So Great A Cloud of Witnesses March 30, 2008

John 20:19-31
Hebrews 11:1-12:2

FAITH is the ASSURANCE of THINGS HOPED for, CONVICTION of things not seen.
That was the problem of the Disciples.
They had not grown up in Sunday School, they had been CALLED BY JESUS, had been taught by him, had seen him work miracles, they each had abandoned and betrayed him, and watched him die, burying his corpse in a stone tomb. RATIONAL THOUGHT and personal experience conflicted with THE ASSURANCE OF FAITH.

We have done a terrible dis-service to the Twin named Thomas, by creating an identification of him as being “Doubting Thomas”, in the first place ALL THE DISCIPLES doubted and All were filled with fear when Jesus came to them, breathed upon them and offered them to touch his hands and side.

In the 2nd, this is not a story about THOMAS or his Doubts and Questions, but rather about GOD in Christ, who cares so much about the Disciples' Faith that Jesus is willing and able to do whatever it takes for them to have faith ON THEIR OWN TERMS. Thomas the TWIN, like the others, declared I WILL NOT Believe unless I can witness, see and touch and possess, hard cold proof. And Jesus comes back from the dead, not just once, but repeatedly, OFFERING TO THEM not only an empty tomb, calling them by name, walking with them on the journey, breaking bread, breathing upon them, being present with them when they had locked themselves away in their fears, but literally inviting them to touch his wounds, to handle his most vulnerable sufferings.

What we CELEBRATE this day are people of faith, A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES before us AND PERSONS in our own midst, WHO KNOW NOT what will be required, and who believe; who know there will be wounds, doubts and questions and still want to believe. Those who are CALLED to be Deacons, elders and Ministers of Word and Sacrament, do not do so because they are the most learned among us, not as a recognition of accomplishment, but HOPEFULLY that OUT OF THEIR COMPASSION they can minister to the needs of others. I am thankful to those in our midst who having come from other parts of the family have taught me the nuance of what we have celebrated this day. There waa a time in which we described INFANT BAPTISM versus ADULT BAPTISM, and what we have been CONVICTED by are that for TESSA, TROY and TATE this morning's was a BELIEVER'S BAPTISM, consciously choosing for themselves that while we do not know what will come in life, we want to believe. And for TY, that his parents share their faith and hopes and dreams, committing to pray for him and nurture him to believe in God.

Ironically, out of all the many VIRTUES: Charity, Compassion, Justice, Righteousness, Peace, Forgiveness the one that the world seems to have abandoned is ENDURANCE.

We want to GOOGLE ANSWERS, we want INSTANT GRATIFICATION, we want FULFILLMENT, we want WHAT WE WANT and we want it now, FASTER, SMALLER, with GREATER CAPABILITIES, MORE SPEED and the LATEST COLORS, so we can be first and unique. ENDURANCE is knowing that in the immediate future, maybe even in all my life, we will NEVER SEE, TOUCH or HAVE, but we continue to hope and believe and work, and live for the possibility that our GRANDCHILDREN'S GRANDCHILDREN might. Is not the possibility that our grandchildren's grandchildren might live in a world of peace, where regardless of what nation we are from, regardless our sex or identity, there is NO prejudice or hate, where there is clean water and opportunities of education for ALL, are these not worth fighting to believe in?

The passage we read from Hebrews pushes the limits of how long a passage can be that is used in worship. We look at the whole history of the People of Faith and see A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES: ABEL and CAIN, ENOCH, NOAH, ABRAM, ISAAC, JACOB and ESSAU, JOSEPH, MOSES, JOSHUA, JEPHTHAH, BARAK, DEBORAH and GIDEON, SAMUEL, DAVID and SOLOMON, ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, DANIEL and EZEKIEL, ELIZABETH and MARY, JOSEPH and JOHN, JESUS, ANDREW, SIMON PETER, James and John and THOMAS, ZACCHEUS, MARTHA, MARY and LAZARUS, SIMON of CYRENE and NICODEMUS.
So many different stories it's difficult to have clarity about any one, like a cloud it's hard for us to keep straight who did what, and among all these if the example of any might be helpful to us.

Among us are those with SIBLINGS that have done great harm to one another, even wishing the other dead, STILL in this cloud of witnesses God was able to demonstrate FAITH OVER MANY GENERATIONS.
There have circumstances in our own times, when it seemed THE WHOLE WORLD IS CORRUPT, there is no one trustworthy, everyone is only out for what pleases them, and suddenly there is the story of one who selflessly gave their life God's creation.

SOLDIERS, PRIESTS, KINGS and COMMON PEOPLE.

A summary like this is helpful in knowing that among those who have lived in faith have been those who seem victorious, and those whose lives seem tragic, yet HAVING ENDURED, none were ever forgotten.

YET EVEN MORE, none of these ever attempted to set an example, by living their lives in faith they did set that example for us, but that was not their intent.

ABEL simply wanted to bring the best of all the living things he had raised, as a SACRIFICIAL GIFT TO GOD.

ENOCH was the SON of CAIN, who even though his Father had done wrong killing his brother, still the child was loved, and his children's children were remembered as forgers of brass and makers of music.

Though the whole world seemed corrupt and everyone within it sinned, still God was able to find NOAH. Though it made no sense, though it had not begun to rain and the animals were not gathered, Noah did as God commanded.

Though his father and his father's father had been makers of idols, shopkeepers selling the most beautiful and the most hiddeous, that people embued with great powers as if GODS, ABRAM was called to follow where God would lead. Wandering as a NOMAD, ABRAM believed God would provide for his children's grandchildren, though Abram and Sarah had no child of their own.

AND though she was as fertile as a STONE, and he was as Good as dead, still God provided through them, and then once they held the fulfillment of promise in their arms, God said SACRIFICE that! And they were willing and able, and God entered in and intervened.

We tend to imagine these as celebrations for those being BAPTIZED AND ORDAINED, Yet the VOWS and Promises we make as THE Church when persons are Baptized, when they are ORDAINED, are the real statement of FAITH. That no mater what will happen in teir lives, we will pray for them, hold them up before God, trust and listen to them as they lead us, believing they act in FAITH.