Revelation 7:9-17
I was thinking about directories as I was considering what to say…on this All-Saints Sunday…about all the Saints.
- All those who have joined the Saints of Heaven continue to be with us in three ways.
- First…through memory…we remember those who we love who have gone before us.
- Our Lord has gifted us with this wonderful thing…called a mind, heart, and memory.
- When asked the question…if your house were being destroyed…what would you take with you?
- So very often the answer is…the photographs and albums of my loved ones.
- Of course…now days…it is a lot easier…as our entire photo gallery resides in our smart phones and in the cloud.
Secondly…we have been given the gift of progeny…offspring…sons and daughters…an ancestry…
- My family has a Salzgeber family tree that was put together by my cousin Roger.
- And if I were to roll it out down the center aisle of the nave it would cover most of it.
- And progeny was the covenant gift that Abraham and Sarah received from God…
- The promise of a great people and land…a House…a great kingdom…a great nation.
Third…the gift of resurrection…Jesus…on the cross…promised that we would be with him in this life…and the next.
- Whether we live or whether we die…we are with the Lord.
- The Lord be with you…
Well then…let’s return to directories…shall we?
- We used to have phone directories and yellow pages…and directory assistance…
- Now replaced by the internet and Google.
- And these directories are kept up to date…people and addresses deleted through attrition and demise.
We have school directories…year books.
- And those books…year after year are kept up to date…
- And names and pictures of students gradually change year after year…
- As we grow older…our school newsletters and magazines tell us of the loss of our classmates…
- And those names are gone from us.
We have professional directories also…
- And those directories too…lose names through marriage and job changes and expiration.
And we have church directories.
- Often church directories are done by professional directory companies when there is a milestone anniversary.
- And names and addresses are updated and pictures are taken.
- But quickly those directories become outdated through attrition and death.
Then there is my cell phone contact directory.
- I have one thousand…three hundred and fifty-two names on that list…in that directory…
- And many of the souls in that directory are still on this side of things…alive and well.
- But various numbers of names in my phone contact directory remain…
- Who are now on the other side…who have joined the Saints of Heaven.
- And I do not remove those names.
- I do not edit those contacts…those names off my contact directory…
- Why?
- Because it is a way I remember those souls…those Saints.
- As it mirrors our first reading from Revelation:
- Then one of the elders addressed me…saying…Who are these…robed in white…and where have they come from? I said to him…Sir…you are the one who knows. Then he said to me…These are they who have come out of the great ordeal…they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
To name just a minute few of those names on my phone contact list who are robed in white:
- Janet Alexander
- Dale & Dorothy Blade
- Brenda Bobroff
- Clinton Sower
- Jim & Margaret Cole
- Dad
- Jason
- Dale Salin
- Shirley Gioe
- Trudy Crowder
- Betty Hurley
- Dick Trompke
- David Owens
- Al & Ginni Shears
- Jerry Belanger
- Priit Rebane
- Duke Wheeler
- Marjorie Tilka
Today we celebrate all those who have shown us how to live abundant…God-centered lives.
- All those Saints in our Lord’s special directory.
- It’s not just an old directory.
- One of those directories where attrition and demise eliminates and eradicates Saints…Sinners and Souls.
- Saints who we love and remember.
- So…today we celebrate their love…their wisdom…their faithfulness…their gentleness…their vigor.
- And as we remember them…we pray for the wisdom to appropriate the best in their lives.
- As we name those in Jesus’ directory during the prayers in a moment…we will remember….
- It is not just an old directory…
- It IS God’s living and eternal directory.
They will hunger no more and thirst no more…the sun will not strike them…nor any scorching heat… for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their…shepherd…and he will guide them to springs of the water of life…and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.