But he also makes a statement that we need to remember; one that should affirm our belief in resurrection. Jesus said, "Moses speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
Today, we turn our focus on those who have gone on before us, from this life on to the greater life that awaits all of us someday. Today we remember, not only those special Saints that have been canonized by the church, but also those saints (little "s") who have touched our own lives in very tangible ways. One of my favorite songs growing up in the church was the one we opened with this morning, "I sing a song of the saints of God" . . . This song reminds us that we all go in to make up the body of Christ - we are all saints of God.
We are all sorts of people, we are all different. One congregation described themselves to be "demanding, intelligent, eccentric, crazy, sad, muddled, confused and sometimes part of the holy people of God - but never boring." Paul called all followers of Christ - Saints. It was the term that he used to identify those who had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those of us who try to live according to the teachings of Jesus - we are the saints of God.
The saints of God are people just like you and me. Many of them have gone on to be with Christ in heaven. And those who have had a positive impact on our life, we miss them greatly and we remember them fondly. We are still left here. It is part of the life circle that we all are born, we live, and we die. But those of us who have accepted our Lord Jesus Christ have something more to look forward to. I see God as giving us two promises: In life, God will be with us - and in death, we will be with God.
In this life, we are not promised happiness, riches, health, love, or any other thing that many people desire in this life. The promise we have from God is that regardless of what happens to us, regardless of what state we find ourselves in – God will be there with us! God will be with us – to encourage us, to strengthen us, to comfort us, to fill us, and to love us. That is his promise for our life here on earth. When we are going through tough times – when we are in pain, when we are alone, when we grieve, God is there with us. He is there with us in both the good times and the bad times. He laughs with us, he cries with us, he rejoices with us, he grieves with us. He is there to share with us. We don’t see him, but we can feel his presence. We are never alone.
That’s the first promise and the second is like it… in death, we will be with him. Jesus tells the thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in paradise." A lifelong follower or a last minute conversion, "today you will be with me in paradise." In the first letter of John we hear, “we will be like him – for we will see him as he is.” Even Genesis says that we are made in his image – and that means we will see ourselves as we are – the spirit of God that lives within us. This is the pledge of our inheritance as the family of God - Life everlasting - to be with God in heaven - Saints now and forever.
So today we honor all those who have gone before, all those Saints, who for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ have left their mark on the world. And we know that one day, we will join them in that place "where there is no mourning or crying or pain, for God himself will be with us and he will wipe away every tear from our eyes." Amen.
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