Sermon Title: "Surrounded By Witnesses"
Date: August 15, 2010
Minister:  The Rev. Charles Ensley

Lesson:  Hebrews 11:29-12:2

On my sabbatical in 2001, Peggy and I took a 7,000 mile cross country driving trip.  The purpose, I explained to our Board of Stewards, was to visit some of my seminary classmates in their churches and find out how ministry was going for them.  A few I had not seen since we graduated in 1973.

One of my classmates, actually my closest friend from seminary, was serving a Presbyterian church on the shores of Lake Huron in the “northern mitt” of Michigan.  As we walked down the hallway toward his office, we passed a portrait gallery of all the previous ministers.  Under each picture was a little plaque and the years they had served that church.  Every day as my friend walked down that hall to his office, Bill passed the gaze of each of his predecessors, one of which was referred to as “Saint Fred” due to his long tenure and his benevolent nature.

The three churches I’ve served are 186, 120 and 85 years old, respectively, and perhaps fortunately I have never had to walk by a picture gallery of all my predecessors.  Yet any minister who cares about the congregation he or she serves will likely hear about, and should respect, the legacy of those who have gone before and faithfully served a particular congregation.  While a great number of them are now deceased, they form a great cloud of witnesses who, during their time, shaped and inspired the church to be what it is today. 

For instance, our pastor emeritus Ken Coates called me last month to compliment me on my 85th anniversary sermon in June.  I told him that while I gave Milton Gabrielson credit for building much of our church facilities as we know them, he, Ken, deserved credit for really motivating this congregation to be involved in so many mission projects.  In other words, I serve here fully aware of the influences of the two ministers who shaped Bay Shore Church prior to my coming.

Today’s letter to the Hebrews was written to a Jewish-Christian community that both knew and experienced the toughness of life.  They were experiencing real struggle and loneliness, and their strength had been sapped.  Some were attempted to abandon the Christian faith or to leave the community completely.  In responding to this situation, the author speaks like a coach at halftime, encouraging his listeners to keep the faith and “run with perseverance the race that is set before” them.

Early on, the church deduced this letter was not written by the Apostle Paul, but was authored by someone who was a very close associate.  The author speaks with a Jewish voice to these first century converts.  Some likely candidates for authorship offered by scholars include Barnabas, Silas, Luke and Apollos.

The enduring practice of faith is the overwhelming theme running through all of chapter 11.  Prior to our reading today, the author launches his discussion from the beginning of biblical time—from the faith of Abel, through the faithfulness of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses.  Today’s text begins by recalling the faith demonstrated by “the people”—that common crowd of runaway Hebrew slaves—instead of focusing on the faith of their leader Moses as they crossed through the Red Sea.  At this crucial moment in their salvation history, their faithfulness stood strong. 

After a while it dawns on the author that he cannot enumerate all the examples of faithfulness contained in the Old Testament.  Military heroes, strong men, kings and prophets are mentioned, even though most all possessed notable character flaws as well as enduring faith.  Next, he writes of faithful women who experienced miracles, rather than the actions of the prophets Elijah and Elisha.  Then he cites a different list of faith “victories”—triumphs that ended in extended hardship and even a martyr’s death for the faithful.  Despite the pain and suffering of cruel tortures inflicted upon the early believers, despite the difficulty of their lives, these witnesses are remembered for their never-wavering faith.  Yet, for all their faithfulness, the patriarchs, matriarchs and martyrs of the faith “did not receive what was promised,” not because God had broken the divine covenant promise, but because the ultimate faith promise had not yet arrived—Jesus Christ, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”

Finally, the author employs a new set of images for faithfulness.  The multitude of faithful that have come before this generation are remembered as a great “cloud of witnesses.”  These gathered faithful—much like the gallery of former pastors in my friend’s church hallway—observe each new generation as we undertake the challenge to remain faithful throughout this lifelong race to be “run with perseverance.”

A few weeks ago, I told of the legacy of the late Alice Titus, upon whose death the church received one-quarter of her estate, earnings from which we use annually in our budget some 18 years later.  That got me to thinking of two other women like Alice, without children of their own, who left significant portions of their estates to the youth of this church.  Odette Gulley left us 25% from the sale of her apartment building a block down the street.  A long-time treasurer of the church, she designated it was “to be used for building restoration, which may include the Youth Center and Sky Forest.”  After we used it for sanctuary restoration, new roofs over the Sunday School and Concert Hall and at Sky Forest, built a children’s and a handicap accessible restroom and remodeled portions of our Christian education wing, we named the church library after her.

Isolda McDonald left the church some 75% of her estate, designated for and divided between the pipe organ and youth of this church.  After completely remodeling the youth center on the next corner in 2000, we renamed it in her memory.

Now I don’t want to imply that only those who leave the church bequests are qualified to join that “great cloud of witnesses.”  Louise Henry, who died earlier this year, was a member of this church for over fifty years.  She began in the ‘50s as financial secretary and volunteer Sunday School teacher, and then for forty years served as Director of Christian Education.  She started and coordinated both the weekday After School Classes and the Christmas Family Workshop for decades.  Some couples I marry still speak of their experiences in both from their elementary years.  Louise headed up bake sales for the Bay Shore Friends, and put on wedding and memorial service receptions as if they were an everyday occurrence.  At her memorial service, we used favorite scripture quotations she had marked in her well-worn Bible.

While Alice, Odette and Isolda all died nearly two decades ago, and are unknown to anyone who has come into the church since that time, their legacies and influence and that of Louise continue upon our church, both by their faithful Christian lives and by what their gifts were able to accomplish here.  I was privileged to have known all four, and officiated at each of their memorial services.  Each was a longtime and faithful member of this church, and even if you did not know them, they are part of that “great cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us and continue to make their mark upon us because they are part of our church’s past history.

Yet even in the middle of this race of faith, it’s sometimes difficult to see the power of Christ shining through us when we face things such as illness, cancer, divorce, death of a spouse or child, career change, financial struggle and other relationship stresses—some experiences which Alice, Odette, Isolda and Louise each faced in one manner or another.

Have you ever been there?  Has your faith ever been so weakened and tested that it’s honestly tough to even utter a prayer?  Have you ever had a time when you hear God’s word from the lectern, the pulpit or your Bible, but it doesn’t seem to be speaking to you?  Or perhaps you know what it feels like to be so disconnected from the power and promise of God in Christ that even life’s simplest of struggles overwhelms you with fear. 

You need to remember that you cannot run this race of faith alone.  You have to run with other men and women of faith.  We are surrounded not only by that great cloud of witnesses, but people who are sitting right around you this morning, the very people with whom you might participate in a Bible or book study or mission project or fellowship event.

Patrick Morley, in his book on spiritual disciplines, suggests that human beings are a lot like redwood trees.  Redwoods grow for millennia and reach as high as 350 feet.  Yet their roots run only six to ten feet below the surface.  The only way these monster trees can stand tall and withstand our crazy California coastal weather is to grow close together, intermingling their roots.  They make each other strong.

No man or woman was meant to live as a lonely tree.  To do so is death.  Neither were we meant to run the race of faith alone.  Even cloistered nuns and monks gather several times daily for prayer and worship together. 

When we gather as part of a faith community, we are surrounded by a group of people who have been through what you have been through.  I mean it.  You may not realize it, but someone here has been through the same family crisis, economic problem, decline in health, employment issue, moral dilemma, faith questioning that you have.  You may not know who they are, but you are not alone.  Even here among the living, you are surrounded by witnesses to the fact that you will persevere, you will get through it, you will survive.

Keeping your eyes on the Christ whom God sent inspires and encourages you, calls you to a higher standard and gives your heart hope on the hardest of days.  In running the race of faith, we must keep our eyes focused on Jesus Christ, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross…”  That cross is empty now and speaks of resurrection hope.  The God who saw his own Son endure great pain and suffering is standing alongside us in whatever we go through.

Looking to Jesus, we see that he himself has already run our path to perfection and now sits at the right hand of God, the Almighty.  There he’s graciously guiding our every step, surrounded by “so great a cloud of witnesses.”  They are there.  You can depend on them.