Beacon Of Hope: It’s Our Turn

Ephesians:
The passage we are about to hear is a prayer for all the saints. The word translated saints is “hagios” which literally means “the holy ones of God.” What does it mean to be called holy? It means that a person is set a part as a chosen one of God to do the work of God. Holy means wholeness. We, as the saints, are set apart to bring the wholeness of God into the life of God’s creation. This prayer reminds us that all people are part of the family of God, and because of this, Paul prays that all people may know the length, breadth, depth and height of Christ’s love. Sharing this love and making it known to the world is the work of the church, the saints, the holy ones of God, from generation, to generation, to generation.

Read Ephesians 3:14-21

SERMON:
I heard a Children’s Sermon many years ago whose message still impacts me today. The message was, “A Christian is someone who plants shade trees they will never sit under.” The statement reminds me that I or we may never fully see or even experience the fruits of all we do, but we trust God will use our gifts for good. But even more importantly for me, the statement reminds me that I have many blessings in my life simply because others planted their shade trees for me. When Nancy and I moved to Prescott a little over three years ago, there were schools waiting for our children to attend. There were parks for us to enjoy. There were roads for our use. The list goes on and on, but I realize that all this was and is here, because of those who came before us.

Right after Nancy and I were appointed to Prescott, but before we moved here to be pastors, we came to the 135th Anniversary Celebration of PUMC. It was a wonderful way to begin our ministry, as we were reminded of the faithfulness of generation after generation of people, of the saints, who had kept the worship, ministry and mission of this church alive and vital. That we were being allowed to be a part of a rich and wonderful heritage left to us by the faithfulness of the many who came before. We have a wonderful theme for our church which says, “We are a beacon of hope.” But we can see that this beacon has shown brightly for generations to serve this community.

For many of us who are worshipping in this beautiful sanctuary, we give thanks for the blessing that awaited us when we moved here and joined this congregation. Fully 1/3 of our membership was not here when this sanctuary was built just several years ago. For us new arrivals, we give our thanks to many of you who are here, and many who are no longer in our midst. Your faithfulness is what allows us to be here today. I am reminded of the cliché that the church is always one generation away from dying.

It is what makes a thought by Walter Breuggemann one of my favorite about what it means to be the church, the collection of the saints of God. Breuggemann says, “The thing that God does best is trust us, the church, with our moment in history, our moment in God’s story. We often reflect about our faith and our trust in God in the living of our lives. Trust meaning having a deep belief and faith in another. But how often do we stop and remember that God trusts us? God has faith in us to be the church, the saints of God with all that means. To be the holy ones set apart to do the work of God.

Trust carries with it, the whole idea of responsibility. When we trust someone, we are saying we believe them to be responsible, to be trustworthy. It is what it meant to Israel to be the chosen people of God. They were not chosen to receive extra blessings, but to receive the responsibility of making God known in the world. Jesus’ “Parable of the Talents” gives us the same message. For those who were responsible with what they received, the response of the master was they were given more to be responsible for. The work of God is too important, Jesus says, to be left to the irresponsible and untrustworthy. The work of God is too critical to the world to be entrusted to those who do not use the talents God has given to them for building the kingdom.

As we gather today, we recognize that this present moment we share together has been shaped by our past, so today is a time of remembering. First, in our time of communion we hear the words of Jesus to celebrate this supper in remembrance of him. Scripturally, the word remember is a translation of the Greek word anemnesis, which is obviously a cognate for our word amnesia. A word we often associate with losing our memory, or forgetting our name. But it truly reminds us it is about remembering our stories. We celebrate communion to remember the story of God’s love and forgiveness. To remember God’s story of grace and compassion.

Today, we take the time to remember the saints. The ones who have kept this story alive for generations. And today we remember specifically those who have joined the chorus of saints in heaven this year. We take time to honor their faithfulness and give thanks for the gift of their lives, for their ministry, mission, and commitment that bless our lives even to this very moment. It is they who kept the story alive when it was entrusted to them. It is they who passed the story on to us, that allows us to know of the love of God through Christ Jesus today.

We also recognize that in this present moment we make decisions that shape our future. Today, we are also reminded, that we, as the church, are here to not only remember but also to keep alive the gospel story, the story of God’s love, the length, breadth, height and depth of it for all of God’s children from generation to generation. We would not know that story today in our own lives, save for the commitment of the saints who came before us. Today, we know our lives are linked to those who have come before, not only for the blessings we receive, but because it is now our turn to keep their faithfulness alive in this God’s creation. It is now our turn to be that beacon of hope that keeps the life of this church alive and vital. It is now our turn to plant shade trees for those who, the generations of the church, who will follow us.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on November 2, 2008.