The New England Church Pulpit

New England Congregational Church UCC
Aurora Illinois


"Come, Join the Cloud"
Hebrews 11:29-12:2

August 15, 2004
About two and a half years ago when I was home hobbling around feeling sorry for myself as I was recovering from knee surgery I received a book from my cousin. It was a book about the history of Nixa, Missouri consisting mostly of photographs of the small community where I grew up. I saw faces and read names of people whom I had not thought about in 50 years. Names that did not seem odd to me as a child now made me smile. How about Bussard spelled like the bird; there was Fent Doran, the town druggist (pharmacist sounded too fancy for the Ozarks and was harder to spell anyway). Finis Gold was the town’s biggest booster (and worst barber), the one who got the town to take seriously the fact that in the spring when the fish we called “suckers” came up from the lakes to spawn in the streams that surrounded the town nearly everyone went fishing. So Finis got the town to begin an annual celebration called “Sucker Day” complete with parade, fish fry, and a “Sucker Day Queen.” (Do you put that on your resume?) There was Dr. Victor Wood who came back from the Navy to be the towns first dentist–and was the song leader at my home church. (I remember one Sunday evening in summer when he had to take the visiting evangelist to his office and use his powerful light and instruments to retrieve a moth that had flown into the man’s ear.) There was Jane Faught, the widow lady who lived next door to us and made the best vinegar based cole slaw I have ever eaten. There was Ethel Darr who lived two doors down who raised her two children and then her children’s children–according to my mother. There was Marcella Wood who played the piano and organ at my church and was the mother of the first girl I ever took to the movies. Irene Young was pictured; she was my third grade teacher. Elva Gardner was my third grade Sunday school teacher who was not really a student of the Bible but had the warmest smile and the most infectious laugh which communicated to us children that we were genuinely loved. I realized that I grew up with the assumption that women could do jobs as well as men for there was Juanita Jernigan who ran the family service station (filling station, we called it) and could fix a truck tire as well as any man. Edna Wasson was the postmistress, and Lucille O’Neil was the town clerk, and Thelma Bussard, whose husband was killed in WWII, supported her family as a postal clerk. Reading through that book (and the two published since) was like a tonic. I felt rejuvenated as the names and faces opened memory files long closed.
I tell you this not merely to admit that I am in the nostalgia phase of my life but because I was reminded of those books, and the names, and the faces when I read the part of today’s scripture that says that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. These people were the witnesses of my childhood. There was Ray and Estia Hedgpeth who always encouraged me. There was Bob Neal who put up with a Sunday School class of preteen boys who must have looked bored and rebellious. But he not only talked about the scriptures we were supposed to be studying but also about his experiences on the Burma Road in WWII and what his faith had meant to him in times of peril. There were public school teachers, neighbors, merchants, people who did not belong to my church, people who didn’t go to any church, parents of my friends and friends of my parents. All these were a great cloud of witnesses who participated in nurturing me while I lived in that little town in the Ozarks. I could go on with names of college teachers, mentors and a multitude of encouragers.
Not long ago I was looking in an old church directory from New England trying to put a face with a name. I found myself once again swept into memory as I saw faces of members who have died since I have been here. Pillars of this church and this community who also are part of the cloud of witness we have been surrounded by. Just like the honor roll of the faithful in the 11th chapter of Hebrews these were both ordinary and extraordinary people . Like the many people called by God - the ordinary who would witness to their own understanding of faith.
Last week and this week in the lectionary readings we find ourselves deep into the list of those who were witnesses to the faith. In the book of Hebrews we find a letter written to a community that was struggling with their own faith story and they were anxious about what would come next. Although we do not know the author of this letter we do know that it was written during the time of the persecution of Christians taking place in Rome. If you read the first 10 chapters prior to today’s lesson you will see that the writer was concerned about people getting sloppy about their faith. But then comes chapter 11 known by many because it has the quintessential definition of faith. Listen again to the writer’s words: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” Then we find a list of those who met the criteria- the living breathing witnesses of faith. Our writer names Abraham and Sarah and their heirs, Isaac and Jacob and then here comes the clincher “those who were born from the ancient Sarah- as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” That includes me and you and the people who nurtured me in a little town in Missouri and the people who enabled you to know something about integrity, service, kindness, generosity, hard work and the importance of believing in yourself. Like the people we grew up with, the list in Hebrews are not always the best behaved but they are good people. Stretching out the hands of time we see people over the centuries who somehow communicated the faith to the next generation making sure the stories of faith were repeated. Repeated until they would be remembered. We know that there are many who taught the story of faith who have been forgotten as teachers, but still the story is remembered.
What the writer says after reminding us that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses is “let us run with persistence the race that is set before us.” Did you watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Athens? Perhaps you have watched some of the events already. What does the crowd, the “cloud of witnesses” do? They cheer the runners, the swimmers and the other athletes. They cheer them on to do their best. Isn’t that what that cloud of witnesses we remember did for us? They cheered us on. They encouraged us to explore, think, risk. One of the things I cherish about this church is that it is an encouraging church. Not only do we encourage our youth in their maturing process we encourage each other which includes encouraging each other to question, to be honest and to think. I have noticed that when some have decided that this is not the place for them to practice their faith and have left us we do not get angry with them, but we wish them well and encourage them to find a place that fits their needs and to call on us if they need us. Being a part of the cloud of witnesses, like the crowd at the Olympic events is to be encouragers, to cheer others on.
Sometimes we are cheered on in life by those who cheer us up. You know individuals whom you love to see because they trail joy wherever they go. There are some people like Elva Gardner whose smile is so radiant that you are cheered on by being cheered up.
There are also those in the cloud of witnesses who cheer us on by the example they provide. That example may be of service. One of the features of this church is the example of the various members who serve our community in a variety of ways. They may not be aware that they are in the cloud of witnesses that cheer on others, but they are.
Some cheer us on by their example of how to handle adversity. You doubtless know someone who by the way they have risen above tragedy, have been an encouragement to you. I do. Some of those people are in this room. This room also contains persons who were in the cloud of witnesses for my children.
We support the various ministries we do in this church in part because we want to provide encouragement to our youth so that they will be honest in their faith and will mature with integrity. We want to provide encouragement to the little ones we welcome each Sunday so that they will know that this is a place where they are valued for who they are and where they are loved unconditionally.
Who will be in the cloud of witnesses for all these? Who will be the cloud of witnesses for our community? Who will be the cloud of witnesses for our young people? Who will be in the cloud of witnesses for our children? Will you join the cloud? You will not be alone.
One of the things we celebrate as we gather here week after week is that we are surrounded by stories of work of people other than ourselves. We in this church recognize that there is insight, there is wisdom, there is encouragement in the witnesses that come from other faith traditions both Christian and non-Christian. The words we hear from texts that are sacred to other peoples can be words of encouragement to cheer us on.

Fred Craddock, a preacher and teacher at Emory University, tells of returning to a little church of his childhood in Tennessee. He had not been there in years. Walking into the sanctuary, he noted that they had purchased new stained-glass windows since he had been there. Admiring the windows, he saw set at the bottom of each window the name of the donor of the window. But he recognized none of he names.
“You must have had many new folks join this church since I was a boy,” he said to one of the members. “I don’t recognize a single name.”
“Oh, those people aren’t members here. This town hasn’t grown a bit since you were a child; neither has our church. Those windows came from a company all the way over in Italy. They were made for a church in St. Louis and, when they arrived, none of them would fit. So the company said they were sorry, they would make new windows, and told the church in St. Louis to sell them wherever they could. We bought the windows from them.”
“But don’t you want to remove these names” asked Fred.
“Well, we thought about it. We’re just a little church. Not many of us here, never any new people. So we like to sit here on Sunday morning surrounded by the names of people other than ourselves.”
We too are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Come join the cloud. Amen.

Joe Dunham

Copyright © 2004 by Joe Dunham. All rights reserved.

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