Sermon for Thanksgiving Day: "God Made A Farmer"

 + Day of Thanksgiving – November 28^th. 2024 +

Deuteronomy 8:1-10; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; Luke 17:11-19

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

A few years back there was a Superbowl commercial that featured the voice of the famous radio host, Paul Harvey. The commercial stood out because it wasn’t trying to sell you anything. It wasn’t trying to get you to buy the latest truck, or beer, or home insurance. There were no geckos or Clydesdales or celebrities. The commercial simply thanked ordinary, hardworking farmers by quoting Paul Harvey’s famous speech…So God made a farmer.

 

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer. 
God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer. 
"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." … Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church. …So God made a farmer. 

The speech goes, but you get the idea. As Paul Harvey would say in his signature line…And now for the rest of the story. There’s a whole lot more to this story.

 

What Paul Harvey said so memorably in that speech is what Lutheran theologians, like Martin Luther, call the doctrine of vocation. That word means more than a job; it means a “calling”. As in God calls you to faith in Jesus. Adopts you as his child. Saves you. Forgives you. Justifies you. Gives you his righteousness. And calls you his own. That’s Jesus’ calling: to be your redeemer and savior.

 

But God also gives you other vocations – or callings in life – in the home, at church, in the workplace. Husband. Father. Wife. Mother. Sister. Brother. Grandma and grandpa. Altar Guild. Elder. Usher. Greeter. Brother and sister in Christ. Bible study attender. Church member. You all have callings in life in the world as well: engineers, cashiers, teachers, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, machinist, foresters, soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, civil servants, and the list could go on and on for each of you. 

 

This is what Scripture teaches us time and again…God certainly can and is powerful enough to zap a loaf of bread on our tables or rain quail and manna from heaven right outside our doorstep or pour our water from a rock– he’s done that before. And yet, more often when God wants something done,  he works through means. He works through ordinary people doing their ordinary every day jobs to bless each of us with the things we need for ordinary, daily life. This is why Paul instructs Pastor Timothy and all Christians (in his letter to Timothy) to pray for those in authority… 

 

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ² for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is also what we pray for when we pray the 4^th petition of the Lord’s Prayer. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Luther explains it this way in the Small Catechism…

 

What is meant by daily bread? Everything that belongs to the support and wants of the body, such as meat, drink, clothing, shoes, house, homestead, field, cattle, money, goods, a pious spouse, pious children, pious servants, pious and faithful magistrates, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. 

 

God knows that you need electricity to keep your freezer running, your fridge and the food inside at the right temperature, and the hot water heater working…So God made linemen and electricians and plumbers.

 

God knows that you fruit and vegetables and meat to eat to supply you with strength and energy for all of your vocations in life…so yes, God made a farmer, but he also made a rancher, and a truck driver, and a grocery store shelf stocker and a cashier and a cart boy. 

 

God knows that you need help treating your diseases from that nagging cough to that deadly cancer…and that you need good roads to get you to your appointments and someone to fill your prescriptions…and someone to fix your car when it breaks down at the worst time possible…so God made doctors and nurses and pharmacists and construction workers and mechanics.

 

God knows that you need daily bread, and all everything that entails…so God hides himself in the daily, ordinary, seemingly mundane things of earthly life to bless you and for you to be a blessing to others. He did the same for Israel back in the exodus. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 

 

It’s easy to think that when you’re surrounded by so many blessings in life, so many gifts of daily bread…that you somehow deserved this. That you had it all coming your way. Or that you earned it. And that it all belongs to you, to do with as you please. It’s easy to think that man lives by daily bread alone. But of course, we know that’s not true. From the hat over our heads to the socks and shoes covering our feet – and everything under our feet and everything in between – all we have is a gift from God. And a gift, by definition, is something we don’t deserve, haven’t earned, and didn’t come from our hands. It comes from the hands of our Lord who does this all out of his Fatherly divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in us. 

 

That’s our Lord’s calling. To love. Care for. Serve. Feed and forgive you. To rescue and deliver you. To watch over and give you all you need in body and soul. Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? The answer is, of course. You are of more value than the birds. You are valued and loved by our God so much that he took on ordinary human flesh, lived in a humble home, lived an ordinary daily life to live for you, die for you, and rescue you. and to deliver all of that saving, justifying, redeeming love for you in…surprise…ordinary ways: water that washes away sin. Words that forgive and heal. Bread and wine that bring you life and salvation. 

 

So today, as you sit down to eat some turkey, ham, potatoes, or whatever your favorite dish is, and settle into the couch or your favorite chair for a little food induced nap, take a moment to see all the wonderful, extraordinary things God is doing for you right in front of you in the ordinary, daily gifts of daily bread. Thank a farmer. A trucker. The people in your life that bring you what you need. And above all, bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. For he gives it to you all freely, graciously, and abundantly…through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

A blessed Thanksgiving day to each of you…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Last Sunday of the Church Year: "Christ the King"

 + Last Sunday of the Church Year – Christ the King Sunday – November 24^th, 2024 +

Series B: Daniel 7: 9-14; Revelation 1:4-8; John 18:33-37

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Human history is one tragic story after another of man’s attempt to put something or someone on the throne other than the one rightful and true King, Christ. 

 

Adam and Eve were the first to usurp God’s rule and reign. With the help of Satan’s lies, they thought they could be their own king and queen instead of the stewards and servants God created them to be. But all they could find to clothe themselves out of Eden’s wardrobe was a disastrous royal robe of fig leaves. In trying to overthrow God from the throne, they were thrown out of Eden and all people and history were thrown into sin and calamity.

 

Later on in Genesis, the attempted architects of Babel had regal designs. They wanted to build a tower and make a name for themselves. They were trying to do what Adam and Eve had done just on a larger scale. Fallen humanity always has delusions of grandeur, especially when it comes to God.

 

In the days of Exodus God’s own people – rescued from the wicked hands of Pharaoh and their bondage in slavery in Egypt – grumbled that they much preferred to be slaves than to be God’s people on their way to his promised land where he would be their King. They even went so far as to fashion their own golden bovine king and set it up on a throne for worship.

 

In the days of the judges, things did not fare much better. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes – is the infamously repeated phrase of that book. In other words, every sinner thought they were their own king or queen. 

 

They wanted a king. Why? So they could be like all the other nations. Only Israel wasn’t supposed to be like all the other nations. YHWH alone was their King. It’s a classic lesson in be careful what you ask for. Throughout the time of the kings in the OT things are so awful it makes an episode of Game of Thrones look like an episode of Bluey compared to the mess they made of things.

 

Now, with all of this Old Testament history, you would think Jesus’ disciples would know better, would have learned their lesson, would have realized that God’s kingdom is not at all like the kingdoms of this world. And that when God comes in the flesh that his kingdom is far different – indeed the very opposite – of all the kingdoms of the earth. Not one of power, fame, wealth, and glory. But one of weakness, suffering, humility, and the cross. Not something that is grand and glorious, but a kingdom that has as its king the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.

 

But that’s not what the disciples think. More than once they squabble about who’s the greatest, or who will sit on Jesus’ right and left hand in his glory (his glory in the gospels, by the way, is his cross!), they get on a power trip thinking their own discipleship is something grand and glorious, and even at Jesus’ ascension they still want an kingdom restored to earthly Israel.

 

Now, we may think we’re different. That we’ve learned our lesson. That we wouldn’t make the same mistakes as Adam and Eve and Israel and the disciples. But we would be wrong. Truth is, there’s a little tyrant just waiting to take the throne within each of us. Our old sinful flesh is just as foolish and prideful as Simba in the Lion King shouting out, “I just can’t wait to be king!” The prayer of our sinful flesh is the opposite of the prayer King Jesus gives us: my kingdom come, my will be done.

 

But this is not the way, Jesus says. Not even close. My kingdom is not of this world, Jesus tells Pilate. How true that is. The kingdoms of this world and the kingdoms we build within our hearts are all built on the same thing: ascending, building a name for ourselves, power, strength, wealth, glory. But not the kingdom of Christ the King. 

 

What kind of King descends his royal throne to save disloyal subjects? Christ the King, that’s who. 

What kind of King steps down from his throne to crown you with glory and honor? Christ the King.

What kind of King who is greatest of all becomes the least and last of all for you? Christ the King.

What kind of King would leave his heavenly realm and home to make his home with you in the manger, in your flesh, on the cross, and in the tomb? Christ the King.

What kind of King is the Son of Man, born of Mary and descended from great kings like David, and yet is the Son of God, who is also David’s Lord and ours? Christ the King.

What kind of King lays down his life for sinners and usurpers like you and me? Christ the King.

 

That’s the kind of King you have in Jesus. Jesus is the kind of King who takes your sinful garments off your back, puts them on his himself instead. He’s the kind of King who takes his royal robes off of his own back and gives them to you. He’s the kind of King who is mocked and beaten into a bloody mess for you. He’s the kind of King who suffers and bleeds and dies for you. He’s the kind of King who wears a crown of thrones pressed into his forehead so that he can crown your head with everlasting glory. He’s the kind of King who takes our foolish fig leaf clothing and replaces it with baptismal garments and armor of God fit for a king.

 

His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed. Which means that all this King has done for you will not be destroyed. And that his mercy and grace toward you will never pass away. And his kingdom which he has given to you is an everlasting one. 

 

And that’s the great difference between all the kingdoms of this earth and all the kingdoms of our sinful heart. One way or another, they all come to a tragic end. But not King Jesus, nor you in his kingdom. Because of Jesus’ dying and rising for you, his kingdom is the one kingdom that doesn’t end in tragedy, but goes on to triumph over sin, death, hell, the grave…all for you. On this Last Sunday of the Church Year, sometimes called Christ the King Sunday, we live and rejoice in Christ our crucified and risen King. The King of Golgatha’s hill and the cross his banner. The King under the mountain resting for three days. The King over the grave as he rose triumphantly. The King on the throne even now in these Last Days. 

 

Today, Christ the King sends out his gracious decree in his holy absolution: “You are forgiven all your sin.” Today, Christ the King clothes you in royal robes of water and word and promise. 

Today, Christ the King prepares a feast for you this day in his holy body and blood. Today, tomorrow, and forever, Christ is your crucified, risen, ascended, reigning, and one day soon to return King.

 

To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He made us into a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

 

 

Sermon for Pentecost 26: "It Ain't Easy"

 + 26th Sunday after Pentecost - November 17th, 2024 +

Series B: Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-25; Mark 13:1-13

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

One of my high school geography teacher’s, Mr. Brooks’ famous quotes, (and he had many of them since he was also the football coach), was … “Life isn’t easy; and whoever told you it was, lied.” How about that for some true, honest, tough love. 

 

C.S. Lewis said something similar when asked to write an essay on whether Christianity was easy or hard. “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy,” Lewis wrote. “I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” (God in the Dock)

 

The Christian faith is many things: it’s true. Historical. A faith founded on the facts of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s beautiful, rich in meaning it’s comforting - which is different from making you comfortable in a broken world. It’s joyful, but not in the same way people usually think of - not the sugary, artificial, put on a happy face kind of joy - but a real, deep, abiding joy that knows no matter what the world, the devil, and your sinful flesh throw your way, Christ’s dying and rising for you is bigger than all that, and in the end he rescues and delivers you. Yes, Christianity - your Christian faith - is many things. The one thing it’s not…is easy. 

 

Until your dying breath the Christian life is a battle against your own sinful flesh. It’s a daily assault from a hostile world that seeks to redefine what God says is true, rejects his word and anyone who believes it as you do, and rebels against God’s goodness. It’s a constant campaign of terror and temptation and trials from the devil. He takes no days off. No holidays. No rest. 

 

So Jesus gives his disciples then, and us now, some true, honest, tough love followed by his promise. There are no easy days as living in these Last Days. Jesus doesn’t promise that life will be easy following him. But he does promise you this: I am with you. No one can snatch you out of my hands. Fear not. I’ve got you in my pierced, crucified and risen hands. I am your endurance. 

 

This is what’s happening in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus is readying his disciples for days of trial and suffering and upheaval that they were about to face in the world around them, beginning with the one place that was seen as the center of the Jewish world at the time, the temple in Jerusalem.

 

You have to laugh a little at the disciples’ lack of situational awareness. Jesus just finished teaching them about faith and trust in him, about his coming betrayal, death and resurrection, and his provision for all, even the widow who gave her last mite. And what are the disciples doing? Admiring the temple architecture. “Hey, Jesus, check out all these beautiful stones!”

 

If doing a facepalm was a thing back then, you can bet Jesus did that as his disciples talk. “Guys, listen up. You see those stones? They’re all coming down. Every. Last. One.” Talk about a buzz kill! 

 

Naturally, the disciples want to know when this is all going to go down. “Tell us when, Jesus. What are the signs, Jesus?”

 

Sounds like Jesus' words are ripped right from the headlines. See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. False teaching. False prophets. Wars and rumors of war. Earthquakes. Famines. Nations and kingdoms clashing. Jesus doesn’t promise his disciples then, or us now, that Christianity is easy. There are no easy days. But he does promise you will endure. He promises to be with you. He promises to deliver you.

 

These are but the beginning of the birth pains. Now, birth pains don’t sound like good news, but they are. It means a child is on the way. Joy is coming. In the midst of this fallen world, surrounded by temptations, trials, and at war with our sinful flesh on a daily basis - feeling so often like we’ve already lost - Jesus brings hope into the horrifying mess of this sinful world. 

 

Those birth pains Jesus talks about are the labor contractions of the new creation. The sufferings and groanings of this present time are the birth pangs of something new breaking in. The new creation. Life. Resurrection from the dead. While the devil, the world, and your flesh would have you despair or doubt, Jesus says, don’t fall for that old trick. I was crucified for you. I rose from the dead for you. I’ve conquered it all - your sin, your failures, your death - for you. You are new creation in Christ.

 

So, Jesus warns his disciples: “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations

 

Within 40 years, Jesus’ words in Mark 13 all come true. The temple was torn down in 70 A.D. The Romans swept into Jerusalem and tore the temple down one stone at a time to extract the gold lined in its walls. Then they reduced the city to rubble, so much so, that you couldn’t tell where the city was any longer, except for the Jewish bodies on crosses marking the perimeter of Jerusalem. 

 

Disciples are never above their master. They stood trial before religious authorities. Were hauled before kings and rulers. Were beaten, persecuted, and all but John were martyred in horrific ways. And yet through it all, Christ the King reigned, and still reigns.

 

It’s not all that different in our day as we continue to live in the Last Days. On October 20th, Christian churches in Beijing were raided, and members arrested. On All Saints’ Day, a radical Islamist mob killed a pastor, his wife, and two daughters in Uganda. On November 8th, police in Chhattisgarh, India, watched as hundreds burned the farms of 14 Christian farmers who were also brutally beaten.

 

Persecution may not be that dramatic here in our own country at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you’re without the cross. A friend, coworker or neighbor who mocks your faith or questions your beliefs. Maybe even your own family members have rejected the faith you raised them in. Jesus’ cross often divides people closest to home. Brother against brother, father against child, children against their parents. No doubt many of your families experience this division as well. “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.”

 

But take heart. The one who endures to the end will be saved. There’s rescue and relief at the end of the road. The sufferings of this present time, whatever they may be, do not compare with the glory that will be revealed on the day of Jesus’ coming. And yet in a way, the Last Day has already come.

 

On a good Friday, outside Jerusalem. In darkness at Noon. On a cross. When Jesus said, “It is finished.” That was the end of the world as we know it. Jesus embracing the world in His own body brings the world to its end in His death. He is the persecuted One. The Martyr of all martyrs. The Lord of lords. The King of kings. He endured to the end. And in the end, He saved the world, and you. Baptized into Him, you have died to this dead world, and now live to God in Christ. For you, the end came in the water of Baptism with the Name. You died. And your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

 

Jesus doesn’t promise his disciples then, or you now, today, that your life in Christ will be easy. But he does promise you will endure. For your endurance isn’t on you or in your hands. Your endurance is in Jesus. Your endurance is Jesus. He who gave up his last dying breath to save you, promises to be with you until your dying breath…and then to breathe new life into your body and raise you from the dead just as he rose on the third day. 

 

When life seems full of trials, temptations, and terror all around, the answer isn’t found in our life. Jesus is your endurance. Now and forever. 

 

Life may not always be easy. But take heart; Jesus will endure you to the end. 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

Sermon for All Saints' Day: "A Saintly Story"

 + All Saints’ Day (observed) – November 3^rd, 2024 +

Revelation 7:9-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Ask any parent – “how did you pick a name for your child?” and there’s always a story that goes with it. That story might be that they simply liked the name, or a longer story about a family name passed down through generations. Either way, a name always comes with a story.

 

The same is true in the Scriptures. The names of the people we hear in those stories often tell us something important about the far greater story of God’s salvation that he works through them. There’s Adam, whose name tells us the story of his creation out of dust and dirt and points us to the time in the story of God’s salvation when God himself would breathe through human lungs and walk in human feet. There’s the name of Eve whose name tells us the story of God’s gift of life – the mother of all living Scripture calls her. A wink and a nod to the one who would be born of a woman and bring life to all. There’s Abram whose name was changed to Abraham that God would foretell the story of salvation in the promised Seed from his family tree that would bless all nations. There’s Isaac, whose name means laughter, and whose name tells us the story of God working joy and new birth in the most unlikely and unexpected places – an old barren womb – just as he will later work salvation out of an empty, barren tomb to our joy and eternal laughter.

A name always comes with a story

 

So it is on All Saints’ Day. We remember many names today. Those our Lord called through death to life in this past year, and those faithful departed who have died in the faith in the years past. We list the names: Mark Zurschmied.      Natalie Walta.           Chuck Lundin.          Marilyn Bauer.

 

Each of these names come with a story as well. The story of a father and husband always ready with a helping hand. The story of an artist, mother, pastor’s wife, and grandma who painted everything she did with the love of Jesus. The story of a man who lived like his favorite character “George Bailey” – in sacrifice and love for others. The story of a teacher, beloved friend, a sister in Christ, and always a fancy dresser – even when I showed up for shut-in visits. Their names and lives tell the story of God’s mercy, and God’s gift of faith, and God’s calling them out of this the tribulation of this life into the life of the world to come.

 

No doubt you have many stories of your own. Some are about these dear saints who have died this past year. And others are about those you remember who have died in years past. Names and stories…unique each in their own way. And yet alike in the most important way…in reminding us that their names and stories are only part of the story of All Saints’ Day. Our story and theirs is one of new identity. A new name. A new story. A saintly story of outrageous forgiveness for undeserving sinners – given in the name above all names, Jesus.

 

Now, it’s easy to hear that word “saintly” – or the word Jesus uses in the beatitudes in Matthew 5, “blessed” -and think it’s something it isn’t; to come to the conclusion that this is somehow on you, or up to you, or about you. But it’s not. Saints aren’t people who have everything in life perfectly together. Saints aren’t those who have no sin (there’s only one man who can claim that!) Saints aren’t people who live a perfectly upright life. Saints are justified sinners. Saints are those who are poor in spirit, who stake no claim on God’s goodness but rejoice in his free grace. Saints are those who live in faith in the name and story of salvation in Jesus. 

 

Think of All Saints’ Day like the entrance to a grand party, where upon entrance, you’re given a name tag. Who are you? Who are those who have gone before us? Sinners declared saints in the blood of Jesus. Beggars who are blessed by God’s grace. Lost who are found. Dead who are brought to life. John says it this way in the epistle reading today: Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God. For that is who you are.

 

That’s the name on our nametag on All Saints’ Day, and every day: the name of Jesus. You belong to him. You’re his dear, beloved, blessed, baptized children. His saints. Whose names are written in the book of life, signed and sealed in the blood of the Lamb. 

 

“Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

That’s good news for us as we sit here today on this All Saints’ Day, our minds full of different stories we hear in the world around us. A contentious election coming up this week. An uncertain ec0onomy. A country divided and anxious. Life in this world is often a story full of hurts and hurricanes and hospital visits. Our lives are often full of disease, disappointments, and tragic deaths. Stories of trials, temptations given into and temptations faced in agony, and tribulations a plenty. Stories of guilt, sorrow, suffering, and shame. The saints who have gone before us were no strangers to all of this, and neither are we. And yet, All Saints’ Day is a reminder that as dark and as long as tribulation is in this life, it’s only for a while. Life with the Lamb is forever. Stories of death and sadness and suffering may seem to dominate the headlines today, but not forever. 

 

On All Saints’ Day, we read the names and remember the stories of the saints who have gone before us because Jesus died and rose for them and for you.

 

On All Saints’ Day we look forward to what we confess every Sunday in the Creed: the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, because Jesus died and rose for them and for you. And this is not only a resurrection in a general sense. Yes, everyone will rise from the dead. But today we’re reminded that this is personal. Mark and Natalie and Chuck and Marilyn will rise from their graves. So will each of you. 

 

With the name of Jesus comes a story of good news for you. It’s all there in his name, Jesus, the Lord Saves. He has done it. He still does it. And he will do it when he returns in glory. 

And in the meantime, as our daily lives and stories go on from one page to the next, God reigns and rules over all. He is the one who brings you into the Kingdom of Heaven. He comforts. He grants the inheritance of earth. He satisfies those who are thirsting and hungering. He offers mercy. He reveals who He is for people to see. He claims people as His children. He honors those who are persecuted. 

 

So, no matter what happens today, tomorrow, or Tuesday, you can be sure of this: the Lamb is on the throne. In Jesus, you’re given a new name: saint. And in Jesus your story has a new and eternally happy ending. No matter what twists and turns our stories in this life take, we know how our story ends. 

 

It ends the way John tells saw it and tells us in Revelation. Who are these who are clothed in white robes and from where have they come? You know their names: Mark, Natalie, Chuck, Marilyn…Your name is there too. For you have washed your robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵ “Therefore you are before the throne of God,
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
    and he who sits on the throne will shelter you with his presence.
¹⁶ you shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
    the sun shall not strike you,
    nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be your shepherd,
    and he will guide you to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from your eyes.”

 

A blessed All Saints’ Day to each of you in…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.