Before I begin, I would like to take the privilege and give honor and thanks to the Tuesday Ladies Group, who has been reading Revelations for the last few weeks. Their questions and wonderings of this text is one that helped me be confident to use it as the text for this morning’s message.

 

Not often do pastor’s preach from Revelations, and I will give blame to it’s not the lectionary text! But we can also assume that because it is an apocalyptic book we can loose sight of the good news in all its imagery.

 

I also want to give a shout out to my niece Georgette and my daughter Eva, who teach me everyday that I am because you are. Their lives impact the way I respond to this world and all the happening in it. By wanting the best for them, I work to be my best self by remaining positive and certain in my faith. And I hope I teach them that when life gets difficult I turn to God for refuge, Jesus for solace, and rely on the Holy Spirit to get me through.

 

I am because you are is a South African Philosophy called ubuntu! According to Michael Onyebuchi Eze, the core of ubuntu can best be summarized as “‘A person is a person through other people’. This strikes an affirmation of one’s humanity through recognition of an ‘other’ in his or her uniqueness and difference.

 

Today is All Saint’s Day and we recognized some of whom we lost over the course of the year that has passed. We take time to recognize the footprints they have left on our life and our hearts and give them honor in calling their names.

 

And so I look to the text from Revelations, Chapter 7, beginning at verse 9.

 

Revelation 7:9-17

 

⁹ After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

 

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. ¹⁶ They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; 17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

 

This is God’s word for God’s people. Thanks be to God.

 

Let us Pray.

 

Oh God, my Lord. Thank you for this moment. I stand before you my heart raised up. Mold it, make it, shape it, and use it for your will.

 

Lord we open our hearts and our ears so we may hear what you have for us today. Stir up in us a passion for grace and strength for mercy. Decrease me Lord God and hide me behind your cross and let the meditations of all our hearts and the words of my mouth be pleasing unto you, today and always. Amen.

 

I am because you are. You are because I am is a philosophy ground in relationship and reconciliation. It is a way of empowering each of us to recognize the fullest of all people as well as ourselves. This is a perspective that we are as good, as strong, as bad or as weak as the next person.

 

It reminds me of the saying we are only as strong as the weakest link. This phrase is used for sports teams and in organizations where people need to work together to get to the goal, win the trophy, or receive the highest award.

 

But in our daily life we seem to leave this philosophy at the door of our workplace or locker room. We forget all we learned to do so that we could win after the game is over or the work day done.

 

This specific text is one that has two parts and serves as a salvation interlude that happens prior to the opening of the “dreaded 7th seal” The first part, is a heavenly vision of the great multitude. One that exceeds the aforementioned number of the 144,000 promised. But is a testimony that all of God’s children will be gathered today. All believers will stand at the (before the) throne. And the second part in the interpretation of that scene. Very clearly stating that all who believe and endure the trials and tribulations of these days will be gathered at together, in unity at the throne before God.

 

We often have heard that people encounter the risen Christ when they are in their darkest places. When they feel like their backs are up against the wall or they are suffering the greatest pain they have ever known. And have you ever realized how often that very moment of encounter with Christ is accompanied with the presence of another person?

 

Soul to Soul and person to person we are connected and reunited with Christ our Lord. Usually words are not needed, just the companionship and the shared space. It takes real strength to open yourself to share space in this time. Quietness heals. Companionship restores.

 

Today as we recognize the saints that have been called home I contemplate the legacies that have brought us to this very moment and while we could have never been prepared for all that happened during these last few months, that includes this pandemic and the fight for racial equity, we remember the history that our faith community has taught us and gave us in faith through the lives of some of our most revered saints and missionaries.

 

I think of Barbara Farrington, who I did not get to meet personally, but know through the stories that she was available to the young mothers in her neighbor and created a space of nurture and support right in her living room. The children of the women who participated became fast friends and her faith united the community.

 

I think of Mrs. Dora White who had a missionary heart. Starting new ministries in the church to ensure those who were in the shelters always had the bare necessities, developing a relationship with the Open Door Shelter, holding coat drives and start the milk fund. She organized Blood drives and served for years with the United Methodist women. On the day of her funeral, Cornerstone was feeding over 1000 families and the family thought that was the most appropriate day for them the lay their mother to rest. A day when the church would be busy in mission. The joy they felt in the midst of their storm.

 

I think of Susan Maddox, from the day I met her she took me under her wing to show me the town and make sure knew what was in an effort of what she wanted to see come. She and I had many of the same thoughts in what we believed should be happening in the church and how the church should be a mission outpost for the community to be transformed and healed. But in order for that to happen that meant we had to have things in order first.

 

And then Grete Nyrop. Her hospitality was radical. Even though I met her at the end of her life, her passion to show up no matter what is what moves me still today. He would call her stubbornness. I call it her ability to preserve. She would deny her personal and physical comfort to make sure all of us felt as if we belonged and were comforted when we come here. Here ministries were the ushers, greeters and she led the coffee hour. That is a ministry of meeting people where they are.

 

These are examples of Ubunto. I am because you are. This type of faith, these types of ministries are what restore and fulfill when we find we have no where to go and have no clue how we will get through. Listen, Beloved. I am because you are. Your presence here allows me to fulfill my purpose. My presence her allows you to discover yours, allows you the support to answer the call that God has placed in your heart. I am because you Are Ubuntu.

 

As I watch our young people work together during the Sunday school classes I recognized how important it is for your faith, everyone of you, here today to learn who Christ is for you and you first. You see it is your legacy that will be the foundation block of our children and the church to come.

 

I like to say your not to old, not too young but some of you act too busy. As if Christ can wait until you are ready to show up. I challenge you do not be like the maiden waiting for the bridegroom, to busy to make sure their lanterns were full of oil. Leaving their post to refill and missing the chance to see the bridegroom when he comes by.

 

Look at the text from 1 John 3 to be reminded of who we ought to be, “by the love given to us by god we are God’s children. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

 

This is God’s Word.

 

Let us not only be ready, but let us claim our inheritance now not just so that others may come to know Christ through us. But we can better be involved in the game and grand scheme of things.

 

Just like our one vote counts, our very participation in the body of Christ counts. Connecting today to the text from Revelations teach us that as children of God we are being purified through the testing and trials. And on the other side our faith will withstand it all. It matters the journey we take but not because of the circumstance because of who we will become because of it. Those standing around the throne, in robes of white, waving palm branches singing praise songs are those who made it through, those who have come out of a great ordeal. They are the one who endure all things and want for nothing anymore. I am because you are. Now go and be. This is God’s word for God’s people.