Last week, we considered the first part of chapter 11: that Christ is the foundation of our faith, and the impetus for our actions.  We’ll hear the definition of faith again this week:

Hebrews 11: 1-3, 29–39; 12: 1-2                                                                  8-15-10

Pilgrims’ Guide

One of the delightful things about growing up in a small town is that, wherever you go, “everybody knows your name.”  It’s reassuring to have extra caring eyes and hearts looking out for children who hang out at the library or park, for adults who might need a hand.

It certainly was reassuring for my parents, for, as a child growing up in New Bern,  anywhere I went in town—and I could easily ride my bike from one end of town to the other after school—there were people who knew me.  If I skinned my knee, someone would help.  If I misbehaved, word would get back to my parents or grandparents before I got home.  While I wasn’t so enamored with all those eyes around when I was a teenager, the older I get, the more I appreciate people who make it their business to encourage and look out for others: a cloud of witnesses who watch, and watch out for, other folks.

We need that, don’t we, when there’s danger from forces both seen and unseen—from cars hurtling down the street to disease epidemics, from irrational people to economic instability to the presence of evil in the world.  If we’re realistic, we know our journey though life, despite its many joys, is also fraught with dangers, not unlike the perilous journeys that long-ago pilgrims made to holy places. 

Hebrews is “a letter to pilgrims” according to one New Testament scholar [Robert Jewett.]  Although Christ overcame death and sin, and blazed the trail for us to follow, even so, our journey is often a struggle, just as it was for our spiritual ancestors from Abel to Abraham, Moses to Rahab, nameless other Israelite and Christian faithful.  There is no escape from adversity.  Nor is there escape from people we may not like or approve of.  For the Christian, life is a pilgrimage along a bumpy and sometimes dangerous road, toward an unseen destination, where we trust we will be fully in the presence of God and all the faithful pilgrims who preceded us.

What kept them going?  What will keep us going through sorrow and sickness and disappointments?

Faith, first and foremost: the assurance of things hoped for—the conviction of things unseen, or, as in Clarence Jordan’s translation that we heard last week, the turning of dreams into deeds (that is, turning God’s dreams into deeds that honor God)—and betting your life on the unseen realities.

Faith doesn’t prevent adversity.  Nor does it ensure that we will always do right by God, or by others.  Faith is the first step of our pilgrimage.  Like an athlete’s inborn physical attributes, faith is a gift from God--not something we achieve on our own.  What we can do is make use of the training available and persevere in whatever God calls us to do. 

The other thing that kept our spiritual ancestors going is the encouragement from  remembering their spiritual ancestors and how God worked in their lives.  Scripture tells us faith isn’t an individual matter—it’s about the community of faith past and present and future: Abraham, who journeyed with his extended family and others who joined them along the way; Moses, who traveled with the people in the wilderness; Jesus, who taught his disciples as they traveled through Galilee and into Jerusalem; Paul, who was seldom without companions as he established communities of faith in each place he went.  This community of the faithful—this cloud of witnesses—supported, encouraged, prayed for, cared for one another, and were bound together by their love for God and God’s faithfulness to them.

So it was with sorrow I read last week that author Anne Rice now rejects Christianity, saying, “Today, I quit being a Christian.  I remain committed to Christ as alTways, but not to being ‘Christian” or to being part of Christianity.  It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group.  For ten years, I’ve tried.  I’ve failed.  I’m an outsider.  My conscience will allow nothing else.” 

Strong words.  And Rice is only one of many who leave the church because they see it—and the people in it--fail to live up to Christ’s calling.  And we do, don’t we?  It’s good to have high standards for Christ’s church.  We must try to  live up to him, but we must also realize that the church is its people, and people are never going to be as good as we want to be.  But we who stick with the church keep on trying, along with others who also seek to follow him—imperfect though we are--to witness to Christ’s good news. 

Those saints of old were ordinary imperfect folk, too, who persevered and did great things for God:  Abraham, despite sending his wife Sarah off to join Pharoah’s harem, is the beneficiary of God’s promise—and through him, we are; Moses, despite being awkward of speech and guilty of murder, led the people out of Egypt and to the “verge of Jordan” on the edge of Canaan; Rahab, despite being a prostitute, saved Joshua and his men so they could raise an army to take over Canaan.  Fallible, yes—and heroes, too.  Their faith overtook their faults, and made them open to being used by God.      

The cloud of witnesses isn’t limited to Biblical times.  Look in the vestibule at portraits of former pastors.  Even more, look around you now at this room full of links in the great chain of witnesses.  See those who taught you or your child in Sunday School—those who make a point to welcome you to church—send a card or bring food when you’re sick—sit and cry with you when you grieve—encourage you when you’re down on yourself.  A cloud of witnesses who show up every week, in faith that God will provide what we need to be witnesses for others.  In Christ’s name, you shore each other up when someone falters; model Godly ways to live; help bring out the best in others; practice forgiveness; pray for the concerns of this congregation and for the world.  The church is God’s people past present and future, together, on a pilgrimage through life.  As we go, we plant seeds of hope,  and we witness to the great good news of Christ by the way we live our faith--together.  Along the way, we encounter not only difficulties, but also the many blessings of following our Lord in the good company of a cloud of witnesses.  Thanks be to God for bringing us together!