October 26, 2009
Let us hold unswervingly to the HOPE we profess, for the One who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Hebrews 10:23-24

You have to hold on to hope and sometimes it can be a little slippery and requires more grip than our lives can manage. It is for the times when our hold weakens and hope begins to slip away that the writer of Hebrews reminds us that the One who promised is faithful or in other words holds on to hope for us.

God does that without any help from us as the promise does not depend on our ability to hang on but the life, death and resurrection of Christ alone. But I think one of the ways God makes that real for us is to give us to each other. And the way we help each other hold on is to spur one another on to love lived through good deeds. And maybe the best good deed is to hold on to hope for some one whose grip is slipping.

This Sunday is the Feast of All Saints where we will remember and celebrate the lives of those who have helped shaped our faith and now live the goal of theirs. It is also the Sunday where we commit ourselves to the work they began by offering our tithes of spiritual and financial support to the mission and ministry of Calvary Lutheran Church.

It’s appropriate for those to be linked together for it reminds us that this church proclaims a living hope that transcends death. When we gather to celebrate the feast of victory they are joined with us not only in memory but in the mystical body of Christ. They are the great cloud of witnesses that cheer us on to continue the work they began. I’ve been thinking about the saints I’ve known in this place with great fondness and a little melancholy which is usually the way those memories go. We remember something about them that makes us smile or chuckle and in the same moment miss the sound of their voice, the shape of their smile, the comfort of their embrace.

One day we will be remembered in such a way by those whose faith we helped shape. So as you prayerfully consider what God is calling you to do remember that what we pledge on Sunday is really for those who in the future will remember us with great fondness and most likely a little melancholy which is as it should be.
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The writer of Hebrews follows this simple definition of faith with a litany of lives lived within this sure and certain HOPE. The ancients are listed one by one as those who by faith lived in the light of the future promise. The well known listed along side the relatively obscure are all commended for the hardships they faced and the moments of doubt they endured. We have our own litany, grandparents and parents, siblings and friends whose lives were a testimony to us of the hope within. Saints at Calvary come to mind Helen, Gerry, Jess, Norman, Colleen, Ben, Craig, Richard, Tergie are a few of those whose faith helped build this place. It is for their sake and for those who follow us that we are called to pledge our faithfulness for one day our names will be remembered on a litany of love.

There have been two hopes in the Heinze household recently. Lisa and Mary Ruth have been hoping to feel better while Joshua and I have been hoping not to feel as poorly as Lisa and Mary Ruth. But I’m afraid even sleeping on the couch doesn’t help when you share the same air with two germ factories and so I’ve begun to feel a little less like Josh and a little more like Lisa.

This hope that Paul prays for the Ephesians is like that in that it is a contagious hope. The first rise in spiritual temperature is as mysterious as that first sign that you are coming down with something. It starts as a Divine spark in the imagination when through the Word or worship you catch a glimpse of what God is doing in your present and what God will do in the world’s future. It is confirmed and gains strength when two or three catch the same vision and by acts of mercy, kindness and faithfulness begin to infect others until an entire congregation is aglow with the Spirit.

I anticipate this Sunday, the Feast of All Saints, will be such a time, an infectious worship service that will imagine the future glorious inheritance of the saints into our present through liturgy and hymn, word and holy meal and pledges of commitment so that the mission of the church will not only continue but thrive. Together we will infect the world in which we live with HOPE.

This was the theme verse for last year’s mission trip to the community of Aqua Dulce and seems a fitting conclusion to the past six weeks of Hope for the Day. Chapter 12 begins with Paul’s exhortation that the people of God offer themselves as living sacrifices. Rather than conforming to the pattern of the world they are to be transformed by the renewing of their mind.

The renewing of one’s mind begins with joy-filled hope which sees the world not in terms of what is but what will be. The hope is in the promise of God; a guarantee of a life to come that defies description held in trust for us by Christ himself. From the mind set of anticipation comes the strength, courage, determination to patiently endure what is.

This is not some pie in the sky silver lining in every cloud thinking. This is grit your teeth, hunker down, grin and bear it patient endurance. It is hard work plain and simple and calls for day after day faithful prayer. And the mere act of prayer in the face of what we are often called to endure is itself faithful. In the end the only way any of this works is if we share with each other when in need. This Sunday affords us an opportunity to pledge ourselves as living sacrifices as each one determines what gifts of time and money can be contributed to the mission and ministry God has given us. And so we end where we began. I believe God has plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future. So in light of God’s mercy be bold and offer yourselves to the service of God.

I’ve appreciated the response to the hope for the day messages. Many of you have asked me to continue writing so next week I’ll be starting a daily Living the Lectionary. These daily messages will anticipate the lectionary texts for the coming Sunday. On Monday I’ll briefly comment on the Old Testament, on Tuesday the psalm, on Wednesday the epistle, on Thursday the Gospel and Friday will have a concluding comment.

Statement of Our Faith