Sermon - 2018-11-04 - All Saints Sunday

This announcement inspires hope.  Look at the power that will be displayed.  All will be brought into the celebration feast.  All the fears, hard times, and even death will be destroyed.  What a day that will be. This is the hope that the Jewish people longed for.  God would save them and deliver them from these difficult times. We still face these difficult times.  These words are still giving us hope. We still have people trembling in fear, crying and people dying. We long for this prophecy to come true.  

It is in this hope that we gather to remember all the saints that have gone before us.  For within the Gospel text, we have Jesus, Mary and many others gathered to grieve the loss of one of their loved ones, Lazarus.  Jesus crying, mourning the loss of his friend. For any of you know who have lost a loved one, it is a sad day. A day of celebrating the life that has been shared with you but also a realization that the person will not be there at the next holiday, the next birthday, or even the next day.  

When I was in high school, I can still recall the death of my uncle.  I never knew my grandparents on my mom's side because they had died before I was born but my uncle acted very much like a grandpa to me.  He had his favorite rocker that he would always sit in. No one ever sat in it but him. Even the cat knew it was his chair. At his funeral, they played a polka.  My mom joked that he was still tapping his foot to the beat of the music. When we went to the committal, it was cold. The wind was blowing and the burial site was on top of a hill in Iowa.  There was no protection from the elements. However, when it started to snow, it seemed more like nature was mourning the loss right there with us. Those snowflakes were like frozen tear drops that were fallen from God. He was a service man and with the firing of the rifles, you could hear the echo of the gun shot.  It was so silent that it seemed like the whole world took a moment to pause and mourn the loss with us.

Hearing that Jesus was mourning the loss of Lazarus reminds me that Christ does not want to be apart from us. Christ mourns the loss right there with us. Funerals are not for the dead but for the ones still mourning.  Still grieving, to help with closure, to give that loved one over to God. God, the maker of heaven and earth, who formed us from the dust of the earth, who gave us life.

Yet, we are so very important to him that he calls us out of death just to be with him.  This makes me take two lessons away from funerals, granted this comes after some time after the grief.  

1. We are mortal and death is a reality.  

2. God is in control, I am not.  

The first lesson, scares me.  Yes, I am young but death is still a reality.  But the second lesson....to know that God loves you so much that he claims you.  To know that Christ stands at the grave site and can not stand the loss that he claims you by name into new life. The words of Isaiah return to us with: This is indeed the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.  For as a claimed child of God, the Lord's salvation becomes our salvation. We are called into that new life but within the new life, there is no more sin, no more hard times, and no more death.

So what about here and what about now.  What about my life? What am I supposed to do after I walk at those doors?

Christ has claimed you.  In your baptism you were called by name into Christ's death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life.  For we have been united with him in death, and we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection. So we are called to be lights to the world. The light that Christ has given to us, we are called and commanded to go and share that news of Christ, with our families, friends, the community, all peoples and all nations.