“Saints Past, Present, and Yet to Come”

Revelation 7: 9-17

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes —who are they, and where did they come from?”
I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,
“they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

Last Sunday, we read 1 Thessalonians, which was Paul’s first letter to make its way into the canon of scripture and today, we are reading part of his very last letter. 2nd Timothy is the Apostle Paul’s last word and testament. It’s a somber, deeply personal letter with intimate references to Paul and Timothy’s lives and ministry. There are amusing details like how Paul ends the letter with a request that Timothy bring him his jacket, more books, and above all, more paper to write on when he next visits. I love this letter and today, I’ve chosen two parts of the letter. First, the NRSV titled, “Thanksgiving and Encouragement” and then second, is titled “Paul’s Charge to Timothy.” Those of you who attended my installation service on Sunday know exactly what a charge is. Charges are words that entrust someone with a task, duty, and responsibility. Charges are part of the ordination service, but they are also part of every worship service here. At the end of the service, you, the congregation, receive a charge and benediction. 

The problem with the books of Timothy is that because they are addressed to Timothy, the leader and apostle, it can be easy to write off the books as only being addressed to and useful for leaders. They are books that get preached often in seminaries, but not as ofteh in churches. But this is a mistake. These letters have never been only meant for leaders of the community. We know this by the very fact that they are part of our scriptures today. These letters didn’t magically become a part of the church’s holy book. They became part of the Bible because they were useful. Churches were using them, making copies and sharing them with other house churches and in doing so, the Spirit was working through these letters. Somewhat paradoxically, the inclusion of this letter proves what Paul says here that scripture is—useful. 

Paul’s charge to Timothy is to preach the whole gospel—gathered up in Jesus Christ, witnessed to in Scripture, fleshed out in the lives of faithful people, and embodied in the church that lives out the “love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5). The gospel is not always going to be attractive and it won’t always win him accolades and followers, but still, Timothy is to proclaim the entirety of the Christian life and he is to be persistent in doing so regardless of the conditions for hearing that preaching.

But Paul’s charge to Timothy is not to hold on to scripture alone. It begins with encouragement to remember the two steady streams that have filled his reservoir of faith—scripture and the people that have taught him. That’s why I began my sermon today with the verses from chapter 1. First, Paul speaks of his own heritage– “I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.” Paul claims his faith, as every Jew before and after him, as the inheritance of his lineage. And then, Paul says to Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.” These women that raised Timothy are not incidental to his faith; they are essential. It is not just that Timothy should remember what they taught him, but he should also remember who they were: people who held steadfast to the gospel when others wandered away, people who were sustained by God in times of trouble and persecution. The doctrinal content they imparted is important, but more so is the texture of their faithful lives.

Do you remember who raised you in the faith? Perhaps like Timothy, it was your parents and grandparents. Perhaps they raised you in the faith by teaching you how to read the bible for yourself, by instituting family devotions, or by talking about their love for Jesus at every opportunity. Those are just some of the ways I remember my family raising me in the faith. But I also remember the lives of those outside of my family—my Sunday school teachers, my youth pastors, and my mentors at church. The conversations, the kindness, the integrity, and faithfulness to God that they showed me through their daily lives. Even when I left the denomination that raised me and no longer believe some of the theology they taught me, I remember their lives. They didn't have "preacher" on their resume, but they preached the gospel to me all the time. How small our churches and our faiths would be if we thought that only "preachers" preached the gospel. 

There was a woman in one of my former churches named Gay, who always shared her story by saying, “I was loved into being a Christian.” She had no conversion story, no moment in time that was more significant than any other in her faith journey, but that love that formed her into a Christian sustained her into her eighties and a lifetime of powerful faith. 

When I read Paul’s reminder to Timothy to remember the women who raised him in the faith, I think of the women who are raising the children of Lakewood Presbyterian to know and love Jesus. The women who host kids’ fun days at parks, camping trips, Sunday School, and baby showers. I think of all the honorary aunts and uncles whose relationship to the beloved children of this church go deeper than any blood relation dictates. I think of the generations of families who have grown up in this church and who have been loved into faith. The grandparents who get to spend the last years of their lives loving the youngest around us. And I think of the womens’ names I have only heard but whose presence and legacy I am reminded of often– Marianne, Lorraine, Evelyn, and Jan, just to name a few. These are the women you would write about if you were writing to Timothy.

Paul tells Timothy to remember and proclaim the entirety of the Christian life. It’s not just the words of this holy book. It’s the texture of our very lives. It’s the tapestries woven by the generations gone before us, who leave behind memories of a life well lived in service to the God who is our keeper. 

Today is All Saints’ Day and we remember that there are many who are not with us today. There are seats in these pews that still feel achingly empty because the person who belongs there isn’t with us and it still doesn’t feel fair. On the table in the narthex, I placed a photo of my Grandfather, Dick Jones, who died at the age 97. What a long and wonderful life he got to live and still, I miss him. I wish that he could have held Jack in his arms and see me become a parent. I wish I could sit next to him and ask him questions and listen to him pray. There is no age in which someone’s death automatically stops being a cause for our grief. No matter how many years we get to live with the ones we love, it never feels like enough when they die. 

Those who have died were not perfect. Their lives were filled with mistakes and bad choices and all kinds of heartache. We don’t have to pretend they were perfect to miss them dearly. The astounding mystery of our faith is not found only in the pages of scripture or theological treatises, but in the lives of the women who raised you. Of the men who showed you what sacrificial love can look like. Of the people who were faithful to God even when it was hard.

There are days when even for me, the Bible can feel inaccessible and dry. God, where is your spirit in these pages? On those days, I remember those who raised me. I remember their faithfulness when things got difficult. I remember their steadfastness in dry seasons. I remember the love for God that cannot be faked, for it radiated from them from the inside out. You don’t have to have received faith as a child to have been “raised in the faith.” Somewhere along the line, there was someone who introduced you to the love of Jesus and ancestors in the faith whose lives you read about. Their stories were part of what carried you here today. It’s their lives that we remember and celebrate today. 

When times were hard for Timothy, Paul reminded him to remember the faith that was handed down to him by those who loved Jesus before him. When days are difficult, remember those who raised you. Remember their words, remember what did, remember the tapestry of their lives. When you can't remember a single sermon or what these words mean, remember their lives. And remember that you are passing down the faith to the next generation. 

For it is not just the past that I think of when I read Paul’s letter to Timothy. I also think of you. I think of the sacrifices many of you have made to sustain the ministry of this church; the sermons that some of you never get to hear because you spend that time teaching children or preparing our fellowship time; the love that you faithfully show whether someone sees it or not. From infancy, our kids are being taught to know and know love scripture and they are being shown what a faithful life looks like. When our children and teenagers grow up and read this passage, you are the people they will think of, for you are the ones that taught them the sacred writing of our faith. It's one of the holiest parts of the Christian community. Whether you have raised children in your home or not, you are part of the church family, responsible for receiving the faith and passing it on to the next generation. 

You are the Saints that they will remember. Some day, we hope it is far in the future, someone will light a candle in memory of you and of me. We hope that they miss us the way that we miss the ones who loved us well. We can hope and we can act. We can choose to pass on the faith so that the next generation may come to know the life-changing, un-ending, never-failing love of God. 

Friends, you are entrusted with preaching the gospel, be that from a pulpit, or a passenger seat on a long drive, or over a kitchen table. The gospel is proclaimed in our words and our actions.  The God who created you has called you to hold on. What more is there to say than Paul’s charge to Timothy, as told by Eugene Peterson in The Message Bible? People of Lakewood: keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant. To God be the Glory. Amen.