Sermon (November 3) - "A Glorious Inheritance"

     The Apostle Paul tells us that it is in Christ that we have obtained an inheritance. This was in the opening verse of our Ephesians reading this morning. When we first heard this, we might have been wondering what Paul meant by that word, “inheritance.”

     We had to be a little patient because it’s a few verses later when Paul spells it out for us. Paul writes, “This is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.”

     Our inheritance includes redemption. Redemption is a powerful word. It’s at the center of the good news of our faith. Redemption means that we have been rescued from sin and death through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Redemption means that not even death can separate us from God’s eternal presence.

     When we stand at the graveside of a loved one, we hear these words of hope and promise, “Almighty God, into your hands we commend this person in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

     I’ll never forget one of those times that I shared these words of hope at a graveside service for one of our church members. It was a very cold and cloudy winter day. Everybody was bundled up. When the cemetery service had concluded, this elderly gentleman, now a widower continued to stay seated there by the grave.

     By the look on his face, I knew he wanted to tell me and his loved ones something very important.  After several moments of silence he said to all of us, “When you were saying that prayer, the sun came out from behind you and it was shining so brightly.  And I felt a warmth.”

     And I knew that by the way he told me this that he wasn’t referring only to a physical warmth.  He had felt a spiritual warmth in that moment. The clouds of death and grief had given way to an assurance of God’s presence at the top of that cold and blustery cemetery hill.

     I nodded my head to indicate that I understood what he meant.  And as he got up from his chair, he kept repeating to himself, “It was the strangest thing.  It was the strangest thing.”

     The Apostle Paul wants us to know that even as we face the struggles and pain of life, that God has given us an inheritance of redemption that can never be take away from us. Later in our scripture passage, Paul calls it a glorious inheritance. And it is glorious!  It’s so glorious that we don’t have to wait for this inheritance. We can have it in the here and now. Paul says that this is made possible through the Holy Spirit which is a pledge of our inheritance.

     This past February, Penny and I were standing in front of the historic St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter of New Orleans on a sunny day enjoying our three day get away. With the mighty Mississippi River in front of us and the smell of those wonderful Big Easy beneigt treats in the air, we found ourselves in the middle of an impromptu jazz concert there on the street. This was the New Orleans we were hoping to experience.

     The casually dressed five member jazz band was performing a very long version of "O When the Saints Go Marching In." During different times of the song, a band member would step out and offer his unique instrumental solo to the delight of the crowd. One young man who looked to be in his early 20s had a trumpet in one hand and a trombone in the other and he played them back and forth effortlessly during his masterful solo performance.

     As the band continued to play, we sat on a park bench and that's when I received the call about my aunt who had been in failing health in Maryland. This was my mom's sister who just eight months earlier had attended my mom's funeral. Aunt Isabelle & Uncle Bill lived on a farm in Maryland.

     Hospice was now caring for Aunt Isabelle and the phone call was to let me know that she had just passed away. My heart sank as I thought about these two sisters who were very close to each other. Even in the midst of that sad moment, a smile came to my face as the jazz band continued to play very loudly in the background, O when the saints go marching in, O when the saints go marching in. O how I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in.

     I took comfort in knowing that they were now reunited in that glorious eternal kingdom where there is no more sickness, sadness, dementia, tears, or death. They were in a place of total peace and joy.

     Looking back on that afternoon this past February when I received the phone call about the passing of my Aunt, I wonder if that was one of those sacramental moments when heaven and earth mysteriously overlapped there in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. For that brief moment in time, I experienced heaven's welcome of another of God's saints, New Orleans style.

     An elderly widower feels an unexpected warmth at a cold cemetery which leaves him repeating to himself, “It was the strangest thing. It was the strangest thing.”

     A pastor receives a phone call about the death of a family member as a New Orleans jazz band is performing, “O When the Saints Go Marching In.”

     Yes, it is possible that these kinds of things are just coincidences. But I think, it has something more to do with the good news of our faith. Through Christ we can receive redemption from sin and death. Through Christ, we can experience a glorious inheritance…

     New Orleans style.