First Baptist Church on Littleton Common    

Memory, Hope and Tears

John 11:32-44

Rev. 21: 1-6

Today is All Saints Day, a day in the life of the church that is set aside to remember the saints

who have graced our lives, worked here on earth for the Kingdom of God, inspired, touched our hearts and loved us.   We remember, sometimes with tears and a twinge of sadness, those church members that we have lost this past year: Christine MacFarlane, Ralph Lang, Lee Sparks, Jo Adam, Kaarlo Manni, and Thelma Atkinson.  We also remember those whom we have lost previously but have not forgotten.  We are a people of memory.  

Not wanting to forget those we have lost, we hold on to their memories in our hearts and in our minds.   We remember the characteristics of their personalities and the way they lived their life.  In order to give honor to that life – we may strive to emulate them.  If they were a person with great faith or great optimism – we may try to strengthen our own faith and sense of optimism as well.  We remember and sometimes with tears.  Not all our memories are good ones and we turn those painful past experiences, also at times accompanied by tears, over to God who brings us healing.  Those whom we remember this day were our husbands and wives, our children, our moms and our dads, grandparents, cousins, neighbors and our friends. Blessings upon those who have graced our lives. 

The story of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha is one of the texts for All Saints Day and it is a story that celebrates close relationships, as well as a story of tears, loss, grieving, faith and hope. 

Lazarus had been dead 4 days when Jesus finally arrives in the village of Bethany. First Martha comes to meet him, and then Mary runs towards him, falling to her knees weeping for the loss of her brother.  The others who were with Mary were weeping as well.   The text tell us that Jesus was so deeply moved in his spirit and so troubled that he wept.  He was moved inside because of the loss of his friend, as well as the deep sadness he saw and felt within Mary and Martha.  A gut wrenching emotion came from within him like an earthquake with deep rumbling tremors.  Jesus wept.  The tears flowed freely from his eyes, so much so that those around him commented on his love for Lazarus.

“See how he loved him!" said the crowd. 

There was a lot of crying going on, but those tears represented a great deal of love amongst this family and these friends.   It is a story of relationships and community. Jesus then goes to the tomb, and despite Martha’s very practical worry about the smell of the body, calls Lazarus out of the cave. The dead man comes out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.   Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Lazarus receives another chance to live.  This is another chance for this family and these friends to be together, to talk, to laugh and to live.  Another chance – this is what happens when you overcome death and encounter hope. 

Now we would all love to have that opportunity to have one more conversation – maybe a time to set things straight – time for one more story shared – one more laugh – one more hug –or maybe we need words of reconciliation and forgiveness with someone and we wish we could have another day.  But the reality is that Jesus isn’t around in human form to resurrect anyone.  But we still can overcome the deep sadness of death by embracing the hope that we have with Jesus.  With Jesus in our lives, we can encounter death and live forward with hope.    

Memories can also keep us moving and point us towards the future.  Memories shape who we are today, and point us towards the future because we are a people of hope.    

I heard Peter Gomes preach a wonderful sermon in Ocean Park a few summers ago. He quoted Josiah Royce who said that the beloved community is a community of memory and hope.  He points out that memorials and memories help us to look back but also points us forward.   He said that if we only looked back on things – we would be a just a community of nostalgia – but memory really shapes who we are right now – memories are part of who all of us are and that shapes us today, points us towards the future and fills us with hope. 

The text from Revelation 21 is a passage of hope and points us towards the future.   It tells us in very mysterious language about what we might expect in the future, when we are finally in the presence of the Holy One.  The author says;

We will see a new heaven and a new earth – the old will have passed away.

There will be a New Jerusalem and God will dwell with us and amongst us and love us.

There will be no more crying or loneliness and no more death – every tear that you have shed for loneliness, anxiety and the unknown – will be wiped away from your eyes.  There will be no more pain and the Holy One will reveal all to us with new eyes.

God is the Alpha and the Omega

And God is both the beginning and the end.  

God is the Alpha and the Omega. Both the beginning and the end.  We have our beginning in God – for it is God who creates us and we return to God.  David Cunningham reminds us that the creation stories explain our beginning and our roots, which are in God.  They are known as etiologies. Then there are stories of destination which try to explain where we are headed.  They are known as eschatologies.  And Cunningham rightly reminds us that “Christians believe that we are headed somewhere in particular: we are headed back to God.”[1]   We begin in God and it is to God whom we return. 

This gives us the hope that there is something more.  And in that returning to God there will be no more crying, no more loneliness, no more death and that all the tears will be wiped away from our eyes.  

Psalm 126 echoes that when the Psalmist says;

 Those who sow in tears
       will reap with songs of joy.

 ⁶ Those who go out weeping,
       carrying seed to sow,
       will return with songs of joy,
       carrying sheaves with them.

We can choose to live with a large measure of hope because we believe that our tears will turn into songs of joy. 

Our tears - we often cry a river of tears.  We think that when we cry our tears are a sign of weakness and that we should hold it all together.  But trying to live out all those “shoulds” sure does get exhausting sometimes.   We try to hold our emotions and our tears inside of us – but tears can be a release.  I was in a group this past week where two people felt safe enough to share their hurts that were accompanied by deep tears of loneliness, exhaustion and longing.  But they released those tears in a safe place, and were embraced with love by those who were listening.   In the book The Shack, which we gathered to talk about together, the Holy Spirit collects tears.  Towards the end of the book we learn why when God says, “Don’t ever discount the wonder of your tears.  They can be healing waters and a stream of joy. Sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak.” [2]

It seems to me that the tears in the Biblical story and in our stories – reflect deep relationships with other children of God.  Today we remember the people in our lives with whom we had those relationships.   But we always remember the relationship that we have with God the Creator, Jesus the Savior and the Holy Spirit our Comforter.  Together they will catch our tears and turn them into songs of joy.  Together as a community of faith we can catch one another’s tears, by remembering who walks by our side. 

We are a community of memory and hope.  

Today is communion Sunday where we come together at the Table of the Lord to partake of the Lord’s Supper.  We share this meal together.  Together we can bring our memories to Jesus Christ.   This is meal of memory and of hope.

The table is set and there is a place set just for you.

Amen    

Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard