Witness of all the saints

 

All Saints Sunday - November 3, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

For the witness of all the saints,

            Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

And then there are those whose names are on the banners hanging around us, those whom we remember from the past 18 All Saints Days.

Some of them were baptized into the Christian life, and many more have moved into the number of the saints in heaven.

And there are more.  There are Bibles scattered around the nave here and there, wherein the saints of the first generation of the church speak to us, if we will but open the covers and listen.

On the top shelf up in the library we have the collected wisdom of the first four centuries of the fathers of the church, both east and west.

Sometimes we act as though we are the whole church, that no one has faced problems like ours, that we are so unique.

It is not true, of course.

We are only a tiny corner of the church, and we can listen to and learn from so many others who have gone before us.

For the witness of all the saints,

              Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

Some just will not say that with us, refusing to admit the truth.

Some cannot say it, having not yet heard the promises of our Lord Jesus.

Some are hesitant to say it, unsure of what the truth is.

Nevertheless, we persist:

For the witness of all the saints,

               Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

Some worship pleasure.

For them, this gathering for worship and service is a waste of time.

This is not a new problem: the ancient Greeks called it hedonism, and we know it as doing whatever feels good, right now.

“I'm free,” says the hedonist, “and I can do whatever I want: how it affects you is no concern of mine.”

But we have the memory of a man named Francis, one who started out living the carefree life.

One day he looked, he really looked at a leper, and having heard the words of Jesus, took off his coat and gave it to the sick man.

The day soon came when he gave away literally everything he had, even every stitch of clothing, in order to be completely dependent on the generosity of others in order to accomplish his work.

He reminded people of his own day and us still today to think about what is ultimately important.

For the witness of Francis and all the saints, Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

We know that there are some who will say anything in order to be elected.

Some will change their story once they get into office, when they think that it will be to their political advantage.

Some will lie in court if they are paid enough to be an “expert” witness.

Some think the truth changes all the time.

But we have the memory of Polycarp, an old man of 86 years who told the truth, the whole church.

The emperor's soldiers wanted to destroy the Christians and force them to worship the emperor.

Those who refused were to be fed to the lions or burned.

Polycarp was captured.

All it would have taken to receive his freedom would have been for him to toss a bit of incense on the brazier and to say “The emperor is god.”

A few words, a pinch of incense; what would it matter?

But Polycarp declined.

19 centuries later we have his words as remembered by an onlooker:

He said, “My Lord has been faithful to me for 86 years. Why would I desert him now. Jesus is Lord, not the emperor.”

And he was burned at the stake, his death strengthening the resolve of other Christians.

For the steadfast witness of Polycarp and all the saints,

                  Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

Some today make it sound like all the problems of the community and nation can be traced to the fact that many of our forebears in this nation were Christian.

There are those who re-write the history books to remove any positive mention of Christianity.

But it is OK to learn American Indian religion, however.

We have the memory of the martyrs of Lyon who withstood far more than we can even imagine.

They were beaten, ridiculed, stoned, exposed to wild animals, roasted, imprisoned in beastly conditions because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who will hold onto them in spite of those hardships.

And in our own day, we have the witness of the Coptic Christians of Egypt and Sudan who are enduring unbelievable and sadistic oppression by the Muslim majority, and who are still praying for those around them.

For the witness of the martyrs of Lyon, the oppressed church in Egypt and Sudan, and all the saints,

                 Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

They stand around us, urging us not to despair, urging us to rejoice in all that God has entrusted to our care.

I need to introduce you to Christian Brobst, who in 1796 used some of the first money that he earned to help establish a German- speaking Lutheran congregation in Catawissa.

Then as a much older man in 1845 he ventured again to take the lead in helping to establish the English-speaking congregation in that town.

He used his time, talents, and money to build up the body of Christ in that community.

For the witness of Christian Brobst and all the saints,

                 Thanks be to you, O Lord.                     

 

I recently got an email from Anna Bosch, daughter of Paul Bosch, who was Assistant Pastor here in the mid-1950's when this building was being planned, and I have a suspicion had an influence on some of its details.

She thanked us for the biography of her father and other information that we have available on our website, due to the diligence of Gary Weber, and wished that other congregations would recognize their history and the contributions of their past leaders in a similar way.

Long since retired, Pr. Bosch was also bemused to see the photo of himself in his 20's, just starting out in his work.

For the witness of Pr. Bosch and all the saints, Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

Some think that the saints are only the larger-than-life figures, the famous names.

But we have the memories of many others besides the famous persons.

Our banners are lined with the names of us regular folks, and all of us join in the hymn never-ending.

For the witness of Martin Luther and his next door neighbor, whoever that was, and for all the saints,

                   Thanks be to you, O Lord.

The world's problems are so great that we are tempted to throw up our hands in despair and say that we as individuals can do nothing.

But we have the example of a little woman from Albania.

She didn't talk about what a shame it was that the poor of India were so miserable.

She picked up one abandoned person off the street and nursed him, giving him the first bit of love and comfort he had ever known.

Mother Teresa couldn't do everything, but the Holy Spirit showed her how to do something.

We have our own Carl Hieber who has given of himself to do the grunt-work on several medical-mission trips.

And our quilters who turned out a record number of quilts this year...

And our intrepid few who give the Christmas party for the severely disabled residents at the Selinsgrove Center...  and so on.

These are ones who know that one ordinary person does make a difference in the name of Christ.

For the witness of Mother Teresa, Carl, Shirley, Becky, many others, and all the saints,

                Thanks be to you, O Lord.

 

The book of Revelation speaks of the destiny of all of these saints. 

The ones dearest to us, and the ones we never knew...all of us are to be gathered together:

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.  They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”....and singing “Blessing and glory...be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

 

So in anticipation of what we will at length be doing together with them in the fullness of heaven,  and in gratefulness for the work of all the saints, Thanks be to you, O Lord.  Amen.