Accompanied by love

You are not alone
AND GOD SAW... stories of God seeing and acting in Hebrew Scripture
ALL SAINTS SUNDAY
1 Kings 18:17-39; Mark 9:2-4


Watch the video:


...or listen to audio:


...or download a printer-friendly PDF file [click here]

...or read it online here: 

I’ll let know right off the bat,

I will not do justice to this text from 1 Kings today.

For a couple of good reasons,

not the least of which is my shoulder surgery four days ago,

and the happy pills I’ve been taking to ward off the pain.

Seriously, my recovery is going pretty well so far,

and I thank you for your prayers

and expressions of support.

But even without this,

I would have left many aspects of this story untouched.

Because today has its own agenda.

This is a special day in our yearly rhythm at Park View.

Some have told me (and I may have said so myself at times)

that they look forward to this service more than any other.

I think that’s because it touches a very deep part of us.

It doesn’t mess around with the superficial,

It goes straight to the core of the human experience—

the reality of the loss of people we love;

the harrowing experience of being left alone, left behind,

left without the sustaining physical presence

and unconditional love

of people who made our lives so full and meaningful.

Obviously, many close relationships

also have complications and pain that go along with

the love and support we may also experience.

Now, after the loss of a loved one, none of us are left entirely alone.

Most of us have some people in our lives

that add light and life to our daily existence,

while at the same time, our loss is real, and deep,

and sometimes even devastating.

And it never fully goes away.

Whether our loss was a spouse, a parent, a child,

or some other person important to our wellbeing,

the bottom line is, if we have lost a beloved life traveler,

we have experienced the deep pain of feeling alone in this world.

There is no feeling more painful, and more common,

than that of feeling alone.

_____________________

So it’s with that in mind that I read this fantastic story

of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

I could touch on many things in this story.

This is a particular genre of story—a “hero story,”

of which there are many in ancient and modern literature,

and numerous ones in the Bible—

stories intended to reinforce the legitimacy of an important figure,

because they could do amazing things that others could not.

I also could talk about how the northern Kingdom of Israel

became dominated by a pagan religious framework

where the god Baal was dominant,

and where Yahweh,

the God who loved them and delivered them from slavery,

was pushed to the background and nearly forgotten.

I could talk about Elijah’s penchant for complaining and moping,

when the chips were down.

We could ponder why he needed to prove himself, and prove his god,

and whether jealousy might have played a part

in this showdown at the altar with the prophets of Baal.

Or…most provocatively,

we could talk about Elijah’s troubling act of revenge.

Now our assigned reading today stopped at verse 39,

where the crowd of onlookers fell down in repentance

proclaiming Yahweh as the true God.

No question as to why it stopped there.

Because in the very next words, in v. 40,

Elijah tells these repentant people,

to immediately take all 450 prophets of Baal into custody,

and then (and I quote directly from v. 41)

“Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon

and killed them there.”

Wouldn’t you like to have me try to make a Gospel message out of that?

I’m just naming the complexity of this story,

because I want you to know that I know it’s there.

Maybe someday we can explore how to read stories like this.

 But right now, because of what day this is,

I’m going to simplify by lifting out just one aspect of this story.

Like most stories in the Bible,

there are multiple things going on,

and multiple ways we can learn from them.

And sometimes, the simplest lesson is the one we most need.

If All Saints Day is a time for us to name our loss,

to acknowledge the pain of feeling alone in the world,

and to celebrate the joy of discovering there is life beyond loss,

and there is community beyond isolation,

then this story of Elijah is not a bad place to start.

Elijah, like many of us,

struggled with feelings of loneliness, isolation, grief, and loss.

Sometimes, he did not act out of his best self,

I think we could agree.

His job as a prophet,

under the reign of the brutal and idolatrous and egotistical

and vengeful King Ahab

was not an easy calling.

He spent a lot of his time in hiding.

As we stumble along our own grief journeys,

we also occasionally struggle to act our of our best selves.

Sometimes we just do the best we can

to put one foot in front of another,

and decide to love and accept ourselves exactly where we are.

But in the end, this message of God to Elijah,

is the message that keeps coming back to us, as well.

It’s a message we so desperately need to hear, again today.

“You are not alone”

You are being accompanied.

Accompanied by love.

Accompanied by God.

Accompanied by your people, your family –

whether biological or otherwise.

And sometimes, accompanied by strangers.

I’m grateful for the gift of scripture that keeps repeating that message,

over and over again,

spanning all times, and places, and circumstances.

We are not alone.

_____________________

All Saints Day is essentially a day to remind ourselves of that message.

We are not alone.

There is a whole communion of saints that have gone before us.

There is even a community of redeemed scoundrels

that have gone before us, and encourage us in their own way.

We are not alone in our present.

And our past has not entirely left us either.

We are still being actively shaped and formed,

by the character of relationships of those who have died.

As of this All Saints Day, 279 people have died

while associated with Park View Mennonite Church.

In significant ways, they have shaped who we have become

as a church,

and they have shaped many of our lives, individually.

The names of all 279 are before us today.

They are printed in your bulletin,

and we invited you to scan the list,

and reflect on those you knew.

In addition,

photos and narratives of each of their lives,

are in the four memory books you’ll find in the foyer today,

and for the next several weeks.

Take time to browse them now,

or sit down with them later in the church library

where they reside the rest of the year.

_____________________

Our ritual of remembrance today has several stages.

First, we will remember, and name aloud,

11 persons who died since All Saints Sunday last November,

including one just three days ago.

Their photos are on the front table today as an added reminder.

Then the choir will share with us a beautiful and moving song

by John Bell, “The Last Journey.”

Then all will be invited to make your way forward

for candlelighting and communion.

Instructions for that will follow.

Let us now hear the names of those who died in the last year.

You may read in unison the bold print of the scripture,

as you see it projected on the screen.

We remember with thanksgiving those from this congregation whom we have entrusted to God and who now rest from their labors.

Virginia Anne Redhead Bethune (Jan 3, 1936 – November 16, 2022)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

my whole life long. Psalms 23:6

Vira Gladys Miller Hershberger (Jan 12, 1922 – November 23, 2022)

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54, 57

Aaron Donald Augsburger (December 21, 1925 – November 27, 2022)

If God is for us, who is against us?

For I am convinced that nothing will be able to separate us

from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31, 38-39

LaVerne Ruth Zehr Yoder (August 26, 1938 – December 14, 2022)

For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

then in my flesh I shall see God. Job 19:25-26

Carol Darlene Gaeddert Burkhart (Sept. 15, 1933 – January 28, 2023)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us run with perseverance the race before us.  Hebrews 12:1

Samuel Horton Weaver (May 1, 1930 – February 17, 2023)

Even though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

Luke Mummau Drescher (July 31, 1935 – March 4, 2023)

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:4, 8

Marian Chapin Jameson (December 17, 1931 - May 1, 2023)

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.

Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Rom 14:7-8

Frederick Thomas Barner, III (August 9, 1936 – August 17, 2023)

He will guide them to springs of the water of life,

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17

Maribeth Messner Kreider (November 1, 1940 – September 11, 2023)

I will come again and will take you to myself,

so that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:3

Abraham Davis (May 14, 1923 – November 2, 2023)

I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, 

even though they die, will live;

And everyone who lives and believes in me

will never die. John 11:25-26

—Phil Kniss, November 5, 2023

[To leave a comment, click on "comments" link below]