Because of his
many mistakes, he would get into all kinds of problems, but somehow some of
those same mistakes would get him out of trouble and save the day.
When Maxwell
Smart would be backed into a corner by the bad people and he would have nowhere
to go, he would use a little deception which by the way, never worked, but it
was always funny. He would try to convince the other spies that they were
surrounded.
The bad guys,
having Maxwell Smart caught in a corner with no where to turn ask Smart, “What did you tell your chief on the phone,
right before we caught you?” Maxwell
Smart tells them, even though none of this was true, “I told the chief our precise location and in a few minutes, 2,000
state troopers will be rolling in here like oranges.”
The bad guy says,
“That’s difficult to believe. You’re lying.”
Maxwell Smart says, “Would
you believe 500 armed boy scouts?”
Bad guy responds, “I
don’t believe you.”
Smart says, “How about
Little Boy Blue and a couple of his sheep?”
And by buying a little time, somehow Smart was always able
to get away from the bad guys.
We have you
surrounded. This is the point that the
author of Hebrews is making in our scripture this morning. “Would
you believe that you are not alone in your walk with Christ, and that you are
surrounded by a whole host of faithful men and women who are cheering you on to
help you remain faithful a follower of Jesus Christ?”
In our scripture reading, the author of Hebrews goes on to
list several people who have faithfully run the course of faith. Some of these names might not be familiar to
us. Others we might recognize when we
hear their names. But the point is to
never ever forget, especially when you get discouraged in your walk with
Christ, that there are people who have shown us what it means to be faithful
over a long period of time.
The author of
Hebrews says, “We are surrounded by this
great cloud of witnesses.” People
like the ones who passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. People like Rahab and Gideon and Barak and
Samson and Jephtha and David and Samuel and the prophets. The author of Hebrews is showing how we are
all surrounded by people who have gone before us.
But wait, he has more examples of God’s people who surround
us day after day. Faithful men and women
who conquered Kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the
mouths of lions, quenched raging fires, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength
out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women
whose children were brought back to life, those who were tortured, who refused
to accept release, those who suffered mocking, flogging, and imprisoned. Some were stoned to death, sawn in two, those
who went destitute, persecuted, tormented, they wandered in deserts and
mountains and in caves and holes in the ground.
While, this might
sound like a typical episode from “Game of Thrones,” it really shows how far
people were willing to go to build God’s kingdom here on earth. These are the people who were courageous and did
not give up on their faith – “Would you
believe that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses?”
John Wesley, the
founder of Methodism once said, “There is
no such thing as solitary Christianity.” That’s why Wesley organized all of
those early Methodists into classes or small groups. He knew that if we
supported and encouraged each other in living out our faith, that we would
become more deeply devoted followers of Jesus Christ. This is why we emphasize
being part of a small group through the church.
One of the TV
shows that Penny and I enjoy watching is on HGTV. The title of the show says it
all. It’s called, “Disaster Do It Yourself.” Instead of getting professionals
to provide guidance and expertise, the show is about couples trying to do their
own remodeling to save money. Most of the time, things end in a disaster, hence
the name of the show.
For example, one
couple needed to do some electrical work as part of their remodeling. During
one of these remodeling episodes, the husband was ready to cut through an old
electrical wire in the house when his wife warned him about turning off the
breaker first.
He assured her
that it wasn’t necessary, so he started to cut into the wire. All of the sudden, you can hear this man
screaming for someone to turn off the power. The TV screen went blank because
even the cameraman was scared for this man.
Nobody ever gets
seriously hurt in that show, thank goodness, but couples do end up getting
their fair share of cuts and bruises during the show because they think they
can do all of this remodeling without any outside help. The lesson from this
show is to not be afraid to ask for help.
This is what the
author of Hebrews is telling us. Our faith is best lived out when we remember
that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. We can learn from their
example. When we think about those who have gone before us, we find
encouragement and a renewed energy in being the people that God has called us
to be. Christianity is meant to be lived in community, not in isolation.
When has God
reminded you that you are not alone, and that you are surrounded by a great
cloud of witnesses?
Curt was a member
of one of the churches I served. He was a gifted artist and had been recently
retired. He was best known as the man who had painted animals from the Noah’s
Ark story on the walls of the church nursery. Curt was also one of our ushers
and was active in his Sunday School class.
While I was
there, Curt became ill and was in and out of the hospital. The people in the
church and especially the people in his Sunday School class prayed for him,
took meals to their home, and sent him get well cards.
Curt reached a
point in his illness where they were having hospice come to the home to care
for him. He missed not being able to go to church on Sunday mornings so I would
stop by his house whenever I had the opportunity.
One day, Curt’s
wife called to see if I could bring Holy Communion to their home. I was meeting
with my clergy cluster that day. Our cluster consisted of ten United Methodist
pastors serving within a twenty-minute radius of each other. We met once a
month to pray together, encourage each other, and think of ways that our
churches could share in ministry together.
Knowing that I needed to go to Curt’s house
after our cluster meeting, I felt a little nudge from the Holy Spirit to see if
anybody from our clergy meeting would want to come with me. I explained the
situation to them and they all agreed to join me.
When I arrived at
the house, Curt’s wife was surprised to see all of these people at her
doorstep. I told her that these were several United Methodist clergy serving churches
in our county and they just wanted to stop by with me and offer their love and
support. A big smile came to her face and she said, “Curt will really love this.”
When I saw Curt,
I told him, “You said you would like a
pastoral call so I thought I would bring every United Methodist clergy in the
county to see you. I hope that’s OK.” He
was so glad to see all of these pastors.
One of us read a
scripture passage. Another shared a brief devotional thought. One of us
anointed Curt with oil. And all of us joined in offering a prayer for God’s
comforting presence to surround him. We even sang a hymn together.
The next day, I
received a call from Curt’s wife. She just called to let me know that our visit
meant so much to him. It’s not often that ten United Methodist clergy make a
house call together! I sent an email to the clergy group to let them know what
a blessing they were to Curt.
I look back on
that day when we all visited Curt at his home and I’m still amazed that every
clergy person was willing to sacrifice part of their time that day to be a
blessing for someone who wasn’t even a member of their own church. They didn’t
just bless Curt and his wife. They blessed me that day. That was the United
Methodist connection at its best!
That pastoral visit had reminded all of us
of this verse from Hebrews that we are surrounded by a great cloud of
witnesses.
I have another “we are surrounded by a
great cloud of witnesses” moment that happened in my life.
Many of you of heard me tell the story of
my mother’s passing back in 2012. My two sisters, my brother and I had to get
our mother’s belongings ready for a sale.
On the day of the sale at our
mother’s home, the place where we had been raised, a woman from somewhere in
the county decided that she wanted to buy one of our mom’s nightstands. In the
course of our conversation, this woman discovered that our mother’s name was
Janelle.
She said, “That’s interesting. My name is Janelle.”
As the conversation continued, she learned
that our mother’s last name was, “McDowell.” She said, “Janelle McDowell? Is
this the same Janelle McDowell who attended the Stewartstown United Methodist
Church?” And we said, “yes.” It was in that moment, that this woman realized
that our mother was why she was given the name, “Janelle.”
Before she was born, her mother was trying
to choose a name for her. Her mother had purchased a church cookbook that
contained several recipes that had been provided by our mother and being the
wonderful cook she was, our mom’s name was next to many of these recipes.
As her mother kept seeing the name,
“Janelle McDowell,” next to several of these recipes in that church cookbook,
she liked the sound of that name so much that she decided to go ahead and name
her daughter, “Janelle.” As her daughter grew, she told her this story of why
she was given this name.
Talk about “Thin Place” moments! This was
definitely one of them. It was a holy moment for this woman, named Janelle,
because she was able to stumble upon the home of the woman that she had been
named after. She also was able to buy a piece of furniture that meant a lot to
our mom.
It was also a holy moment for my brother,
two sisters, and me because, think about it. What were the odds that this woman
would have come across a church cookbook, named her baby after one of the
people in that cookbook, and that this baby would grow up, and out of the blue,
attend a yard sale at the home of the woman she was named after?
But this amazing story is far from over. This
woman who bought our mom’s nightstand that day at the sale, had it refurbished
and she gave it back to our family as her gift to us. She wanted us to have our
mother’s nightstand out of her appreciation for our mother.
And here’s the last little “thin place”
moment of this story. I have an elderly aunt who resides in a nursing home
where Janelle is employed, and our paths have crossed in this way as well. During
some of our visits, we will see her. What a crazy, crazy story, huh?
I just don’t know how else to put it,
except to say, “We are surrounded by a
great cloud of witnesses.” We really are.
So, I was in the pre-op area of a hospital
visiting a church member. This person was very nervous about his surgery and very
anxious. I was there to offer a brief prayer before they would take him back
for surgery.
In my prayer, I said something like, “Dear God, bless John as he prepares to have
this surgery. Remove any anxious thoughts he may have and replace them with
your peace. Grant him your healing. Remind John, that there are many people in
our church who are surrounding him with our love and prayers this day. In the
name of Christ, we pray. Amen.”
As I said, “Amen,” I could hear someone
else say, “Amen,” with me. It was his pre-op nurse who had opened the curtain
during our prayer. This nurse happened to be a faithful member of our church. I
looked down at John and I said, “See, I
told you. We do have you surrounded! You just can’t get away from the love and
support of your church.”
The
author of Hebrews says, “We’ve got you surrounded.”
Have you ever noticed just how many United
Methodist Churches there are? I mean, you can’t travel through a town, a
village, a city, and many times, out in the middle of nowhere without seeing a
United Methodist Church.
Sometimes, even a tiny town of 700 people
will have two United Methodist Churches. We’re all over the place!
I don’t know if this is still true, but
someone who researched this, said that there are more United Methodist church
buildings then there are post offices. I can believe it.
You just can’t get away from Methodists. A
bunch of clergy will show up at your door. We will find you through a cookbook.
We will help you to name your baby girl. We will be the nurse who wheels you
back to surgery. Methodists are everywhere!
I love how we respond as a congregation
whenever we celebrate a baptism. We offer these words of commitment toward the
family and the one being baptized:
“We
will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness.”
What
we’re saying is, “We’ve got you
surrounded. The memories of those who have gone before us are cheering us on.
You don’t have to walk alone in this life. We are all part of a great cloud of
witnesses.”
Thanks be
to God!
