need opportunities to name our grief, and let that healing transformation begin.

What is it that you miss about those who have died? 

I miss the way my dad often told me how proud he was of me. And I wonder how he learned to do that. We’re not very expressive in my family. I don’t feel I tell my own sons enough how proud I am of them, or how much I love them. Yet I know how much it meant to me to hear it. I miss hearing it; and one of the ways my dad still inspires me is by encouraging me to do better at telling those I love that I love them, and telling my sons, especially, how very proud I am of them.

What do you miss? Not what do you miss most, but what do you miss now, right now, about someone you loved? Turn to a neighbor, and tell them. Right now, turn to someone near you and tell them one thing you miss about someone who has died. Online? Turn and tell someone. No one there with you? Write it in the comments. 

I’ll give you two minutes…

Sermon: "Honoring the Saints" (Luke 20:27-38)

Last weekend, I attended the cemetery tour sponsored by the Long Beach Historical Society. Costumed actors portraying residents from Long Beach history stood by the graves where the people they were portraying were buried, and told us about their lives and the history of Long Beach.

One of the historical figures who was portrayed was a woman who is buried there at Long Beach Municipal Cemetery, with her husband buried on one side of her, and her lover buried on the other side of her. Needless to say, her story was quite an interesting one.

Gee, wouldn’t it have been interesting if they had had actors portraying not only this woman, but also the husband and the lover? It does make one wonder how they are all getting along in the afterlife.

Then again, if Jesus’s response to the Sadducees is any indication, things are so different in life after death, that our ways of thinking do not even come close to understanding them.

The hypothetical situation presented by the Sadducees is even more extreme than the case of the woman buried at Long Beach Municipal Cemetery. The Sadducees didn’t even believe in an afterlife, but they came up with this situation to test Jesus and see how he would respond…

Their question centered on a woman whose husband died, and who remarried his brother, who died, and then remarried his brother, who died, and then remarried…

So, the Sadducees asked Jesus: “Since you say there is a resurrection, to which of the brothers will she belong to? How can there be one bride for seven brothers?”

Jesus’s answer, basically, is that you Sadducees are just trying to trick me, but in doing so, you only display your own ignorance. Jesus said that things in the life to come won’t be as they are in this life.

In other words, you can’t even imagine what it’s like.

Therefore, most of what can be said about the life to come can only be said by way of metaphor. Streets of gold, stuff like that. Or in abstract terms: we can talk about dwelling in the presence of God’s love, forever.

Which, for me right now, is a good enough description.

As for those who have already died: Paul writes in his letter to the Hebrews, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. People from the past are with us in the present.

And Paul mentions specifically: Abraham, whose faith was tested by God; Isaac, his son; Jacob, his grandson; Joseph, his great-grandson, who saved his people after being sold into slavery; Moses, who humbled himself, casting off his royal privilege on behalf of his people.

He also mentions Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel… all of whom form a great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us.

I was reading a recent article by a theologian, who was writing about how these saints from the past spoke to her. Not just in a figurative sense, but in some real, though hard for her to explain way, they were communicating with her, guiding her, and that they do so for all who would listen.

This is kind of embarrassing stuff for people who have been academically trained to talk about, because academic training really is of little help. Academic training insists that you back up your ideas by citing other sources. My own academic training – and the fact that I’m more of a thinker than a feeler – make this a difficult subject for me to talk about. How do I explain something that Jesus says is basically beyond understanding?

Yet I have heard voices from the past speaking to me. I have heard the voices emanating from that great cloud of witnesses. And, appropriately enough, they spoke more to my head than to my heart.

Earlier this fall, I attended the opening reception of a new exhibit at Rancho Los Cerritos, celebrating 150 years since the Bixbys first came west.

One of the exhibits mentioned Reverend George Hathaway.  There wasn’t a whole lot of information there, just a brief mention, yet it was enough to capture my imagination. I wondered if Reverend Hathaway had any words to speak to me. I began investigating, researching, and here’s what I found…

Reverend George Hathaway moved from his home in Maine to Rancho Los Cerritos in 1877. Long before he made that move, he was an avid abolitionist who joined the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, participated as a conductor on the Underground Railroad; and he served as a volunteer Union chaplain during the Civil War.

At Rancho Los Cerritos, you can see the first edition copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin that he owned. He passed it down to his daughter Martha, who then gave it to her nephew Llewellyn, who remodeled the Rancho in 1930.

I began to think that Rev. George Hathaway is one of those saints from the past who speaks to us today; or, at least, that he speaks to me.

After all, he lived right here in this community.  Perhaps he even walked the land where Bixby Knolls Christian Church is now.

Back then this area was all undeveloped, but four miles south of here the new city of Long Beach was being developed, and George Hathaway was one of the founders of First Congregational Church.  There’s no doubt that he influenced the progressive mood of this city in his push for justice and equality.

I’ve tried to find out more about him, his life, and the things he stood for as a preacher and as a resident of this area. I have a friend who volunteers at the Rancho, often playing the role of George Hathaway’s granddaughter, Fanny Bixby. She came and did a presentation – as Fanny Bixby – and met with our CWF group not too long ago.

Fanny Bixby grew up at the Rancho, and was herself quite a radically progressive woman.

Anyway, after two trips to Rancho Los Cerritos, all the information I had is what I just shared with you. There isn’t a whole lot of information out there about George Hathaway, but I did find a little more online.

I discovered that, before he moved to the Rancho, he served in the Maine legislature. And I discovered that, at his memorial service in 1891, it was said of him that “he was a man of remarkably clear thought, who had great power of clear and forcible expression. He was a man of very positive and strong convictions… He was the stuff of which reformers are made… He was a man of fervent enthusiasm for everything right and good.”

Of the people who lived at Rancho Los Cerritos, Rev. George Hathaway is one of the lesser known. I am now probably one of the few people in the world who know at least these few details about his life, and now you are as well. Maybe my strange interest in Reverend Hathaway is just that, and I’ve done nothing but bore you in telling you about him. Not everyone likes history, I know.

But standing there at the Rancho, it really did seem to me that I heard his voice calling to me, urging me to be a better citizen, a better preacher, and a better Christian. I hear him calling me – calling us – to continue the work in which he was involved, working for justice and for equal rights in our city and in our country.

Anyway, back to the Sadducees. Did you notice how they framed their question? “Whose wife will she be?” they asked. One of the presumptions in the question that the Sadducees posed to Jesus was that women belong to men. “Whose wife will she be?” they asked. In other words, to which of these men will she belong to?

Marriage in Jesus’s time was not an equal partnership between man and woman. The phrasing that women are “given and taken” in marriage speaks to how women were viewed; they were controlled by the men. The reason a brother would be obligated to marry his deceased brother’s widow is that because, without a husband, she was at a definite disadvantage in society. A woman’s interaction with society took place through her husband.

Some people today still feel that women should be viewed that way: controlled by men, who can do whatever they want to them. During this election campaign (that we are so ready to come to an end), the way some men speak and act toward women came to light, showing that too many men still have attitudes toward women that haven’t evolved much since ancient times. I think we have many voices from the past that speak to this issue: Jesus, who dared to engage in conversation with a woman at a well as equal; Paul, who said that in Christ there is neither woman nor man; and possibly even Rev. Hathaway.

By the way, in his reply Jesus said that, in the age to come, women will no longer be given in marriage. If the Sadducees pictured a heavenly game of tug-o-war between this woman’s earthly husbands, with her in the middle, Jesus was quick to cast that image aside.

In the age to come, women will no longer be given in marriage. There will no longer be an unequal partnership between men and women.

This sounds to me like an idea that George Hathaway would be a strong advocate of. I wonder, if we listened for his voice speaking to us, would we hear him calling for equal pay for equal work? Would he be excited by the potential election of the first female president in U.S. history, and if so, would he see that as a motivation to further improve the situation for women, breaking down the barriers that still exist?

I think he would.

His granddaughter who I’ve already mentioned – Fanny Bixby – fought for women’s right to vote. She was inspired by stories she heard of her grandfather welcoming a woman to speak at his church back in Maine. Fanny Bixby also became the first policewoman in Long Beach – one of the first in the country – and she spoke out against war, worked for peace, and on all sorts of topics she expressed her opinion to the Long Beach City Council.

This is history, but I think it is more than history. If those who have died really are still alive in some way, doesn’t it seem likely that they really do speak to us, in some way, today?

What about those who have been a part of Bixby Knolls Christian Church in its 70 years? What do they have to say to us?

What about those in our own families? How do they speak to us today?

And how can we honor all the saints who now surround us in a great cloud of witnesses?

I’m not sure how it is that the voices from the past speak to us. But I’m glad the church has set aside a day in its yearly calendar for us to remember the saints, and to let their lives speak to us again.

Faithful to the Living and the Dead (Ruth 1:1-18)

The regional assembly in Bakersfield – a few weeks back – began with an unanticipated event which ended up setting the tone for everything that followed.

On the afternoon before the assembly began, some 500 of us gathered in the sanctuary of Mill Creek Christian Church for a memorial service celebrating the life of former regional minister Don Shelton, who died a few weeks prior to the assembly.

By all accounts, his death came too soon.  At 68 years of age, Don was healthy and full of life until the cancer rapidly took control of his body.   He had been actively serving as part of the ministerial staff of Mill Creek Christian, a church he’d been associated with for nearly all his life.

At the service, many people spoke, including Don’s wife Linda, and his daughters Shonna and Stacy.  Stacy and I went to camp together as teenagers, and Don was the director of at least one of the camp sessions we attended.

When I finished seminary and began my full-time ministry, Don was regional minister, and a tremendous help to me.  He made several visits to Morro Bay during the brief time I was there, not only to provide assistance to me, but also to enjoy some of the golf courses in that beautiful part of the state.  Later, Don would work for Homeland Ministries in Indianapolis, before returning to Bakersfield.

The news of his death was difficult to receive for many of us, but certainly for his wife and daughters.  I was amazed at their composure during the memorial service as well as during the assembly, which they attended and participated in.

For those who knew Don, we can’t help but think of him as we hear today’s lectionary scripture reading from the book of Ruth.  A woman by the name of Naomi loses her husband to death, and becomes a widow.  She has two sons, and they marry, but then both of her sons also die.  Now she is left, just her and her two daughters-in-law.

Naomi decides to return to her homeland.  Her daughters-in-law are committed to going with her, but she tells them no; after all, what can she give them?  She has nothing.  They should stay in their homeland.  They may be able to make a life for themselves yet.

After some convincing, one of her daughters-in-law, Orpah, agrees, and parts ways.  But the other – Ruth – will not leave Naomi.  In marrying Naomi’s son, a bond, a connection united Ruth to Naomi, and even though Naomi’s son has died, the connection that was established through him remains.

And that is something significant.  Naomi’s son – Ruth’s husband – has died.  It was through him that a connection, a relationship was established.  Through him, a new family was created.

Naomi’s suggestion to her daughters-in-law, that they leave her, shows that she – Naomi – believes that when her son died, the bonds that existed through him and because of him also died.

But Ruth is faithful to the bond, the connection, even after her husband’s death.

Why would someone be faithful to a bond when the one through whom that bond existed, no longer exists?

The connection between Ruth and Naomi went through this man.  That connection existed because of him.  Logically speaking, once he dies, there is no longer any reason for that connection to exist.

But it does.

Why?  Because the connection is stronger than death.  It is a connection based on love, and love is stronger than death.  Right here, in the story of Ruth and Naomi, is evidence of what Paul would write many years later to the Romans, that nothing can stop love. 

Not even death.

Ruth’s husband is the connection.  It’s “A equals B.”  Her husband equals the connection.  When he dies, the connection should die as well, since they are equal.  But the connection does not die.  Love does not die.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Love is alive.  The connection is alive.  And if Ruth’s husband is the connection, then he, too, must still be alive, in a very real way.

At the regional assembly, it was very clear that Don Shelton was, in a very real way, alive.  His living presence was strongly felt, in worship, in business, in every aspect of the assembly.  After his death, he now lives fully united with God, which means that, in feeling Don’s presence, we felt the presence of God.

And so it is with all those we have known and loved, and lost.  They are united with God.  We feel their presence, alive with us still, and thus we feel the presence of God.

This is why Ruth says to Naomi:  “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you stay, I will stay.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.  Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  Not even death will keep me from this.”

So Naomi and Ruth travel back to Bethlehem, which is where Naomi is originally from.  But two widows, in those days, did not have it easy.  Fortunately the ancient teachings provided for the poor by instructing landowners to leave a portion of their crops so that those who are poor can come along after the harvest and gather what was left over.

So Ruth did just that, gleaning in the field that belonged to a man named Boaz.

Boaz looked favorably upon Ruth and provided her protection as she gleaned in his field.  He was a good man, and – as it turned out – a distant relative of Naomi.  Ruth didn’t know this at first, though, and in gratitude for his kindness she bowed down to Boaz and said, “How is it that I’ve found favor in your eyes, that you notice me?  For I’m just an immigrant.” 

You see, in those days immigrants were not shown the same level of kindness and respect and hospitality that they are shown in modern society … except by those who were faithful to God.  Our God always gives special consideration to widows and immigrants.  And so do those who follow in God’s ways.

Boaz replied:  “Everything that you did for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death has been reported fully to me:  how you left the land of your birth, and came with her to a people you hadn’t known beforehand.”  And Boaz continued to look upon her with favor and treat her with kindness.

When Ruth told Naomi what had happened, Naomi knew that Boaz was a distant relative of hers, and she said: “May he be blessed by the Lord, who hasn’t abandoned his faithfulness with the living or with the dead.”

God does not abandon his faithfulness with the living or with the dead.

Now, there is certainly a lot of mystery here.  I get really uncomfortable with those who speak with great confidence about what life is like after death.  Frankly, I don’t have a clue as to what life after death is like, other than to say that it will involve being fully united with God and with God’s love.  That much I do know.

But beyond that, well, it’s a mystery.  As the song says, when that day comes, God will be waiting with one more surprise.

It’s enough for me to know that God is faithful.  It’s enough for me to know that God is faithful to the living and the dead.  It’s enough for me to know that God’s love endures forever, that nothing, not even death, can separate any of us from God’s love.  It’s enough for me to know that I’ll be fully united with God’s love, and that those who have died in the past are already fully united with God’s love. 

What could be better than that?

In the Bible there is an anonymous letter to the Hebrews, which talks at length about many of the great ancestors of our faith:  Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and other men and women.  All of them, the author points out, lived and died; and now all of them are part of a “great cloud of witnesses” that surrounds us. 

The first Sunday of November is a day that we and many other congregations throughout the world remember and honor those who now dwell in that great cloud that surrounds us.  From ancient times Christians have observed All Saints Day and All Souls Day, a tradition that is carried on today.

So let us remember those we have known and loved and which now live united with God.  Let us honor their memory; let us honor the very best of who they were and what they stood for.  They weren’t perfect, but they were good.  They were beloved children of God, and thus their lives were holy.  They are beloved children of God even now, for God does not abandon his faithfulness with the living or the dead.