November 6, 2011

• Revelation 7:9-17
• 1 John 3:1-3
• Matthew 5:1-12
  Sunday's readings will be from the new Common English Bible.
• All Saints Sunday
• Lord's Supper (Communion)

Sunday's message: Who are these?

Our procession of special Sundays brings us this week to All Saints Sunday, an occasion to remember those who have gone before us.

All of us, I think, would want to populate the scene from Revelation with people we've known and loved and who are no longer with us. I'd like to imagine my dad in that innumerable crowd with the while robes and palm branches. And I think many of us might hope to be in that number when our own days come to an end.

But wait. Who are these, and where do they come from?

These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb's blood.

For the context of Revelation, written to Christian about to face strong persecution, the great crowd are the martyrs. "Martyr" is a Greek word for one who gives testimony; but it takes on a special meaning in Christian usage. These are those who have died for the faith, who have refused to deny Christ and their faith even when threatened with death.

One would expect, then, to read that their robes have been washed in their own blood. But that's not what John saw. Their robes were washed in the blood of the Lamb — in Jesus' own blood. By their death they have participated in Jesus' own death.

So maybe we'd like to think twice about joining that crowd, at least through their own entry-way.

But turn then to the Beatitudes, which are the Good News reading for Sunday.

Happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Happy are people who grieve, because they will be made glad...
Happy are people whose lives are harassed because they are righteous, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs...
Happy are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you, all because of me. Be full of joy and be glad, because you have a great reward in heaven. In the same way, people harassed the prophets who came before you.

The Christian faith is realistic in its assessment about how difficult life can be, especially when we choose to be Jesus followers. After all, we're following someone who ended up being executed for the very things we're supposed to be doing. And yet those martyrs wear white robes, and hold the palm branches of victory. And the hopeless, the grieving, the harassed and maligned, are called to be full of joy and glad, because the reward is great. And that's right now — "Happy are people..." — not just in some future location. Despite the troubles and just plain hard work of Christian discipleship, there is joy in it.

And we're surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, those who preceded us in the faith, as it were cheering us on from the sidelines. They're not just "old and dead". As we remember their stories, we find our own path.

On Sunday we'll spend time remembering our saints. We'll remember specifically George Bailey, who died recently and was buried in a graveside service in Camilla, where few were able to go. We'll us his remembrance to remember others among those who have gone on before us. Don't miss it.