I served in a Disciples campus ministry at the University of Georgia for a little while. It was in conversation with the students there one night, that an idea for a screenplay came into being. It was a mashup of something like Twilight with the Walking Dead with the Left Behind series…

The storyline began as a romance between two during a zombie apocalypse. One was bit, infected, and then died - her soul went up to heaven. She watched from above as the zombie force continued to overwhelm the world and, specifically, her beloved. She turned to the angels to ask if God was going to do anything. The angels shrugged their shoulders. She lamented and said “someone should do something!” That’s when one angel pulled her aside and whispered into her ear, “You know, you are free here. You don’t have to stay.”

She turned, walked to the edge of heaven, and stepped down to earth to help her beloved.

We should have developed the idea and submitted it to Hollywood.

It was a fantastic and fantastical conversation. One that was about eschatology and love. One that was somewhat revealing that to talk about one is to talk about the other. Where is everything is going? Is it all about love? What ends and what remains? And what is heaven without our beloved?

I feel like the author of Hebrews might have understood this connection as well.

The addressed congregation was new to the faith. They had found the life-giving graces of the gospel and Christ’s teachings, but there was a question about endings. Early in the tradition, it was thought and imagined that Christ would return as he ascended - in glory to continue the transformation and healing of the world. This had yet to come to pass. And meanwhile, friends and family within the congregation had died and passed on. The congregation wanted an answer, perhaps some certainty. Is there going to be some grand transformation of all things? And when? And what about everyone who has gone before us?

The author responds with mystery.

After moving through the litany of Saints - Abraham, Sarah, Moses, on and on - the author noted this painful irony that while they were faithful, they did not received the whole fulfillment of God’s promises. Abraham and Sarah do not live to see their descendants outnumber the stars. Moses does not enter the land to which he led the people. But they did receive something more…

“Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

”

— Hebrews 11.39-40 & 12.1

What I hear in this conversation about endings is that God is still moving with and within us - that there is some grand transformation still at work. And, there is this gracious imagination of the soul’s journey from life onward - that in some blessed and mysterious way, all souls find a home with God and also remains with us. Until one day when all cross over fully and completely into God - together. This is that “something better” for the dead and for the living.

We are not apart from our beloved.

Perfect unity with God is nothing, the author notes, without unity with us.

Twilight. Romeo and Juliet. Maybe it all goes back to Hebrews.

There’s something more complex here than what culture and the church often present to us about life, death, and what is beyond us. And true, who knows for sure? But there’s something gentle and generous about this… and I think true to our experience - that as it comes to our Saints, there is some measure that remains.

Perhaps it is simply the love that we continue to hold. Perhaps it is the ability of the mind to enhance grateful memory with the senses. Perhaps it is something like a fog surrounding us and perhaps “cloud” was the best word to articulate how they move and what they bring to us, still. Any way, I think there is something blessed here for us to hear as we remember our Saints and Beloved, and as we continue to carry the love and honor our grief.

Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry captures the invitation of Hebrews and more to us through this All Saints Day remembrance:

“People do not pass away.
They die
And then they stay.”

— Naomi Shihab Nye

If you have been told that death is the end. If you have been told that you should be over your grieving and remembering. If you have been told that your experience of the Saints is even something outside of the tradition. This is for you. For us.

The Saints are with God. And still, somehow, they remain with us that we may all be united in God, as one, together.

Blessings in your remembrance and honoring of the Saints.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript of the Sermon, “Cloudgazing”

A couple of notes about the month of November:

We’ll host a Camp Sunday on November 15th.
The Church’s Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, November 15th following worship (all are welcome to attend, share, and vote).
Thanksgiving Sunday will be held on November 22nd.
The Thanksgiving Plunge is Happening!!! Thanksgiving morning, let’s take a dip to raise some money for Kids Weekend Mealz.
Advent begins on November 29th.
Advent devotionals will be available.

In Our Church and Community: