Come face to face with God.
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.
After my awaking, he will raise me up;
and in my body I shall see God.
I myself shall see, and my eyes behold him
who is my friend and not a stranger.
If those words sound familiar, they should. And not just because you just heard a very similar translation of them a few minutes ago. This more poetic, and I think better, translation of Job 19:25-27a is in our Book of Common Prayer in the opening anthem of the Burial of the Dead.
It may - should - also be familiar in a much deeper way. Job is old. Scholars think it is not only the oldest book in the Bible but may well be the oldest piece of literature that we have.
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You are chosen for a purpose.
All Saints’ Sunday looks, feels and sounds like a retirement party. We traditionally sing hymn 287, as we have this morning, “For all the saints, who from their labors rest…” We think about the saints as those who have gone before, which is a very big deal in our tradition. We honor those great leaders of the faith, in scripture and across the ages, who have borne witness to God and to Jesus Christ, the men and women whose stories, writings and examples have spoken to the depth of our souls and inspired us. Many of them surround us in our stained glass because they are a really big deal. That glass was expensive to create. Now it is almost irreplaceable.
And our hearts turn to those much closer to home, family and friends, mentors and teachers who shaped and influenced us. Among them are those we remember in our memorial garden, whose names are cast in bronze along our chapel wall and those in our parish family whose remains were laid to rest elsewhere. Let us remember those who have died since last year’s All Saints’ Sunday. I share this list knowing the weight of grief that many of you continue to bear. Your church family is here to comfort you.
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Run your race, by his grace.
Two of our sons, Philip and Sam, ran cross country in high school. They were 4 years apart in school, so we had 8 straight years of cross country meets in the fall. And we loved that.
Cross country is an excellent sport. First, everyone makes the team. There are unlimited spots. There are serious runners, runners getting in shape for another sport, kids trying to see if they like it and kids who have never done any kind of sport but they are hoping to get in better physical shape. And while technique and form matter, as long as you can run, you can be on the team.
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