Community Church Sermons

The Twenty-fourth Sunday After Pentecost – November 3, 2002

Trails Through Tellico:

Eternal Ramifications

Revelation 7:9-17

 

 

There is a wonderful Communion scene at the end of the movie “Places In The Heart”. There around the Lord’s table gather all the people who have been part of the story – both those who are living and those who have died. It is a beautiful and touching reunion, and a tribute to the awesome love of God.

 

And this morning, I want to provoke you with this question. If this service was such a Communion scene in the movie of your life, who are those who would meet you at the table today?

 

Mothers. Fathers. Sisters. Brothers. Wives. Husbands. Daughters. Sons. Grandparents. Grandchildren. Neighbors. Friends.

 

Can you name them to yourself – those who meet you at the Communion table today?

 

Because, you see, that is the very point of All Saints Sunday. It is a reminder that we are met at the table not only by Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and not only by each other, but also by those who have gone before us.

 

Who are some of the saints you see as we gather about the table today?

 

Our text from the 7^th chapter of Revelation helps us to understand the lives of our loved ones in a new and most important way. The text shows us that the life-stories of these saints are about much more than their journey from birth to death. Revelation 7 helps us understand the rest of their story. Because, you see, as familiar as we may be with the adventures of our loved ones while they journeyed among us, we do not know the rest of the story from that point on. We know they passed through all the tribulations of life, but then what?

 

Revelation 7 tells us what happened next:

 

And here is what it says. They were lifted out of the tribulation they faced. Out of the cancer. Out of the trauma. Out of the injustice and oppression of life. Out of the frailty of age.

 

And though the clothing of their lives was marred by the bruises and injuries and sins of life, that clothing has been miraculously washed in the blood of Jesus until it became white and fresh and new. The scars of illness, and disappointment, and weakness are all gone now.

 

And the passage goes on to tell us that all their needs are being met. And they are protected from evil ever again touching their lives. And Jesus himself is with them, and goes to each one – one by one – wiping the tears of life’s sadness from their eyes.

 

And they are meeting new friends. Revelation 7 shows us they are meeting people from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language. People they never would have dreamed of meeting on this side of  life. And – miracle of miracles – they are getting along together, despite all their many differences!

 

And then, there’s one more thing. Revelation tells us they have a song that even those who have bad voices can sing! And this song sounds like a constant, uninterrupted cheer. And here is what these loved ones of ours loudly shout:

 

God did it! God saved us! Everything God promised came true!

 

Can you hear them singing today? As they stream into the sanctuary, and take their seats among us, can you perceive their presence? Can you sense them taking you by the hand, or slipping their arm around your shoulder? Can you feel the gentle kiss on your cheek?

 

Today is All Saints Sunday and it is such a special day. It is a day to see things unseen, to hear things unheard, and to perceive things that are imperceptible to those who do not have faith. It is a day to open our senses and come into the experience of eternity. For, you see, the very reason we have this day – All Saints Day – is so that you and I can hear the testimony of those who have gone before us. And they testify to a great and important truth: there ARE things that are larger than life; there ARE things that have ETERNAL RAMIFICATIONS.

 

And that is a powerful thought to consider this morning as we conclude this year’s journey along the Trails Through Tellico ­– our Stewardship campaign. How sad it would be if we thought of this time of year as just the annual pledge campaign – raising the budget for next year, strengthening the organization, collecting the money it will take to heat and light the buildings. Because, you see, the real reason we undertake this venture of living together as church is not to support temporal things, but rather to engage eternal things. We are a church together, and we encourage people to support our work, because what the saints tell us is true: there ARE things that are larger than life; there ARE things that have ETERNAL RAMIFICATIONS.

 

Like our relationship with God. Our first task as a church is to help each other find a relationship with God that will lead us safely through all the trials and tribulations of life until we too join the saints on heaven’s shore..

 

This past week has presented a number of difficult challenges for several members of our church. There have been a couple of open-heart surgeries. Several families have lost loved ones. One family has received a cancer diagnosis. Another is facing brain surgery. And next week will be the same, although the names will change, and the challenges may be different.

 

And all around us are people wrestling with immense human needs. Poverty. Hunger. Homelessness. Violence.

 

And what you and I are called to do and be in circumstances like these are people who bring these dear brothers and sisters gifts that enable them to discover the power and peace and promise of God in the face of the disease, the difficulty, the death, the disappointment. So in Christ’s name, we do our best to love them, and listen to them, and pray with them, and encourage them, and testify to them of our own experiences of God’s power and grace. More important than all the organizational things we have to do as a church are the everyday ministries that have eternal ramifications. Our job is to help people find God in the midst of life!

 

That has eternal ramifications. And that is worth supporting!

 

And another part of our job is to demonstrate the Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth, and call the world to participate in it!

 

When I was a child, our family attended a church that decided to start a ministry that sent buses into a nearby housing project so that people who lived there could come to church. The church was located in a white middle-class neighborhood. Most of the people who lived in the project were poor and black. And this was in the 1960’s when life in America was still pretty much segregated. But into the project the buses went, and week after week, more people came. And little by little, that congregation of Caucasian people overcame the stereotypes and the prejudices they had toward blacks. And the black folks overcame the stereotypes and prejudices they had toward whites. And we became a family together. In a world filled with the darkness of racial injustice, that church was a little lighthouse illuminating the beauty of the kind of world God wants us to help create. That little church gave people an opportunity to actually experience life in the Kingdom of God, and peoples’ lives were changed as a result. That bus ministry, you see, had eternal ramifications! Our job is to plant the seeds of the Kingdom right here and now! And that’s worth supporting!

 

And then there is another eternal ramification of the church’s work.

 

As we receive the gift of the saints among us today, it is so very important to appreciate that those who have gone before us still love us. They still care. They still pray for us. They still bring their energy and life to us to help us in our living.

 

And in the same way, you and I are called to care for those who will be following us.

 

Back at the First Congregational Church where I served as minister for fifteen years, there is a beautiful hand sewn listing of all the ministers of that church. And there are lots of names there because the church goes back almost 300 years. Matthew Short, the first name on the list, began his ministry there in 1712.

 

And coming into that church and seeing that list every day, reminded me so vividly of those who’d come before me – who’d worked hard for God – and who worked hard to leave gifts and tools to be used by those who came after them. Matthew Short loved me and supported my ministry long before I ever showed up at the First Congregational Church. The people of one generation always cared for the people of the next.

 

So the saints have come today to remind us of how important it is to be faithful not just to ourselves, and not just to the present, but to those who will follow us through this church. To be faithful to the future. So the values we establish, the principles we follow, the inclusiveness we exercise, the outreach we build are the very foundations upon which the next generation of members of this church will establish their ministry.

 

What we do with our land, our buildings, our staff or any of the other ministry tools God has given us is important because those decisions and actions will influence every other generation that follows. Our work today has significant ramifications for tomorrow. And that future is worth supporting!

 

So the saints are with us today. The bible describes them as a great cloud of witnesses all around us! I like to picture it as 107,869 saints filling every seat in Neyland Stadium…dressed in orange…and singing Rocky Top!

 

And they are cheering us on!

 

Can you see some of your loved ones in the crowd today?

 

They call us as individuals and as a church to those things that have eternal ramifications.

 

Help people find God! Be a living demonstration of the Kingdom of Heaven. Lay down foundations that will serve God even after you’ve gone to join the saints in their joy!

 

That is all worth working for, and giving your life for!

 

That is the testimony of the saints!