Cuba Christian Church
Pastor Amy Wharton
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1–6a
John 11:32–44
“For All the Saints”
At every funeral that I do, I read words from this chapter in the book of Revelation—God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be an end to weeping and mourning and pain, for the old order has passed away. In the book of Revelation we are told again and again that creation is moving forward toward the kind of fulfillment that God has in mind—not utter destruction, but the absolute opposite, utter and ultimate creation. And while the story grows with that kind of movement, the words of this prophet John look back into the past and show that God has been moving toward this culmination since God’s word first rolled over the chaos preceding creation.
And just like the word of God over chaos during creation, God will not destroy, but build and build and build and create and create and create. God will make life anew where there is nothing but death and God will make joy where there is sorrow and God will make love and family where there is loss and mourning.
The new heaven and the new earth are created out of the old—not replacing them. They become the seeds for the new. Like the flower in the bulb, the oak in the acorn, the new has been the potential of the old all along.[1] And through our living closely in connection to God we can sometimes glimpse flashes of that new in faithful lives we see around us—and in lives lived faithfully and lovingly, sometimes we can be the lenses through which others might see the household of God being lived.
It is often said that the past informs the present, but it may be just as true to say the future informs the present. When we faithfully place ourselves in God’s presence, new possibilities for life and service become visible. All Saints Day is a time to remember the saints who have gone before us and to give thanks for the blessings God has given us to share with others.[2]
As Protestants that came out of the Reformed tradition that began in the northern British isles several hundred years ago, we don’t often celebrate days like All Saints Day, unlike some Protestant groups, it’s not required of us—some may even wonder why we are doing it today. Part of the reason this year is an opportunity for a special Sunday of participation, but that’s not all. After reading and studying the scriptures of this day, I see that we need to be reminded—as the churches in Revelation needed to be reminded—that creation has a purpose, that the body of Christ has a purpose, that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has a purpose and that this congregation, Cuba Christian Church, a particular church in a particular town at a particular time also has a God-given purpose.
Our purpose, here and now, is to continue to reveal that Jesus is alive within us—and to continue to reveal, here and now, that we believe that we are a part of God’s purpose for all of history and creation—however small it may be, we are a part of God’s culmination of creation. We have been called and created for a specific purpose that it is our joy and purpose to find and to perform—not once, but daily and until ultimate culmination that God has planned. We don’t need to know the end, to understand that we are a part of creation’s journey with God to wherever and whenever God is carrying us.
A central tenet of Judeo-Christian beliefs is that the universe has been created by God for a purpose; therefore, history has meaning and purpose. According to this belief, history is not an endless cycle where events are destined to repeat themselves, but rather a path with a destination. As the Bible begins with creation in Genesis, so it ends with re-creation in Revelation. There, John speaks of the goal of God’s creation – a purpose never fully realized in the history of time and space, but not entirely beyond history, either. [3]
So what does that mean for us, this particular congregation within this particular place and time? What is our purpose and meaning?
I believe we have to be willing to seek that meaning out—through our study of scripture, through our gatherings of fellowship, through our worship and praise, through our care and comfort of one another. We seek meaning as we live out our approximation of purpose each day.
A. We must, as this particular congregation, work together in trust and faith in whatever we do.
In some ways, working together is one of the things that we do best. We have had the example of some of the saints of the past who taught us well. I’ve heard stories of so many in the past 10 years that I won’t attempt to name them all. And some are still actively practicing their saintliness or living lives of holy purpose here and now. I have heard stories of laughter and joy as people cooked meals so that their love would be shown to those who experienced the loss of a loved one at a funeral dinner. I have heard the love and laughter of women gathered to quilt, women of many Christian traditions brought together in a purpose. I have heard the men of faith and purpose work hard to raise money and awareness of our needs as a congregation.
I have heard us express some lack of faith that what we do is not enough. We don’t always trust that God will take the work we do and make it enough—yet God can raise the dead. And we are also called to trust in one another that we each will share the gifts that God gives—not to the point that we die of exhaustion, but each and every one is called to contribute as God calls and directs. We must trust that each one of us is working at the purpose that God gives. And each one of us must pursue the trust of the other. We can, as individuals, seek to merit the trust that we are given by each other. Can your neighbor trust you to faithfully pursue prayer, study and work as guided by the Holy Spirit or do we, as individuals and as a congregation need to work on areas within that kind of life?
In the past few years, the elders of this congregation have begun to pursue a process that I hope will continue. Each month they meet—even when I am unavailable—to nurture their relationship with one another and decide how best to be elders together. In that process the shut-in communion continues and continues to need everyone’s participation. There has been incredible growth and see that growth continuing in the foreseeable future. It takes work—I understand that there have been cycles of activity and inactivity within the elders before. Yet that model of their journey toward full participation is to be celebrated—it ain’t over, but it’s been well worth the journey so far.
The work in the kitchen in this congregation has always been commendable, even as leadership shifts and changes, even as we wonder how much more we have in us. The hands-on work of this congregation is probably our most “saintly” accomplishment, but it is still a process and journey toward fulfillment remind us that only God brings the consummation, the culmination or wondrous perfecting where the journey meets destination.
B. We must, as this particular congregation, come together as often as possible to worship God and be sent out with the word of God that we receive.
Not to reiterate my newsletter article too much, but we have to come together in worship as a congregation within the body of Christ to be effective members of the body of Christ. We need to worship God—that’s why we come, to acknowledge that God is God and we are not. We come to thank God for all that was and is and is to come—for the creation and the covenant and the Christ and the church and the consummation. Some of these we know, some of these we look forward to.
We come together, not simply giving God praise alone, because we remind one another of the breadth and depth of God’s work. In me and my experiences, God has worked in the ways that I have seen and recognized. In you and in your experiences, God was worked in the ways that you have seen and recognized. And we hear the stories of others who broaden and deepen our experiences, understanding that God’s work cannot be boxed, but will be experienced in many ways.
I won’t go into greater detail hear about our need to worship together and often just read my article in the newsletter—but I will say that out of worship comes the energy we need, when we gather together and go out with the strength we receive.
C. We must, as this particular congregation, decide how best we can give love and mercy to one another, and more importantly to those who have no one to love them and have never experienced mercy.
We love our friends and those we know quite easily and well sometimes in this community; we are to be commended in most cases for the comfort we give. Yet we also are on a journey toward fulfillment here, too. We often get caught up in caring for those whose wheels are the squeakiest or whose problems seem the most tragic. Or, though most of us have outgrown our adolescence, we sometimes like to help those who appeal to us through their popularity or charm or personality. We like to help those we like and who seem to like us because it feels good. We want to feel appreciated and gratified that our help is received as gratefully as we would receive it. We want to reach out to those who probably need us less than others who may not seem as grateful.
Or we want to reach out with the purpose of guaranteeing our own existence into the future instead of reaching out because we are on a journey toward the household that God is forming—we seem to want to be the consummation, not part of the journey. We are important and significant and necessary—all parts of the body of Christ are those things, yet we are also limited like all mortal creations. Let our vision go beyond the now and allow the future
We must, as this particular congregation, decide each week to work together, worship together and love others. On this day to remember the saints who have gone before us and to give thanks for the blessings God has given us to share with others, we are called forward with visions. We are called forward with the vision from Isaiah where the shroud of death is destroyed as the whole world gathers for a feast. We are called forward to welcome God’s household of joy in the psalm. We are called forward to the new Jerusalem in the book of Revelation. And we are called out of death in to life everlasting with Lazarus. Visions of renewal, of new covenant, of all creation singing praises to God –these glimpses of God’s hope for the new heaven and the new earth can inspire us to bring renewal right here, right now.
Let us maintain our faith in those visions that have called people of faith into the future for thousands of years—we don’t need a purpose beyond our potential, just the willingness to walk our part of the journey today. We need to be willing to follow the example of the saints we have known, walking into the future God has in store for us.
We need to work together in trust; we need to worship together with commitment and faith; we need to serve one another and beyond our walls with courage and the hope of God’s power.
We are called this day to be the saints that God calls us to be, in this day—as in the days before and for all the days ahead.
To the glory of our loving and merciful God. Amen.
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[1] Biblical background, p. 86, All Saints’ Day, Pentecost 2 2009
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
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