Call to Worship

Blessed be the God of autumn ~

The God of fallen leaves ~

Cranberry red, mustard yellow, fiery orange.

The God of wind and rain, of filtered light and early evenings;

The God of all that ends,

The God of all that starts anew.

Unison Prayer

As the leaves lose their green

To display their colorful hues,

May we too lay aside the old,

And be draped with the new;

May God’s vibrant, Holy Spirit

Be seen in our daily lives.  Amen.

Words of Assurance: 1 Corinthians 15:58, Good News Bible

So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless.

Hillsong Worship, “Who You Say I Am”

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 2:9-10, NIV

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Sunday Sermon

Who has the right to define us?

God is there from the very beginning. King David writes, “you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

And then we are born. And for the first five years or so, our family gets to say whatever they want about us, especially because for the first year or so we can’t even talk. We could be a good baby, a cute baby, a fussy baby, a silly baby, a baby who won’t go to sleep, a blessing, a gift, a pain in the butt or all of these things on different days. But once we begin to understand words, the words people use to describe us will begin to sink in.

And then we go to school, and other people begin to define us ~ teachers and classmates. Are we good students or bad? Do we play well with others? Are we respectful or rambunctious? Do we look funny or smell funny or act weird? Are we outgoing or withdrawn? The clothes we wear, the food we eat and the way we play are all under scrutiny, and there’s no escape, except maybe to be home schooled. And the more people say things, the more they stick. So if we’re popular, we start to think we’re something special, and if we’re not, we start to think we’re not. If the noise is too loud, it can even drown out the opinions of the most loving parent.

We enter adulthood with some idea of who we are, or more accurately, we split the difference between who we think we are and who others think we are. And this is where we can really get into trouble. We may have an inflated sense of self or the opposite. We may wrestle with body image and self-esteem. We may think – because other people have told us – “I’m stupid, I’m a loser, I’m never going to amount to anything.” Or we may think, “I can do this. I have everything I need. I am worthy. I am loved.”

Later in life, events can rock our world and shatter our sense of self. We may be diagnosed with an illness, or have a relationship end, or lose a loved one, and suddenly everything is out of wack and we’re asking ourselves who we are all over again, because we’re defining ourselves in relation to our wins and losses. And still there is God, trying to break through the noise; and what is God saying? The same things God’s been saying all along.

“I made you. I love you. You are my children.” And John writes, “every child of God is able to defeat the world.” And then Peter writes about us all together, saying, “you are chosen. You are holy. You are God’s special possession. You have been called out of darkness into light.”

Who has the right to define us? Only God. Hillsong Worship sings, “I am chosen, not forsaken; I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me; I am who you say I am. Who the Son sets free is free indeed; I’m a child of God, yes I am. In my Father’s house there’s a place for me; I’m a child of God, yes I am.” These words are powerful if we are willing to accept them, to incorporate them, to take them in.

If you had good parents or have good friends now, they’ve probably told you something like, “Who cares about what other people think?” The answer is, “all of us!” But we shouldn’t, unless they are supportive people who love us and whom we love and respect. A healthy self-image comes from a combination of God’s Word and the words of other faithful people. But God, who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs, has the first and final word. We may think we know ourselves; others may think they know us. But God knows us best of all, and always looks at us with love.

As Lauren Daigle sings,

You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
And You say I am held when I am falling short
And when I don’t belong, oh You say I am Yours
The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me
In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity.

May we find our identity in God, who knew us even before we were formed, and who knows and loves us still. Amen.

Closing Song: Lauren Daigle, “You Say”

Our church band Leap of Faith will be leading the service this Sunday, playing songs by Hillsong Worship, Passion, twenty one pilots and more! Both Sunday School classes will be in session as well. We hope to see you this Sunday at 10 a.m.!

Call to Worship (Romans 8)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Words of Assurance: Hebrews 11:16, NIV

(Those who were living in faith) were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Opening Song: The Tabernacle Choir, “For All the Saints”

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-5, NRSV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no. more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.“

Sunday Sermon

It feels right to have All Saints’ Day land on a Sunday. All Saints’ Day is when we publicly remember the loved ones who have gone to heaven before us, and celebrate the spiritual connection between earth and heaven. All Saints’ Day follows All Souls’ Night, which is also known as Halloween – “Holy Eve” – and is purely religious in nature.

We have a lot more saints than the Catholics, because we call anyone who died believing in Christ a saint. But the Catholics have cooler saints – they even have saints stickers and trading cards – because they have a patron saint for pretty much everything. These include St. Isidore (patron saint of the internet), St. Drogo (patron saint of coffee) and St. Cecilia (patron saint of music). There’s even a patron saint of pizza ~ St. Anthony the Great.

It’s hard for me to call my friends saints because, well, I knew them; but I can totally picture them in heaven. In addition to lighting a candle for my aunt Dolores, I lit a candle for my friend Mike this morning. Like many of my friends, Mike died way too young at the age of 53. He was in my first youth group way back when I was in college in Georgia. I flew down to do his wedding and baptize all three of his children. He passed away just before seeing one of his sons get married.

This week, that son is moving with his wife to Kailua, HI, one mile from the friends that I will be visiting next week. How’s that for a reason to believe in God? I will get to introduce two of my favorite families to each other. When I see Will, I think of Mike, and what an amazing father he was, and how his legacy lives on. I also think that he will be watching, which is comforting and a source of joy.

Scripture tells us that we are surrounded by either a cloud or a crowd of witnesses. I like to think of them cheering us on, encouraging us and helping us from afar. I know they love to be remembered, to be thought of as alive, because they are, on another plane. It is because they are cheering for me that I want to do my very best ~ because I want to see them again.

As a pastor, I’ve done hundreds of funerals, so when I combine family, friends and parishioners, I know a lot of people up there ~ perhaps more than I know down here. As we age, the balance starts to shift; many older people tell me that the people they love the most are gone. That can make this a very sad day or a very hopeful day, depending on how one looks at it. The more people we lose, the more we have to live up to; the more examples we have to follow; but also, the more we realize that we have loved and been loved on this earth.

From our perspective, death seems like an ending, or at the very least, a transition. From God’s perspective, death is a continuum, as the soul moves from one place to another. It’s easy to picture, but hard to fathom. But the more we believe in heaven, the lighter our earthly troubles can seem.

One of the hardest things about losing loved ones is that at a certain point, other people tend to stop talking about them. Others are afraid to bring up sad feelings, so they dance around the topic, then the person who has lost a loved one stops bringing it up because they don’t want to bring other people down. I believe this is a mistake. If we really believe our loved ones are alive somewhere, then let’s talk about them, because they are certainly talking about us!

Some of the duties given to patron saints are arbitrary; Saint Drogo never drank coffee, and St. Isidore died before the internet was invented. Why let Catholics have all the fun? I’d love to think of my grandfather as the patron saint of covered bridges; or my friend Marissa as the patron saint of independent movies, or my friend George as the patron saint of Sunday phone calls just before kickoff. It can’t be all harps up there, they’ve got to be having some fun.

We’ve been studying the book of Revelation every Wednesday morning this semester, and this week we’ll finally be getting to the end, which is where today’s Scripture came from. The book of Revelation is largely symbolic, which is a relief because it’s also very graphic. Fortunately, the symbols are easy to decode, and when we hear that “the sea was no more,” we don’t have to worry that we’ll never be able to go to the beach again. Back then, the sea was considered dangerous and filled with monsters, so to say “the sea was no more” means “fear was no more.”

There’s a huge emphasis on newness: a new heaven, a new earth, I am making all things new. The idea is that everything will be pure and lovely beyond our imagining. We can see only glimpses of it on earth. To say every tear will be wiped away means that all the things that cause us to cry, except for joy, will no longer exist: no more worry, no more anxiety, no more fear, no more pain, no more death. But we will remember what we have been through, and it will help us to appreciate what we have all the more.

Perhaps the biggest revelation is that God will be with us all the time – neither distant nor absent, but right there with us. We might not have questions, but if we do, we’ll be right next to the answers. We will always feel safe. We will always feel loved. When we get there, there will be reunions, and if we leave loved ones behind, we’ll be able to look forward to even more reunions, but from the other side, filled with confidence and calm.

As we remember our loved ones, let us do so in solemnity, but also in joy; not only in loss, but in gratitude; not only in the sorrow of losing them, but in the hope of seeing them again. And as we run this race of faith, may we listen for the far-off cheers from the crowd of witnesses who are hoping to see us again as well. Amen.

Closing Song: Phil Wickham, “Hymn of Heaven”