Since we Are Surrounded ...
Hebrews 11:32-12:2
An All Saints Sunday Communion Meditation
by the Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart

We are not alone.  Sometimes we feel alone.  We may feel abandoned or cut off.  But none of us, ever, is alone.

We are surrounded by... a cloud of companions... witnesses ... spiritual ancestors... friends in faith ... people who have gone before us and who are with us now ... people who are a part of us ...always.

Hebrews chapter 11 is filled with the names of people who lived and died and rejoiced and suffered and conquered and struggled and did everything by faith.  By faith Abraham offered, by faith Moses was hidden, by faith the people crossed the Red Sea, individuals and communities who lived by faith... they shut the mouths of lions, they wandered, they were tortured, imprisoned.  They were not perfect.  They were not always "successful." They did not always survive.  But they persevered even in suffering. In death as in life, they lived by faith.  

These witnesses inspire and challenge and accompany us.  We need their lives and witness.  

Then we read: "Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised...that apart from us they would not be made whole."

These witnesses inspire and challenge and accompany us. And they need us.  They are witnesses to our lives.  We make their lives whole.

The text goes on, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and encumbrance, the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us..."

The race that is set before us. We become a part of a history by accident of birth and location ... and the course of that history will be changed by the part we play in it.  

By faith. In the letter to the Hebrews faith is not assent to doctrine. Faith is not certainty.  It is trust. Faith is assurance of things hoped for, trust in that which is unseen. A living relationship with God.

We are not alone.

Today some of us brought pictures and remembrances of persons whose lives have importance to us and whom we choose to honor. Some of us lit candles honoring the light of those who accompany us.

One that I brought is a photocopy of my grandfather‚s draft registration document.  It is dated September 12, 1918. I saw it for the first time this week.  Our daughter Mary, who did genealogical research as part of her doctoral work, only located the document last week and sent it to me.

Anton Wilgociewicz, a Polish immigrant ... not a U.S. Citizen ... registered for the draft in Stamford, Connecticut.   On that document I saw his signature and the spelling of his name for the first time.  I learned that he had blue eyes.  My grandfather died five years later in a tuberculosis sanitorium leaving his only child ... my mother ... the one black and white photograph she ever had of her father.  Of course none of his granddaughters ever knew him, but that immigrant laborer lives on in me and my sisters in ways I‚m sure we never fully understand.  I am grateful for whatever stirrings of spirit and circumstance moved and shaped him, and brought him across the Atlantic to Ellis Island.

We are not alone.

Biology does not determine our spiritual ancestry. This year Bishop Melvin Wheatley died ... dear friend and mentor in ministry for Jim and for me.  Mel's life was a testament to the radically inclusive love of Jesus and a reminder that we all have spiritual ancestors who teach us, and accompany us, and encourage and challenge us along the way. They may be teachers, or colleagues, or neighbors, or friends, or infants ... they are people from whom we learn ... through whose wisdom, or compassion, courage, or being, we find seeds for growth.

We are not alone.

Buddhist monk and peacemaker Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, "On the altar in my hermitage, are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors."

Today is a day for us all to remember those we touch as spiritual ancestors ... and those who have touched us.

Today we remember Epworth‚s „cloud of witnesses,‰ those who have formed and fed this church to bring it to this moment in history.  Today we remind ourselves once again, as followers of Christ, that in meals and dreams and memories we belong together, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

We „look to Jesus‰ in the faces of those in need, in bread and cup shared, in music, in prayer, in shared work, in scripture, in creation, and in suffering‚s tears.  Jesus is the source, the path-breaker, and completer of the race.

The table is set. All the Saints have gathered. We come to the table for strength to run the race set before us.

We are not alone ... Thanks be to God.