Sermon Revelation 21:1-6a

There often is a temptation for us young people. The temptation to dismiss the elderly. To say that they are out of touch, have nothing to say, are stuck in the past. We do it with past generations too. They with their outmoded thinking are dead and gone.

Such is the temptation of every generation to think that it "has figured things out.". A new day has arrived and the old is washed away ... the good days have arrived ... only to become another generations nostelgic rememberences of "the good old days."

And yet, how are we to remember? As Christians we are a strange people since we read from an old book, follow and old religion, spanned from an even older religion. So why is it that 'old' has taken on such a negative connotation. Just say, "The old ladies in church served coffee." OLD! Show some respect, you young pup!

I say this because in hearing today's text there is a temptation ... more than just one really .. but a temptation when we hear, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth." to think ... good, we are getting rid of the "old". And yet, this is the text that the Church has chosen to be the central reading for "All Saints Day".

The day when we remember those who have died, this year, and the years before us. We remember all who have stuggled to listen to Jesus rather than the world. The host of many who chose to follow the crucified one, rather than the ways of the world.

Don't be surprised if you are not aware of All Saints Day, the church got rid of it in the late 1800's as something "old and outdated ... too traditional, some said." Have you ever noticed how "traditional" also has a negative tone in our culture, just like "old" has. Tradition is a strange thing ... it is about remembering ... but more than that, it is about relationship. G.K. Chesterton said,

"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about." - G.K. Chesterton.

That's us ... today we remember that we are part of a greater host, we few who happen to be walking around stand on the shoulders of saints who know real well how to struggle to be the church.

I remember once as a student talking with a church leader "What the point was in having to visit all these elderly ladies for tea?" To which he replied, "Oh Jim, you don't have to, you get to. Listen to me, some of these ladies have been around a long time and seen and heard more that we ever have. Some of them have heard and read more Bible than we have. Most of them have seen more suffering, human fraility, and human stuggles than we have. A few of them have deep prayer lives and have been listened for God for years, and it is those few who will teach you how to be a Christian."

As I prepared for this sermon, I wondered how to proclaim the Word. As I prepared for preaching on Revelation 21, I read from one writer who said, "Notice that there is no mention of a Temple or Church building in the Holy City ... the New Heaven and Earth." No Temple ... then I remembered something written by a little old lady, from Macklin, Saskatchewan. It was in the Observer, Front Page. It was by a elderly women, named Susan Conley. This clearly is someone who has listened to God for years. Let's listen to this old saint;

{Read from Front Page, The Observer, September 2000 "Church for sale" is a sad sight. But it doesn't mean the church is dead."

Yes, the church will go on ... that is for certain. And old generations will die, and new generations replace them. And we, as the living saints, will gather each year to give thanks to God for them, and to remember. But we remember in a way that the world does not know, for we know that one day the trumpet will sound, and the dead shall be raised imperishable. Through the power of the cross of Jesus, heaven shall arrive, and the graves shall be opened ... and all those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb will enter the Holy City, where a great body of saints will gather to give praise and glory to God forever. The dead shall rise again. Until we see them in the flesh again, they are with us in Spirit. Helping us, lest we forget ... the way of Jesus. And so I urge you to remember Jesus, and remember those who followed him ... for as G.K. Chesterton also said,

We will have the dead at our councils. The ancient Greeks voted by stones; these shall vote by tombstones. It is all quite regular and official, for most tombstones, like most ballot papers, are marked with a cross.

Followers of the cross, listen to the dead for they shall show you how to live. Give your life away for the Crucified One, for he shall give you new life. Trust and worship and struggle to be the Church, for, the Christ, the One who died and rose again, is indeed coming soon. AMEN.

Sermon Revelation 21:1-6a
by James Love