“Avowed Hedonist”

I read an article about the tragic death of a man who lived in Potomac in a recent Washington Post. The headline of the article first caught my attention as the article screamed “Dirk Smiler was the Toastmaster. The Gourmand. The Poet. The Goth King”. (Washington Post, Thursday, February 18, 2010). As I read the article I read about a 37 year old man who was a sommelier in Potomac, a voracious party goer who loved dancing, drinking, chasing women and hosting countless after-parties after last call. One of his friends described him as an “eccentric hedonist”.
In the 24 hours after his death, a tribute Web site said it had visitors from 39 states and 12 countries. There were many “comments” posted in the on line version of the Post that caught my attention. They were about evenly divided between those who wondered what made this man’s life noteworthy of such a lengthy article and those who were deeply hurt and in pain over his loss. The thing that most impressed me was the level of love and friendship from those who knew him. The other thing I notice was the level of insensitivity and unkindness from those who took exception to his Goth lifestyle or the lengthy article in the Post.
I don’t want to use the tragic death of someone who had a different view of life from my own as a platform but I was deeply impressed by the number of passionate friends Dirk Smiler had who mourned his loss. Yet, I have a fundamentally different point of view about what the good life is and I too wondered why such extensive coverage. I posted my comments and felt good that my comments received more positive “thumbs up” reviews than those from anyone else.
I hope that all of us have friends who love us as much and who are as passionate about us as Mr. Smiler did. While his was a life that seems very different from mine I can only hope all my friends and church members (both past and present) will remember me so fondly and will say such nice things about who I was and what I stood for after I am gone.

We do touch each other’s lives. We do matter. We do have a chance to impact the world; if not the whole world then the little piece of the world in which we live. I don’t think we stop to reflect enough on how we matter to one another. When someone isn’t in church their absence impacts those who are here. When we say mean or inappropriate things we hurt each other. When we are here we have the chance to share life together. When absent we lose that chance. I guess the only difference between Dirk Smiler and myself is that for him “the party” was the big thing and for me “the church” is the big thing.

So what is the big thing in your life? What is the priority in your life? What should come ahead of church on Sunday morning in our lives? (You already know my answer to that one don’t you?) How are you touching the lives of the people who matter? Does your life matter?

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

For Christmas Mary and I bought ourselves a bookcase to hold all the CD’s we have come to accumulate over the years. Somehow, just stacking them, one on top another wasn’t working as well as it did when only we had a few. The stacks had begun to topple into one another and the mess and disorganization had become quite a embarrassment. So, we ordered a beautiful, new CD storage cabinet from one of the many catalog companies we get catalogs from.

It arrived just before Christmas and together we faced the imposing task of assembling it. Being one of “those” kind of people I insisted that we lay out all the bolts, screws, washers, clips, clamps, and myriad parts to be sure we had everything. We gathered all the tools we would need. The process began. Mary was in charge. She is smarter and more gifted than I am when it comes to assembling things and I learned to yield to her assembling insights a long time ago. The thing that I want to tag today though is that all of the parts were required and all of the tools were required – or the cabinet could never have been assembled. All parts were required, all parts were there and all the parts were used. The cabinet looks beautiful.

The Bible talks about the body of Christ being like a body – though made up of many different parts all the parts are required in order for it to function. What would happen if the foot should say “because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body”? What would happen if the ear were to say “because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body”? If the whole body were an eye or an ear it wouldn’t work would it?

No, the plain fact of the matter is that for the church to be what it was called to be and for it have an active and vital ministry all of its members have to be involved, engaged and fully a part of it.

Merely being in the church and calling myself a Christian isn’t enough. God calls us to assume responsibility for the church. God calls us to know what our own unique gifts and strengths are and then to use them in the church for the good of the whole. God calls us to recognize what others gifts and strengths are and to honor them and bless for their gifts. God calls us to value and respect one another and to work together for the whole body – not just ourselves or our needs or our perspectives or our groups or our clubs or our activities.

Each of us are to accept full responsibility for being a part of the whole body of the church.

I. Each of us is important to the vitality of the congregation.
We can’t all teach Sunday School.
We can’t all give beautiful prayers at the table.
We can’t all preach.
We can’t all sing.
But we all have gifts – and God expects us to use those gifts for the good of the whole church.

Everyone in the church is responsible for something.
Everyone in the church has something to give.
Everyone in the church has special and uique gifts – and we are expected to use those gifts for the whole mission of the church.

What are your gifts?
What can you do better than anyone else?
What are the uniqe talents and gifsts that are yours?

Don’t tell me “nothing”.
Don’t tell me “oh, I don’t have any unique an special gifts”. Everyone us has something we can do, some gifts we can share, some ministries that we should be doing.

Each of us are important to the church.
Some play the piano.
Some sing.
Some serve at the table.
Some plant the trees and the flowers and tend to the building and grounds.
Some teach.
Some give the gift of leadership.

But all are important. The mission of the church is bring the joy of the Lord to people’s lives and to bring people ot the joy of the Lord and to do that we need everyone involved, engaged and sharing their gifts.

But we are important, not just for our “gifts” but equally importantly for who we are, what our unique personality is and what our insights are. Each has a unique spirit and all of us contribute something to the whole spirit that makes each church unique and different and ready to be used by God.

II. When you share your spirit and your gifts for the good of the whole good things happen.
(1) People’s lives are touched. People’s lives are changed when we use our
The hungry are fed. The thirsty are brought drink.
People who are hurting are offered healing.
People who come seeking spiritual renewal are given opportunity.

(2) The church grows and the more it grows the more lives can be touched, the more people can be helped and the less the church has to spend just to keep alive.

(3) You grow and your spirit renews and expands and the more you sense the power of God in your own life.

(4) The more the Holy Spirit is let loose to change people’s lives, heal people’s hurts and bring God’s life changing power into our lives.

(5) The more relevant and powerful the church becomes as it touches our lives and brings us closer to the Lord.

Good things happen to the church.
• More people are helped.
• More kinds of people are helped.
• More love can be shared and spread.
• More is available to help and grow the church instead of just going to maintaining it.

Good things happen to you.
• Your spirit is fed and can grow.
• Your sense of wellness and wholeness is grown.
• Your sense of being and importance is experienced.
• You help others and in turn are helped by others.

Good things happen to the world round us.
• The world becomes a better place to live and grow.
• The world becomes happier and healthier.
• The world becomes more beautiful.
• The more the world begins to look like the kingdom of God and what it was intended to look like in the first place.

III. God is calling us today to remember that we are all part of the whole. We are all important. We are all called to share whatever gifts of spirit and heart and soul and hands – together – not just for ourselves or our group but for the whole church.

As a part of the church what are you doing to enhance the body of Christ?

The church is a holy place and is to be loved and respected and given first place in our lives. We are all to treat the church with honor and care.

The practical application of all of this is know our gifts and use our gifts – not for our own gain or glory or to call attention to ourselves but to lift up and praise God and to build God’s church.

This means we are …

1.We are called to know how important we are but also how important everyone else is.
We are all members of the body. We are all valued. We all have a place.
We aren’t more important than another part of the body.
We all need each other and we all need to set ourselves aside to be the church.

2. We are all called to use our gifts – not just know about them.
Since we all have gifts – different gifts we are all called to use them in the church.

3. We are all called to use our gifts for the good of the whole.
The choir isn’t more important or less important than the Sunday School – and both are called to use their gifts and find their place in the life of the church for the good of the whole – not just themselves or their program.

4. We are all called to love the whole body, the whole church more than anyone or anything else.

5. We are all called to service.
We are called to give, not get.
We are called to serve, not be served.
We are called to use our God given spiritual gifts to lift up others, to help others and to make the world a better place.
We are called to service.
6. You are called to love one another.
“1 John 4:11 says, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Are you a contributing member of the body of Christ?
Are you actively serving God and sharing Him with others?
Are you contributing to peace and unity within the body?

Take a moment to evaluate your life in light of these principles:

Closing…
Years ago I went to one of our church members and asked her to play the piano for our Sunday School Assembly. We needed the piano to help us sing. We need to sing to help the opening assembly be joyful and happy, especially for the children.

The church member told me she wasn’t all that good a pianist but if there was absolutely no other alternative she would try. I told her I sure didn’t know of any other alternatives.

She told me ok but that I had to tell her all the songs ahead of time and we could only sing songs that she could play. I was desperate so I said OK, whatever it takes.

She began playing for us. At first it was tentative and difficult and it imposed a lot of extra limits on me in choosing hymns but eventually, little by little, week by week, month by month her playing got better and better and soon we could do almost any of the songs in our songbook and she got such joy and such meaning out of playing the piano and became so beloved and appreciated by everyone involved in Sunday School that it was awesome.

Because she used her gift, even if haltingly at first, because she offered what she had God used her and expanded her gift and Harriet Ashmore became an integral and joyful part of our Sunday School.

A whole generation of kids grew up knowing and loving Harriet Ashmore. She, in turn knew and loved a generation of kids she would have never known. Her piano playing skills improved and she got better and better. The joy and fun of church grew both for and within Harriet. She was important. She was needed. She had more of a place than ever before in the church.

It was great for both the church and for Harriet. That is the just the way it works. Whenever we give of ourselves freely and joyfully, without expectation of anything in return good things happen – both to us and to the church. Whenever we realize how important we are and let God use us in his church we grow and the church grows and most importantly the kingdom of God grows.

Are you letting God use you in the church?
Have you never really gotten involved, just sat on the fringes or was once fully involved but now retired and just soaking up the sunshine?
Are you engaged in the partnership with God in building the kingdom of God?

We are all important.
We all have gifts to share.
We are all vital to the life and well being of the church.

For the church to be what it was called to be and to have an active and vital ministry all of us as its members have to be involved, engaged and fully a part of it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned: the flames will not set you ablaze”. Isaiah 43:2

Introduction …
After preaching the last two weeks about how times and hard and how God calls us to serve him and expects us to be faithful to him, I promised to follow up with what else God said in these scriptures that was important for us to know. So, today I make the third and final installment on this series of messages from the Lord. Today, I keep my promise to you – this is the really good news you need to hear.

The reward of answering God’s call and of being faithful to him is that He will always be with us, he will never leave us alone and we are always safely tucked in his arms.

There is no river too deep.
There is no mountain too high.
There is no desert too dry, and
no wind too strong that God won’t be with us and help us through.

The joy of answering God’s call and of being faithful to Him is that God rewards us by always looking over us and protecting us.

Because we are God’s people and He is our God we are always in his arms, always in the shadow of his presence and never alone.

When I was a boy I would often sneak down to the river and play on the banks of the river, often venturing out in the sometimes unpredictable and unknown currents. I say “sneak down to the river because my brother and I weren’t allowed to go to the river but most of the time my brother and I and our friends found it far more fun and far easier to just go down to the river and play whether we allowed to or not. Fun waited, challenge awaited, new adventures awaited. Like Huck Fin of the old days we went down to the river looking for all the hidden adventures that were waiting for us.

Sometimes we found more adventure than we were expecting.
Sometimes we found ourselves in unknown territory.
Sometimes we found ourselves in deep water – deeper than we even knew.
Henry and Roger and Bobby Kowalski and Brother Steve and I often were in times and places where we were in “over our heads”, where crisis often lay just ahead and where we weren’t capable of handling the situations we put ourselves in.

It doesn’t really matter that we put ourselves in deep water when we went down to the river to play or that we deserved some of the trouble we created God was always with us, God was always watching over us, God was always with there.

I. There are always time in life when we are in danger, or in difficulty or in over our heads.
Sometimes life seems to be more than we can handle.
Sometimes problems seem to come one on top of another and we reach wit’s end.
Sometimes we find ourselves facing issues at home with our families, or at work with our jobs or at church or the Scouts or any of the other places of our lives and we wonder how much more we can take.

* As parents our children get be out of control.
* As children or teens our parents can seem to be overbearing and not trusting.
* Finances can become a constant strain when it seems we have too many demands, too many bills and not enough money. If it’s not the car or the medical problems or the mortgage or the rent or the clothing it’s any one of the other incessant needs that press down on us.
* We suddenly find ourselves diagnosed with a terrible, even life threatening illness or disease.
* Problems at work can bear down on us in any one of hundreds of ways.

Life can be hard.
Life can be challenging.
Life can be unfair and unrelenting.

II. Whether we are aware of it or not, whether we appreciate it or not God and whether we deserve or not God is always with us, watching over us and guiding us.
So it is in life for all of us.
God is always with us.
God is always providing love and care for us.
No matter how desperate the situation; no matter how unaware we are, no matter whether we put ourselves in the deep water or whether it just came upon us, God is always there with us.

We are always safely in God’s arms.

God is with us through the angels he sends to watch over us and help us. There may be “angels” that I don’t know about or haven’t seen or heard in the world but I sure know the angels in the form of the people who share our lives us. Family and friends offer their love and support and guidance to help us through the hard times, and the deep water and the dark nights.

God is with us through the guidance he provides us in response to our prayers.

God is with us through the insights he opens to us through our own thinking and praying or through the words and love of others.

God is with us through the always renewing and life giving renewal of nature.

God is with through the words of the scriptures which are always there to inspire us, renew us, restore us and guide us in life.

God is with us in more ways than we could ever know.

All we really need to know is that in all of life God is with us.

III. Knowing God is always with you brings you security in life and enables you to face any danger, cross any river, and face any challenge with the sure and certain knowledge that God will be with you all the way.

That God will always be with us and watch over us brings faith, strength and confidence to us throughout our lives and even at the end of life itself.

God has promised to always love us and that love calls us to love others as we have been loved.

God has promised to always forgive us and that forgiveness calls us to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

God has promised to give us life, abundant life, both here and in eternity and that promise of eternal life gives us security in this life.

God has promised to watch over us and knowing God watches over us calls us to watch over each other.

And I believe that God’s promises are for real and his word is good which in turns calls me to do my best at making my promises real and good.

Knowing God is with us gives us strength beyond our own.

Knowing God is with enables us to take on situations we might not otherwise take on, go places we would never go, become people we never dreamed of becoming. With God all things are possible.

Knowing God is always with us gives confidence to live our lives to the fullest, enjoy the blessings of the good days and have strength on the bad days.

Knowing God is always with us helps us as we grow older and our strength becomes more and more limited to know that no matter, we have God at our side to help us through.

Ultimately, knowing God is with us helps to know that when the end of the days is upon we will enter into the great unknown to a new life, a new future, a new way of being to be with God and all our loved ones who have gone on before us.

Nations, families and individuals seek security. We all want security. While we want and achieve the levels of security the world can bring us we all need and want security that is greater than anything the world can bring us.

We find lasting security in God.
* We find lasting security, not in our houses, but in God’s house.
* We find lasting security, not in physical health but in spiritual health.
* We find lasting security, not in the world’s kingdom but in God’s kingdom.
* We find lasting security, not in the arms of men, but in God’s arms.

We never know where the next crisis in life will come from.
But, we can know that if we are safely cradled in God’s arms we will be alright.

I do not know what any of us will face in the new year or in the years to come but I know that that if we seek refuge in the arms of God we will be alright – no matter what comes our way.

When you experience spiritual challenges in your life…
When you experience physical challenges in your life…
When you wonder how you will make it…
When you wonder how you will help others in their times of deep water, I pray you will remember that we are always in God’s embrace.

Remember the blessing that Moses pronounced over the Israelites:

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath
are the everlasting arms” (Deut 33:27, NIV)

Even though we do not know the future each of us can experience it with faith and confidence because we know God will be us.

Furthermore, the same arms that give you security hold all of those who know him, who seek him and who answer his call.

What will be your challenges this year?
What dangers lay ahead for you this year?
What ill winds may be being blowing your way?
What deep waters will you find yourselves in?
What harms lay before you?
What strains will come your way?

I know not nor does anyone else. But this I do know:
God will be with you.
God will be there for you.
God will be there to hold you safely and securely in his arms.

Closing…
One day last year I saw Shay crying and sobbing. He was sobbing as only a small chid who has lost his last friend or hurt himself or found himself all alone can sob.

Shay was sobbing from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet. The tears weren’t just coming from his eyes – they were coming from every pore in his body.

I called him over and knelt down to be with him on his own level. I asked what was wrong. He was still sobbing too hard to tell me. He couldn’t get out a complete sentence because whatever was wrong was too big, too serious, too current for him to get beyond the sobs.

I don’t remember what the problem was but it was something that I could help with. I don’t remember the crisis but I figured I could help. I offered some relief. As I recall my approach was “unconventional” or a little “wired” but it worked. Suddenly, the sobs stopped. Suddenly the tears dried up, that beautiful smile of Shays appeared back on face, the devil in his grin reappeared and all was right in the world of Shay once again.

Sometimes life overwhelms all of us.
Sometimes life becomes more than we can bear.
Sometimes we find ourselves overwhelmed, besieged, facing mountains too high, rivers too wide, currents too strong.

The problems aren’t always as easy to solve as a young boys were that day.
There is always a “Dr. Bob” there to hold us and help us overcome.
The answers are sometimes much more elusive, much more far reaching and not so obvious.

But, those are the days, those are the times, those are the circumstances when we need to know and remember that God is always there with us. When faced with overwhelming circumstances, over arching challenges, situations for which there are no easy answers we need to remember that God is always there with us, loving us, guiding us, helping us to know we are safely and securely held in his arms.

What I wanted Shay to know and for us to know is that no matter how hard our lives become, no matter how difficult the times are God will always be there for us – whether our friends will be or not.

No matter how old we become;
No matter how difficult our life becomes;
No matter what dangers we face.

All we need to know is that we are held safely and securely in the arms of a loving and caring God.
God never forgets us.
God never leaves us alone.
God never abandons us.

Yes, the times are uncertain.
Yes, the times are hard.
Yes, the water sometimes is much too deep and the river much too wide to swim.

But, when we hear and respond to the call of God we are never alone, we are never without resources and we are always safely and security held in his arms.

When you have difficult decisions to make cling to God
When you find yourself in deep water, reach for the arms of God.
When you face challenges, seek safety in God

Safe in the arms of God – now that’s security!

“When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned: the flames will not set you ablaze”.
Isaiah 43:2

Introduction…

But now, this is what the Lord says –
He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
Fear now, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

For I am the LORD, you God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior…

Today’s scripture is one my favorite scriptures in the whole Bible. I used to have a beautiful little cross with the letter “C” on the front and etched on the back the words from the scripture for today, “I have called you by name”. I’ve mis-placed it at best, probably lost it but I loved that little cross. It reminded me of God’s call in my own life and to whom I answered and am answerable.

“I have called you by name.”
What an absolutely great scripture for today, as a new year is fresh and clean in our experience.

“I have called you by name”.
What a great scripture to read on the day when we remember Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21)

When was baptized he felt a deep and abiding sense of God’s call in his own life – and that “call” made the total difference in his life.

Jesus heard God’s call in his life, he answered God’s call in his life, and because of that one faithful answer millions of lives have been changed – the world never again to be the same.

“I have called you by name”.
This beautiful verse is one of, if not my favorite verse in the whole bible.
I’ve always loved it. It’s etched on the cross necklace that I often wear and dearly treasure.

I. God doesn’t just “call” us – he “summons” us – and there’s a big difference.
I have always loved this verse but for the first time in my life I read it and heard differently when I read it and came to understand it as “summons” more than just “call”. More than “call” we need to understand that God “summons” us.

I’ve always loved this verse but I’ve always read the translations that used the word “call”. I’m not one to obsess over a particular word in the various translations but sometimes the actual word makes a huge difference.

Maybe, because of where I am in my own life I saw this scripture differently and more clearly than ever before in the past.

The church is in hard times. The culture and the world around us isn’t friendly or helpful or even understanding of the church. The world around us is actually hostile to the church and to God and to what we are about.

Additionally, we are in times when the harvest is ripe but the workers are few.

I see it more clearly than ever before. God doesn’t just “call” us – he “summons” us.

God’s doesn’t “call” you; he “summons” you.
God doesn’t “beg” you to come, he “summons” you.
God doesn’t “invite” you to respond to him – he “summons” you.
God doesn’t “entice” you, he “summons” you.

I think you get my point. I hope you get it.

God has summoned you.

This past week the church went to court with a contractor who hadn’t fulfilled his obligations to us. We hated to have to go to court but after two years of trying everything possible and imaginable to get the contractor to respond and being ignored we went to small claims court.

The defendant was issued a “summons” to appear in court.
He wasn’t issued an “invitation”.
He wasn’t issued a “would you please come”.
He was issued a “summons”.

Summons means “come”. Summons means “respond”. Summons means “be there”.

When I was a boy my dad would “call” us – we didn’t even know the meaning of the word “summons” but in reality dad’s “call” wasn’t an invitation, it was a “summons”. Dad had the ability to whistle so loudly and so shrill that is sounded like a high pitched train whistle in full steam. When dad whistled it “come” and “come now” and PDQ. To this day, I hate the sound of loud, shrill, high pitched whistles.

But we need to know that more than just calling us, God summons us.

I I God summons us to come and to be his people, to follow him, to love him above all else and to serve him.
God summons us to in much the same way as he called to his people of old. He calls us as he has called to men and women down through ages, in every time and place and language.
He calls us to as he called to Jesus.

1. God summons us first to come and to be his people.
One of the great lessons that Jesus tried to get across over and over was that any people who hear God’s call and who respond to God’s call in their lives are in fact God’s people.

The Hebrew people had come to think that they and only they were God’s people. They began to think they were privileged – without responsibility. They began to think that they and only they were blessed. And they became lazy, apathetic, and unresponsive – and God called new people.

In the parable of the Great Banquet Jesus made it crystal clear that those who responded to the invitation were the ones who enjoyed the feast.

2. God summons us to turn our lives over to him.
He isn’t satisfied with being “one of our priorities” He demands to be our first priority. He calls us to make him first in our lives. He calls us to love him – more than anyone or anything else in life.

3. God summons us to love him and serve him.
We love God and we serve him by loving our fellow man and serving others. We love God by loving each other. We love God by loving the stranger on the street, the poor man who needs help and a chance to do better. We love God by loving the children. We love God by loving the old people. We love God by loving all people – not just the ones who look like us or believe as we believe.

4. God summons us to live our lives in faithfulness to him.
We are faithful to God when we live with a passion for justice and with a concern for others and with the spiritual qualities and characteristics of what people who love God above all else should look like and should live.

5. God summons us to be a part of his people and to love his church.
We love his church by caring for it. We love his church by being a part of it. We love his church by serving his church. We love his church by serving it. We love his church by giving, faithfully, generously, joyfully in every aspect of our lives to it. We love his church by being here, faithfully and with open minds, open hearts and willing hands. We love his church by telling others about it, bringing others to it and doing everything in our power to grow it.

God summons us to be his people; to turn our lives over to him; to love him and serve him, to be faithful and to love his church.

III. When we respond God’s summons our lives are changed forever.

While in Chicago a few months back I stayed at a place called “Techny Towers”. I had never heard of Techny Towers before. I stayed there with the Regional Minister, Lari Grubbs because we were sharing in some mission work together. The story behind Techny Towers was amazing to me and is a perfect example of what happens when someone hears God’s summons and responds in faithfulness.

Techny Towers Conference & Retreat Center is owned and operated by the Society of the Divine Word, an order of 6,000 Catholic missionary priests and Brothers who serve the poor in 67 countries. The abbreviation for our name, SVD, comes from the Latin Societas Verbi Divini. They are popularly known as Divine Word Missionaries.

The Society of the Divine Word was founded in 1875 in Holland by Father Arnold Janssen. Some brothers emigrated to Shermerville (now Northbrook) in 1897 and purchased Russell Farm in 1899. In addition to farming, the brothers were extremely skilled in the building trades. By 1901, they established St. Joseph Technical School, the source of Techny’s name.

Countless lives have been helped, unnumbered poor lifted up, 6000 priests dedicated to missionary work serving the poor in 6000 countries – all because one person in 1875 in Holland heard and responded to God’s summons.

That story is inspiring but it is repeatable millions of times over.

When we respond to God’s summons we come to him and we respond to him and life is never again the same.

Because long ago I felt the personal and personal summons of God in my own life I took a turn that not only changed me forever but also has been the great source of meaning and joy in life. The path of my life was altered forever because I responded to God’s summons.

Because I read of people who felt that deep and personal summons of God and as a consequence their lives changed forever and they changed the world around them.

Because I have known people who felt that deep and personal call of God and I have witnessed firsthand the love and the power and the difference it made to them and those who knew them.

Every one of us here who professes to be a disciple of Christ has received a personal summons of God for our lives.

Every one of us here who profess to be a disciple of Christ has felt, heard, sensed, known, or otherwise experienced the summons of God in our life.
Every one of us here who professes to be a disciple of Christ has had our life shaped, directed, molded, touched by the call of God. At least that’s the idea.

God has summoned me,
God has summoned you,
God has summoned all of us.

What about it? Have you heard the summons of God?

By the way, if you got the summons, I’d suggest you respond! You think my dad was tough/ you think the courthouse is tough – their summons nothing compared to God’s

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine.”
Isa 43:1

P.S.

O, by the way, there is a part two to this message – come next week and I’ll share it with you.

Introduction
As you know I am an especially avid reader (even if it wasn’t required for my vocation) and over the holidays among the many things I read there were four articles in the Washington Post that especially caught my attention. The articles taken individually were especially cogent to the church and taken together should be required reading for all who especially care about and do our best to prepare the church for long and faithful ministry. Did you happen to catch the articles?
• The first article was entitled: Churches combine to survive:
The article was a detailed account of a Methodist Church that survived on the basis of merging two congregations with different ethnic origins, customs, languages – into one. The old “English” congregation once been vital and significant in its ministry but over the last twenty five years had dwindled down to a minimal number and could not survive any longer. In spite of trying everything (much of which was trendy and shallow) the church was not attracting new members and was on the verge of closing. A second “Indian” congregation was growing and expanding but had no building or hope of having one. The two merged and while it is a struggle they are trying to be a church of combined languages and cultures, but with lots of compromises.

• The second article was called: Christmas Pageants Adapt To The Times, and was the story of congregations that can no longer have the traditional Christmas pageants of years ago – in part because there are so few children in the church anymore.

• The third article was called “The Church Glimpses Come In Sad & Sweet”, and was the story of all the different things people do on Christmas – other than celebrate the spiritual meaning of the day.

• The fourth article was “Theologian JJ Packer Reflects On His Faith”.
The article was the story of reflections from the Episcopal theologian and head of the church in Canada. The article began “ It’s been a good year for the Rev. J.I. Packer, one of the world’s best-known theologians. In March, the Anglican priest and Regent College professor won Bible of the Year and Book of the Year honors for editing the English Standard Version Study Bible. He also released two of his own books — “Praying: Finding Our Way Through Duty to Delight” and a year-long devotional using his seminal work, “Knowing God.”

Packer, listed as one of Time magazine’s “25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America” in 2005, sat down with the Bee of Modesto, Calif., at the Christian Book Expo in Dallas this year to talk on a wide range of subjects, from growing up in England to C.S. Lewis’s impact on his life to becoming embroiled in the Anglican/Episcopal dispute.

Recent surveys show that spirituality is on the rise but that Christianity is decreasing or stagnant.

“I think that the number of lively evangelical Christians in North America is, in fact, increasing. I think that if overall statistics show that churches are losing ground, it’s because the deadwood is dropping off the branches. Amongst younger people, there is a very great deal of evangelical Christianity. It’s not always deep, but it’s there.”

As the old year passes and the new year begins such a focus on the nature and ministry of the church is refreshing and encouraging – yet the themes are troubling and of such significance we should pause and think about them.

I was equally enthralled with the comments in the blog that followed each of the articles and read them with interest.
• Somebody pointed out that the church that bases it’s evangelism and membership program on sending home loaves of bread and plates of cookies to entice people “in” and “back” is destined to have a limited shelf life.
• Someone else pointed out that Bishop Packer’s reflections only demonstrate how deep the struggle for the soul of the church is and how faithfulness to the gospel and reflections of the culture in which the church struggles to define itself.

As the new year begins it can be said the signs are clear:
• Time are tougher and tougher on the church. It will only get harder and harder to do vital and lively ministry in the name of Jesus in these times and in this culture.
• We are living in a secular society and the church is little understood and less appreciated.
• As numbers decrease and values continue to become more and more secular the church will be / is engaged in not just a struggle to survive but to do so with integrity and faithfulness to the Gospel.
• The church can’t afford and won’t be able to carry those who fail to help do the work of Christ and to who have become “dead weight” in the battle with evil.
• In spite of the decline of the church the hunger and thirst of people is still very much with us. Spirituality still exists – its just that the church is less and less the place where people go to find their answers.

In terms of “the church”, as the new year begins we should all be paying attention:
1. Times will be increasingly tough for our church and for all churches. We will need members – more appropriately “disciples” who are committed and consecrated and devoted to Jesus and to the church more deeply than anything else in their lives.
2. The times will demand that the church pare it’s rolls, have meaning in it’s definition of membership, and be faithful to the Gospel. I don’t like thinking of people as “deadwood” as the good Bishop did but I do think however we carefully choose our words we will have to stop colluding with all the people who think of themselves as members yet give nothing or very little, do nothing or very little and largely fail to support the community or the ministry we try to conduct.
3. The church will have to get smaller to get stronger, get right with being faithful to God or get left in the past.
4. The church that sacrifices faithfulness to the Gospel on the altar of popularity is not the church that looks like the N.T. church – or will be rewarded by God.

In a second but related line of thought I want to note that irrespective of what the church does or doesn’t do we each have to think about our own personal spiritual health and whether we are being fully faithful to God and to the church.

God calls to each of us personally.
1. Irrespective of what the church does or doesn’t do, is or isn’t we are each accountable for being faithful and obedient.
2. God expects us to be servants, especially to those less fortunate.
3. God expects us to be givers, not takers.
4. God expects us and holds us accountable to put Him first, to live in faithfulness and to do justice.

The short of it is:
• Times are and will be even more so hard and therefore each of us has to be faithful and “step up to plate” in not just doing our share to insure the long term surviveabilty of the church but more than our share.
• God expects his church to be faithful – not successful – and he expects us as individuals to do and be everything possible in building our church and helping it reach out in the name of Christ to the spiritually hungry and needy.
• God expects us as disciples to put Him first and to tend to our spiritual welfare before all else in life.
• Irrespective of what others are doing or not doing we have to faithful.

Last night I had the strangest dream.
One night early this week I had one of those dreams that when I woke up seemed more real than reality itself. In the dream I was preaching on Sunday morning – today and laying out the clear and unwavering call of the Gospel.
In the dream I was preaching hard and true a message of confrontation in calling people to be faithful and obedient in their daily living and response to the Lord.
I knew when I finally awakened and got alert enough to distinguish dream from reality that the reality was I had to live out the dream – today.
God is calling every one of us to be equipped for battle with the forces of evil,
to be faithful in our own lives,
to be committed and dedicated to one another and to our church
and to stand up and be counted.

Closing…
In the Gospel Christ encounters people all along the roads of Galilee and Judea and all of what we call the Holy Land. He encounters them sick and well, rich and poor, interested and not interested and over and over he gives them a call – and choice. The call is his – the choice is theirs.
• He encounters the woman at the well.
• He encounters the man on the road who is going to bury his father.
• He encounters Zacchaeus in the Sycamore Tree.
• He encounters Matthew at the tax collector’s toll booth.
• He encounters fisherman on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
It’s always the same in the end… “Follow Me”.

Today I have one mission – to issue once again in clear and non-abivilent terms the clarion call of the gospel to each and every one of us to reaffirm our faith, to recommit ourselves to being faithful in our own personal lives and to be active and supportive in the ongoing ministry of the church. Christ calls – are you going to respond.

We encounter the Lord.
He issues the call. “Follow Me”.
The decision is yours.
The choice is yours.

Sunday morning in America

Sometimes I get to observe how an increasing percentage of people spend their Sunday mornings. Sometimes when I am driving to church on an especially nice day I see how many people spend their Sunday mornings. With increasing regularity I think more and more Christians and sad to say even church members are opting to spend their Sunday mornings in “alternative” ways from being in church. Frankly, it’s disturbing to me.

On a good day, weather wise, when I am driving to church I will see that the warm sun and the beautiful weather brings out walkers, runners, bikers, golfers and a whole host of other “fill in the blank-ers”. I observe how family picnics, ball games, and just plain old shopping have come to replace going to church for many. I do my best not to slip into my judgmental mode but it’s hard. I can’t do anything about how people choose to spend their Sunday mornings but I do get more and more bothered about folks who have claimed to follow Jesus Christ and have made a commitment as a church member but have begun trading their Sunday mornings in church for the myriad of alternative experiences. Just staying at home isn’t the answer to the spiritual and emotional holes in your life.

Alternative Sunday mornings have become a huge social change that has occurred in my lifetime. The move from Sunday as a day reserved for church to Sunday as a day reserved for leisure and family activities has occurred and we aren’t richer for it. I see what the church is up against when we open our doors on Sunday mornings in the hope that people will choose the Lord instead of the lakefront. Our competition is not the other churches but the other forms of entertainment. And, sad to say, we like most other churches are losing the competition.

We are never going to be able to compete with the warm, fuzzy laziness of staying home so we can get up at a leisurely pace, make a pot of coffee, read the Sunday paper and watch television. We can’t match the fun of playing golf or the joy of having a family picnic at the local park. We do our best to offer meaningful and joyful worship that makes it worth your while to be here but at our best we aren’t as much fun as a picnic at the lake. Joel Osteen is a lot more entertaining and professional than we are but then again try calling good old Joel when you need a pastor.

The challenges confronting us are enormous. People deserve our best when it comes to the Sunday morning service. I work hard and try to do my best in putting together a thoughtful and interesting sermon but our members are obligated to do their best to make being in church their first priority – and with the right attitude and happy heart. The church is doing our best to offer you something worthwhile once you get here – are you doing your best to get here?

See you in church Sunday,
Dr. Bob

New Year, New Start

“Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:5). There is a powerful scene in the movie “The Passion of the Christ”. In it, Mary is running to her wounded Son who has just fallen for the third time, from the weight of the Cross. There is a flash back to an earlier day when that same son, as a child, is seen playing in the dusty streets of Nazareth and is about to fall. With the tender love of a mother, Mary reaches out to her Son.

Then the viewer sees her hand touch the wounded face of the Savior who looks at her, and through words addressed to her speaks to every human person, from the beginning of time until the end: “Behold, I make all things new.”

I was reminded of the scene as we begin a new year. With the New Year we have a new start. With the New Year we have new opportunities to serve. With the New Year we have new chances to give back more than I take out. With the New Year we have new people to meet and get to know. With the New Year we have new chances to renew and to love our relationships. With the New Year we have new ways to love the Lord. With the New Year we have new ways to be faithful to our church. With the New Year we will encounter new opportunities to love and to forgive and to practice the art of grace.

I hope that each of us will look back on the past year and think about the good and the not so good parts. I hope we will let go of the not so good parts; the losses of beautiful people, the failures of ourselves and others, the hurtful words and tough times. I hope we will look book and remember and hang on to the good things that happened to us. I hope we will continue to build on the good as well let go of the bad. I hope we all see new calls to service and new opportunities for ministry in the New Year.
With the New Year I hope we will all recognize what a blessing our church is. I hope we all starting giving more back. We are running short on people willing to work and help out with all the great ministries we do and we need everyone to pitch in and help or the great ministries can’t happen. Are you doing your share – and more? I’m afraid people are beginning to take our great church for granted and that’s a shame. With your help and you doing more than your share we can be faithful to call of Jesus and the ministry that is so rewarding.

“Behold, I make all things new.”

Christmas Is Coming, Christmas Is Coming

With the approach of the Advent season and the arrival of Christmas just around the corner my mind is already thinking about all the implications of the season for the church.

We have to have everything in place and ready to go by the first Sunday of Advent, which is a full four weeks ahead of Christmas. I’m not going to bore you with “Advent means” stuff but I will challenge you with some important things to keep in mind this Advent/Christmas season. Here are some things to think about.

For one thing get ready and be ready. That’s the first message of the season. Be ready. Be ready to celebrate the joy of the Savior’s birth anew in your life. Be ready for the big day!

For another thing to remember and insist upon is that it really is “Christmas” we are celebrating and not “Winter Holidays” or whatever other titles our secularized society wants to put on it. Once I find a mall or a business that won’t acknowledge what the name of the season is I just go elsewhere with my business. It is Christmas; Period!

Third, Advent/Christmas is a religious holiday. I like the reindeer and the snowmen and the little drummer boy and the angels but it is important to remember that Christmas is about the birth of the Savior. Don’t let anyone take that away from you. Speak to it. Think about it. Center yourself in the spiritual nature of the season. No matter what focus your heart on growing closer to the Lord and to the church.

Fourth, the Advent/Christmas season is one of the most important times to invite your friends, neighbors, family and co-workers to church. This is one of the two best times of the year (the other being Easter) to bring people to church with you. I love the sign that is in the narthex of our church “Evangelism is everyone’s responsibility”. It’s true – bringing others to the Lord and growing the church are our first and most important call and it’s a call that belongs to all of us. Who have you brought to the church today? Who are you sharing the love of the Lord with? What have you done lately to help grow our church? This is the time of the year to bring people to the church.

The birth of the Savior is so important, so central, and so essential as to who we are and what we are about that I hope every one of you will take the time, the energy and the effort to share the beauty and the power of the story with others. I hope every one of you can experience once again the joy, the power, the meaning of coming to the manger and falling on your knees and worshipping the child in the manger. O Come Let Us Adore Him!

Dr. Chance

The Joy of Compliments…

I just recently participated in my 45th High School Class Reunion. Since I have worked with the Reunion Planning Committee for many years now I have experienced firsthand the hard work that goes into planning a reunion and the anxiety that comes to the planners at the end of the process. There are so many details and so many things that can and do go wrong and some people are so critical that it’s enough to wear you out. I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief today. The reunion went perfectly. I’m tough on myself and even with being tough everything we planned was carried off to perfection and was so well received that I felt great about it all. Plus, I had a good time – that was a bonus.

One of our classmates came and thanked me privately, saying “I felt more alive than I have in a long time, and I want to thank everyone on the committee for all their hard work”. Several others expressed gratitude as well. Of course, I heard a little (precious little) behind the scenes criticism and complaining as well. That goes with the territory. People have huge expectations today. We all want the best – at low cost, of course. We all expect to be served. Few step forward to serve. We are living in a “consumer” mentality and we have come to expect everything delivered to our doorstep and our way (never mind that others have vastly different and often conflicting ways to our way) and on our terms.

Life is so much better when we compliment instead of criticize; add instead of take away, give instead take and put more back in than we take out. It’s always interesting to me that more often than not the most criticism comes from those who don’t know as much as they think they do or who have expectations that just can’t be met or the perfectionists who just can’t be satisfied. Thankfully, this time around, after forty five years most of the Class of 1964 have moved beyond trying to impress everyone with how “successful” they’ve become, or how important they are or how everything should be their way and by and large we all just settled back and enjoyed a great weekend of memory, reflection and new acquaintances. I had a great time but even more importantly I want to do better at remembering to be more complimentary and less critical of others and to remember the good comments I hear while forgetting the bad ones – instead of the way around.

I think it would be a better world if all of us (beginning with me) could just compliment the heck out of each other, affirm what we like and let go of what we don’t like and even if it didn’t change the world, it would change how we see the world. I think it would also be a better world if we just remembered the good words and forgot the bad ones. In the end, it is up to us isn’t it?

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul,
and health to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

1”Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Introduction…

This is one my favorite Sundays of the entire year. It is a time of remembrance and celebration and most importantly a time of honoring the lives of those we have known and lost in the past year.

It is impossible, I believe, to celebrate All Saints Day without recalling and giving thanks for those who have been a part of our lives –family members, mentors, friends, neighbors, and all people who were gifts of God to us and who now live in his eternal kingdom.

In the scripture this morning, the Bible tells us a new heaven and a new earth that unlike anything we know in this world. John describes the new heaven as Holy City beautiful and idyllic. It is a place where God dwells with me and lives with them in a full and evident sense of the word. It is a place where there are no tears, no more death or mourning or pain and the old order of things has passed away.

The Bible tells us that this new heaven is a place where God has made everything new. It is a place where water from the spring of life is given, without cost. God tell us this is trusty and true and we can count on it.

All Saint’s Sunday isn’t traditionally a part of the worship tradition of the Christian Church but we have taken it and adapted it and made it even better, even more meaningful and joyful. It is a Sunday when we are invited to not only remember those we have lost in the past and in particular the last year but to name them and in so doing to honor them and most importantly of all to celebrate their lives and their entrance in this wonderful kingdom of God’s eternity.

I Perhaps the first thing to do on All Saints Day is to remember them and give thanks to God for their presence in our lives. It is a day of remembering.

Take a look, once again, at the bulletin insert where we have listed the names of our loved ones who passed away this year. Read their names, to yourself, as we have already read them aloud. Sacred memories come to mind for everyone of them.

Every once in a while I will riding along in the car and almost as a matter of habit, pick up the cell phone and try to call Johnny Wade. John and Esther were neighbors and great great friends of ours for over 36 years. They were there the day we moved into 4709 Listra Road and they were there the day we moved out of the neighborhood. More importantly, they were there for everything in between. They helped us raise our family. They were great friends for our whole lifetime here. John used to get up at 5:00 AM and leave for work long before I ever got up so somewhere along the way he started putting my paper on my front porch. I used to leave him a “tip”, saying I had the oldest but best paper boy in the area. I’ll never forget the time I looked across the street and he was asleep in one of those lounge chairs. He used to like to wiggle a Kleenex over my nose whenever he saw me asleep in a chair so the devil and I figured this was the time to make things right. I snuck across the street; quietly tip toed past John and his lounge chair, took the hose off the front of his house and gave him a good old Christian baptism. As he hooted and hollered at me, I kept trying to convince it was my Christian duty to try and save his ornery soul. Esther was there for one of the most important times in our lives and played a huge role in our being able to make a special place for our first grandson and without her help it would have been harder. Good friends like John and Esther are hard to come by. I keep thinking the world; at least my world is a smaller place without them.

We knew Nick Adenhart since he was a little leaguer throwing big league stuff. We met his family at Family Camp, years and years ago and formed an instantaneous and genuine bond of friendship. Nick was always an up and coming young super star in the world of baseball and we watched and tracked with interest as he worked himself all the way up to the majors and finally reached what was to be sure and certain stardom with the Los Angeles Angels. We got the tragic call on the day after his 2009 major league debut (April 9, 2009) that he had been killed in an automobile accident, within hours of pitching six beautiful, scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics. Nick and his family will always be a special part of our family and always will be.

Marguerite Orebaugh was a long term member of the church, mother of Howard, wife of Walter and along with Walter traveled all over the world, living the life of a State Department wife and mother. She lived to a ripe old age and Howard, Suzie and broke birthday cake with her on the day of 100th birthday.

Peggy Speidel was a long time friend and member of the church. She and George shared most of what life had to bring with us over many years. Even after she and George moved over to Manassas Peggy and her children and grandchildren continued to be a significant part of our lives. I will never forget being with Peggy on some of the saddest and some of the happiest days of life. My, how she loved dogs – and George (no connection intended).

Lucy Wachtman was a kind and gentle soul who was a dear heart and is sorely missed around the church. She always sat with Ed, right over there – in the same place almost every Sunday. She died and we buried her way back in the mountains of West Virginia, west of Covington, Virginia. I’ll never forget the long and sad processional along the narrow and winding roads, each turn becoming more and more isolated until we finally arrived at one of the most beautiful little cemeteries I’ve ever seen atop a mountain peak, just a few feet below heaven.

II. Today is a day to celebrate and to honor each person with whom we are honored and have been honored to share life with. It is a day of honoring.

Each of the people listed are special. We could tell stories about all of them. In fact, I’ll invite anyone to share one short and simple memory about anyone listed and not yet mentioned – if you would like to – just keep it short please.

These people are special. They are gone but not forgotten. They will forever be a part of our lives. As long as we who knew and loved them are here on this old ball of ground called the earth are alive they will live on, at least in a certain way.

We should continue to remember them. We should continue to tell their stories. We should continue to lift our glasses and have a toast in honor of them.

More than an obligation, this is our privilege.

But, it’s also a day to give thanks and remember all of those whom we have known and who have been a part of the journey of life with us, whether they died this year or last year or the year before or long ago. We give thanks for those who had a powerful presence and witness in our lives and this is one day when we are not only invited to remember the saints but to thank God for them.

It is not possible to live without thinking of them and being grateful for them. Of course they weren’t and we aren’t “saints” in the usual sense of the word. If being a “saint” means being perfect or possessing extra ordinary powers then none of these people or any of us will ever make it into the lexicon. But that’s what I mean by “saints”, nor is what is meant when we refer to “All Saints”. We mean, just ordinary, human folks whom God has blessed us with and who have been a part of our life. Saint making isn’t our accomplishment – it’s by virtue of being a creation of God. They are and we are saints by virtue of being connected in baptism to the holy one, Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit.

But saints aren’t perfect. As Martin Luther pointed out, we are simultaneously saints and sinners.

So the saints of God that we remember and give thanks for today include the family member who always manages to rub us the wrong way, the high-maintenance friend who often seems to need more than we can give. It includes the people in the church who sometimes are downright difficult to live with. It includes all of God’s children – those who agree with us and those who don’t. It means that when we find out years after their death that some of those we’ve placed on high pedestals have clay feet, it doesn’t make them seem less saintly but only more human.

All of us less-than-perfect people, living and dead and are part of the communion of saints. In our imperfections we give witness to the lavish love of God, who receives us by grace and knits us all together in one holy church, the body of Christ.

III. But today is more than “just” a time of memory. It is also a day of celebration – a celebration that because of Jesus Christ the saints we have lost this past year have entered into that wonderful kingdom of God called heaven.

Today is certainly a day of memory, but it is so much more than just a time of memory. Even people who have no faith, even people who could care less about the church have great memories of their loved ones. They tell stories, just like we do.

The difference, found in the scripture reading for today is that we believe there is more than just this world. This life, life as we know it, may have ended but because of the great love and sacrifice of Christ we enter into God’s eternal kingdom following our death from this world.

And God’s kingdom is a grand and wonderful place. It is as said, earlier, a beautiful place where there are no tears, no pain, no death, and no anguish.

I can’t really say I have any personal experience of it but I have the faith and trust and confidence in God’s word. John was told “write these words down – for they are trustworthy and true” – and I believe that.

I don’t know what heaven is like exactly but whatever it is like God is there and that is enough for me.

Today, we celebrate that while we lost our loved ones and yes, our world is smaller, they have entered God’s heavenly kingdom and our loss is heaven’s gain.

Without that faith, without that belief my memories would be too empty and too painful.
With faith in God, with our faith in heaven and in God’s ultimate love and care hope can be.

Jesus calls us out by name from death to life and gives us daily a new beginning – that’s what we celebrate for John and Esther and Nick and Marguerite and Peggy and Lucy and Carl and Eleanor and John and Florence and for everyone we have ever lost. Jesus gives us life eternal in a new beginning, too much for us to fully see and understand, except in metaphor and that applies to us as well.

Faith in life eternal. Faith in life beyond this life. Faith in God’s eternal promise and God’s eternal kingdom – this is what we celebrate today.

Closing…

As people of faith we believe that The Lord will come down from heaven, we will be raised, and then we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thes 4:13-18 We believe that God will raise us up by His power. 1 Cor 6:14 We believe that He will raise our bodies to life through the Spirit of Him who dwells in us. Ro 8:11-13 We will be made alive because of Christ. Jn 11:24-27, 1 Cor 15:20-26

Today is a great day to be reminded and to remind ourselves to be thankful for those with whom we share life in this world, and to celebrate that when life in this world comes to an end – for whatever reason and in whatever circumstances and at whatever age we are ushered into eternal life in God’s abiding presence.

(TO ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS,
MARCH 11, 1891.)

CLEAR as the sky of early morn
On this thy festal day, With starry gems o’er its vast expanse
Shining in bright array,
Thus be thy memory’s record fair;
Be all life’s clouds dispelled; And only the gems of thy life’s reward
Upon its tablet held.
May this bright, peaceful consciousness
Greatly thy life prolong.
Of a life nobly spent the memory is
Eternal, clear, and strong.
(Songs of the Life Eternal and Other Writings, by Edward R. Knowles, Harvard Class Library)
What is today?
• It is day of remembrance… a day of memory.
• It is a day of lifting up by name, those we have lost and of honoring them.
• And most importantly of all, it is a day of faith and celebration.

1”Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”