A Great Cloud of Witnesses
Hebrews 12:1-3
When Bob Homer was a young boy he had a paper route.
And back in the days of paper routes, the paper girls or boys would have to collect money from each customer by ringing their doorbell once a week.
And so, you got to know the people you delivered the paper to well.
In any event, one of Bob Homer’s customers was the pastor of the local Methodist Church.
Bob was collecting money from him one day and the pastor asked Bob if he might be able to come to the church on Sunday morning because he didn’t have anyone to hand out bulletins.
Bob told the pastor he would have to ask his parents.
Bob’s family didn’t attend church so Bob was unfamiliar with the whole thing.
To Bob’s surprise, his parents allowed him to go.
And that Sunday turned into every Sunday.
Bob came to love the people who were part of that little church.
It’s where he was introduced to Jesus through his saints.
Eventually, Bob felt a call to go into the ministry and off he went to seminary.
Bob was one of the pastors of the church I went to as a kid.
When I was about 11 years old, Bob came up to me after a worship service and asked me if I had ever thought about going into the ministry.
The day before I left for college, the doorbell rang.
It was Bob Homer.
He had bought me a small leather-bond Bible.
It was the first Bible that I really, really read.
Bob passed away a number of years ago, but I feel that he is part of the “great cloud of witnesses” the author of Hebrews writes about.
Over the course of my life as a Christian and a pastor, one thing I have been most blessed by are the people I have been privileged to know.
Hundreds upon hundreds of folks have given me a glimpse of Jesus through their words, actions, and loving presence.
And it continues to this day with you.
One day a man was walking through a beautiful church building with his 4-year-old son.
As they walked, the young boy looked around.
He stopped and was curious about the stained-glass windows that looked beautiful with their bright colors.
As he looked at the windows he asked: “Who are all the people in the windows?”
“They are saints,” said his father.
“What are saints, daddy?” the child asked.
The father was stuck.
How was he going to explain who saints are to a 4-year-old boy?
As the boy was still looking up at the windows and his father was still wondering how he would explain who saints are, the young boy shouted: “I know who saints are, they are the people that the light shines through.”
(pause)
Who are the people in your life through whom the light shines?
Who are the saints that have touched your life with the transforming love of Christ?
Perhaps they are still alive.
Maybe they are members of this congregation.
Maybe they have passed on, and, in a little while you will light a candle in memory of them.
Most of us are given our first glimpse of Jesus through one of his saints.
(pause)
The writer of Hebrews tells us that we are not alone.
Not only are there a multitude of people who have gone before us and passed the faith on to us, there are also a multitude of folks who are running the race with us right now.
They are saints.
Saints are the believers.
Saints are the members of Christ’s Church.
Have you ever thought about it this way?
Right now, in this worship service you and I are surrounded by saints.
I know it’s hard to think of ourselves this way, because we know ourselves.
We know our sins and short comings.
And these things can make us feel less than, not worthy, not good enough.
And there is no doubt that we are all sinners.
But we are sinners saved and loved by God…
…by grace through faith and even the ability to believe is a free gift.
There is nothing we can do to earn it or deserve it.
It is given to us, free of charge, by the One who loves us more than we can imagine…
…so much so that the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus, “for the joy set before him, endured the cross” for our sake.
That’s amazing…
For the joy of saving us…
The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus has gone before us, he’s “marked out the race for us,” and that he is “the pioneer and perfector of our faith.”
Of course, the idea of a race as a way to explain the Christian life is a metaphor.
And I think we get it wrong if we interpret this metaphor to mean that we are running as fast as we can to get this life over with or to win a prize.
The Christian life is not a sad or sadistic thing.
It is life to the full.
It is living life loving, serving and forgiving.
And that brings joy to both the giver and receiver.
It has been a very difficult week, to say the least.
My family and I have felt much grief.
As I was writing this sermon Linda Morrel, who just returned from a vacation up North, came to my office with a gift.
A month or so ago when she had told me about her trip I had happened to mention that she will encounter a lot of apple orchards up there and that I love picking apples from the tree.
She remembered this and brought me some apples she bought from an orchard.
She is a person the light shines through.
The late Fred Craddock told a story about visiting his father, who was dying of throat cancer in a hospital in Nashville.
When he got there, his dad was taking a nap, so he started looking at the flowers, the cards from Sunday school classes, church circles, the Youth Group, the Choir—just about every group you can think of in a church had remembered his daddy.
Fred said that the remarkable thing was that his dad didn’t go to church.
His mom was active in the church, but his dad saw no need for it.
Fred said that when his dad woke up, he smiled and reached out his hand because he could no longer speak.
After a while, his dad took a pencil and wrote the following on the back of a Kleenex box: “I was wrong about the church.”
(pause)
It’s been said that “A saint is someone whose life makes it easier for us to believe in God.”
When I was a teenager, I met another kid.
His name was Tim.
And the first thing Tim asked me was if I was a Christian.
No one had ever asked me that before.
And because I had grown up in a Christian household and had attended a Christian church I answered “yes.”
Tim and I became good friends.
And as time went by, although Tim never doubted that I was a Christian, it became abundantly clear to me through his actions that Tim’s idea of what a Christian is and my idea were much different.
Tim was living what he believed.
Through Tim, I saw that it was actually possible for a kid my age to not just talk the talk but to also walk the walk.
The love Tim had for other people—I wanted that.
And so, I asked Jesus Christ into my life and it transformed me.
Although I am very far from perfect, my life has never been the same.
Who are the saints in your life that have touched you with the love of Christ?
In a little while we are going to celebrate Communion together.
It is a way to remember and even experience the love God has for us in Jesus Christ.
When I was a young adult, I was standing in line behind my mother and father in church for Communion.
And I had an epiphany in that moment that I have never forgotten.
It was as if I was glimpsing a bit of heaven—of the future.
I was standing with my mom and dad, the two people I loved the most in the entire world, and we were all waiting to accept and receive the free love and grace of a God, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.
Holy Communion is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that Jesus talks about many times in the Bible.
And all God’s saints are a part of it.
That includes you, me and the great cloud of witnesses who have come before us and are now cheering us on.
Will you pray with me?
Dear Lord, we thank you for the saints in our lives who have decided to follow you and be transformed by your love.
Through them, it makes is easier for us to believe in you, in your love and thus experience life-changing faith.
May we return the love to one another that we have received from you through your saints.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
