The Great Cloud of Witnesses

“The Great Cloud of Witnesses”
(Hebrews 12:1-2)

As we approach All Saints Sunday this coming weekend, my remembrance takes me back to a little classic entitled The Table of the Lord (Augsburg Press, 1982). Former President of Luther Seminary and well-beloved pastor here at First Lutheran in the early ‘50s, Dr. Al Rogness, wrote it. Midway through the book, Al gets at the heart of the matter for this coming Sunday when he writes (and please ponder this carefully):

“There is no point in the Communion Service that so effectively vaults me into the company that awaits me on the other side of death, as when the pastor prays, ‘And so, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your holy name and join their unending hymn.’ It is as if I join them in the feast of victory where the Lord himself shall come and serve [us all together] … When our young son, [Paul, an Augie grad] was killed, there was no Scripture that so lifted my spirits as that magnificent picture of the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ in Hebrews 12. I pictured Paul in a vast cheering section, encouraging me to lay aside the weight of grief and return with zest to the joys and tasks of our common life. We who are still running the race of life need [to be reminded of such cheering that echoes from the celestial bleachers of God’s coming kingdom, for us.] (p. 61-62; emphasis added).

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In our Bible Study this past Wednesday morning, we discussed how the church is impoverished if it is not constantly aware of its counterpart in heaven: as our 4th graders will be leading us this coming Sunday, at the eleven o’clock service, in confessing the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting” (Article III; emphasis added). A few short years and our pilgrimage on earth is over. And we go to join the great host of heaven: “I go to prepare a place for you,” assures Jesus. “And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you [and all my saints] will be also” (John 14:1-2; RSV). Now, that’s sheer gospel!!!

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Dear saints of First Lutheran Church and beyond … know that you are not alone. You have all this company—all those saints sitting right next to you whom you can see … still wringing wet from their baptism … as well as the “great cloud of witnesses” now robed in white, who are still cheering you on, calling your name and shouting themselves hoarse with encouragement. Can you see your brother or sister there … your father, mother, grandfather, grandmother … your beloved spouse or child or cherished friend? Because you are part of them, and they a part of you—all related in the blood of Christ that courses through his body of believers still today.

Come and “join in that number” this weekend as we gather together around God’s Holy Word and Sacrament of Communion for you this weekend—celebrating All Saints Sunday. “Do this in remembrance,” says He.

For All the Saints, in Christ Jesus … our risen Lord and Savior.

John Christopherson
Senior Pastor