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).
***
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!!!
***
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
“Pray Always and Do Not Lose Heart” (Luke 18:1)
“Gospel” from Leonard Benstein’s Mass (1971)
Today, more than ever, the church must be nurtured and nudged by the kind of prayer that is embodied by Jesus’ parable of the “Widow and the Unjust Judge” (our Gospel text for this coming Sunday, from Luke 18:1-8) – a prayer that is personally engaged, persevering, and courageous, especially in the face of evil and injustice. But as well, as witnessed by St. Paul in our Second Lesson for this Sunday (II Timothy 3:14 – 4:5) – as he “fans the flames of faith” in his young protégé, Timothy – we also come to understand that prayer requires the daily stewardship and support of fellow members of Christ’s ongoing body in the world. That is, our whole lives together with the whole congregation, as we gather ‘round the guiding spirit of Holy Scripture (cf. II Timothy 3:14-17). And so, prayer is a personal calling upon God, yes; but it is also a calling upon the collective strength of All in the Family – folding our hands together.
On this upcoming Consecration Sunday, I encourage you to be at worship with your whole extended family of faith … among the “priesthood of all believers” of First Lutheran Church … as we bring our pledges before God with joy and thanksgiving, in support of strengthened ministry and mission in the upcoming year: celebrating First Lutheran’s 100th Anniversary! Let us be mindful that we can do so much more together than we could ever do alone – with Christ at the center.
I’m especially pleased that our Director of Music, Zachary Brockhoff and Dr. Paul Nesheim of Augustana’s Music Department, will be sharing a “sermon in song” from Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, entitled “Simple Song.” This exquisitely moving song, based on our Psalm for this weekend (Psalm 121), comes from the 2nd movement of Bernstein’s Mass, called the Oremus – which means “Let us pray.” Yes, let us pray …
“We give thee but thine own,
What-e’er the gift may be; All that we have is thine alone;
A trust, O Lord, from thee.” (ELW #686)
In Christ,
John Christopherson
Senior Pastor
The Life of Faith: From Generation to Generation
“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you. Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” (II Timothy 1:5-7; RSV)
Have you ever had times in your Christian life when you feel like faith is flagging? When there seems to be so much doubt … and any sense of confidence is nowhere to be found? (How striking that the word confidence comes from two Latin words: con = “with” and fide = “faith”). St. Paul offers an excellent prescription for what can often ail us in such times of trial and doubt—as we continue this weekend with our preaching series on the Epistles of I and II Timothy.
First, as with Timothy, we too need to be reminded of those beloved (either now among the “great cloud of witnesses” in heaven or those who we’re still privileged to feel a touch of their reassuring hand or hear their calming voice) … those who’ve nurtured the seed of faith that was planted in our lives by God’s claiming Word at baptism. People who help us remember when we feel so dismembered. And … so it is that St. Paul would have Timothy know, and us … that in our life of ministry and future mission journeys—in all the joys and sorrows—that we are still connected in faith with grandmothers like Lois, or mothers like Eunice (II Timothy 1:5), as well as a father figure in the faith like St. Paul himself, who is writing this letter.
Second, think about such family or friends in the faith this coming weekend at worship, those who like St. Paul, even in all of their brokenness, have been used by God as “watchmen [and women]” (Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4) who’ve been steadfast in faith—with us and for us, in a Christ-like manner. Yes, even in their brokenness and ours. (Consider St. Paul’s own broken-down life at times: reflecting on II Corinthians 11:25 or 12:10). What an amazing paradox! “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but one of strength and love and self-discipline” (II Timothy 1:7. NIV).
Please join me in prayer: “O Lord, what great mystery and paradox is here! That there are places in our hearts and lives of faith where only brokenness/weakness can get in. Where glory and might cannot enter. Knowing this, you have sent your beloved Son—our Savior, Jesus Christ—in the likeness of a suffering servant (Isaiah 50:4-9a), taking on our frail flesh and the sin of the world. And Christ, having laid aside his majesty and taking the form of a servant, being obedient even unto death on the cross, was crucified in weakness/brokenness (Philippians 2:5-11). And on him, you have laid the chastisement that has made us … WHOLE. Yes, remind us, O Lord, as with your apostle, Paul … in his own life of faith, that: ‘When I am weak, then I am strong.’ (II Corinthians 12:10b. RSV).
Glory be to God.
Pastor John Christopherson