Text: Rev 7:9-17
Facebook live: Washed in the blood of Christ!
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
For me as a pastor, All Saints Day is a special day, as I think about all those who I’ve had the privilege to know and serve.
In my daily life too, I like you, have had my share of loss with loved ones, whether it was my mom or dad, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors. It is never easy.
Loss puts a period at the end of life saying:
“No more will you and I interact together in this life!”
And while the daily interactions have ended, and though we miss those phone calls, visits, and celebrations together, the promise for reunion is and remains for you and me a future reality, as we wait for our own time of departure from this veil of tears.
3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so, we are. 1 John 3:1
As God’s children we have put on Christ, being buried with him in baptism and having washed our robes white in the blood of the lamb.
We therefore are pictured and included with those who as a great innumerable multitude, from every nation, tribe, people and language - clothed in white robes – worship the Lamb!
10 crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
The palm branches are real too, and so is the promise of your presence there with the heavenly throng!
For now though, it remains a Yes, but not yet.
2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he [Jesus] appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2
The promise is ours, but not yet fully realized, and the promise is sure and true, so you and I can have full confidence in God and his word.
Just as Christ Jesus came in the form of human flesh to redeem all flesh, so to his words to the crowd, who went up on the mountain to hear are our words to hear as well.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt. 5:11-12
Your reward is great in heaven because you are washed in the blood of Christ!
I’d like to tell you about one Saint here at Peace that you won’t know, but will know as a dear friend one day.
Carolyn Wilson came into my life as I was leaving the house of Walt and Lucille Richley.
My phone rang as I was beginning to drive away and it was Pastor Jim Vandellen, retired pastor from Good Shepherd, Lake Orion. He called to see if I could visit a former member of his who lived in Waterford, was home bound, had transferred to St. Stephens and had fallen through the cracks. She had no one visiting her and had not received the Lord’s Supper for a few years.
I told him that I would be happy to put her on my call list. We hung up and I called her and set up a visit.
Carolyn had grown up in the church and also played the organ in her home church in San Francisco where she grew up. She married her husband Rick, had three daughters and quite a number of grandchildren.
I first knew of Carolyn and Rick when Rick was a Director of Christian Education at St. John in Rochester and where their girls grew up.
When I reconnected with Carolyn, she was living alone in Waterford, her husband had passed away and the girls married and out of the house.
We visited together for probably 5 years, monthly. Her health wasn’t good but her spirit and conversation thrived as we talked and she loved to retell stories from her past growing up in San Francisco.
Earlier this year she was moved to a care facility as her health declined. He daughter, Sarah kept me appraised of her health concerns. I continued to visit her. She passed away on February 15th of this year. She was 72. Her family declined to have a service.
That was heartbreaking for me but her eternal home is not dependent on what I do here, but on what Christ has done. She is resting in Jesus!
As a pastor of Christ’s flock here at Peace, I am given to the care of souls as an under shepherd of the Good Shepherd.
The good Shepherd is Jesus and he is our savior and our hope.
In him we find comfort and peace and as pastor I hope to bring that same peace to others in need in this broken world.
The hope that is Christ was my joy and privilege to bring to Carolyn in her home and to all who are given to my care, shut in or at hospital, or gathered here to hear this blessed comfort and good news that is Christ Jesus and his forgiveness.
Like Jesus upon hearing of the death of Lazarus - I too wept at the hearing of Carolyn’s death. Not being able to have a service, I felt loss and in a sense no closure.
Death can do that for we who remain.
Revelations heavenly picture continues:
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Being brought to faith in Baptism makes you part of this great number from every nation, tribe, people and language.
That was the good news for those early believers too. They knew that this Jesus who had died on the cross was the same one who had risen from the dead and had been taken up to heaven and was the same Jesus who said:
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:3
Dear friends, Carolyn Wilson and the many other family, friends, and Peace members, who have trusted in Jesus, have the eternity promised, just as you and I do.
We honor their memory this day and the memories of all the saints who from their labors rest, but more importantly we are honored by our loving heavenly Father who has brought us all into relationship with him through the life, death, and resurrection of his beloved Son, Jesus.
So, we remember those who have departed this life this year and rest in the care of Jesus:
Kathy Thompson, Carolyn Wilson, Mark Bunarek, Doris Mausling, Don Dekeyser, Rick Heinz and former pastor here at Peace, the Rev. Darowin Cordes.
15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Behold, you are part of that great multitude that no one can number! Rev. 7:9
As we come to the Lord’s Table today, in fellowship and communion, we receive a foretaste of the Kingdom of God promised and the reality of forgiveness in a real and tangible way.
This gift of Christ Jesus is given and shed for you!
Your place at the table is secure!
In Christ, dear friends, this is most certainly true!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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