So Great a High Priest: Good News from the Letter of Hebrews. Part 5: So Great a Cloud of Witnesses

It was the end of summer 2005, I was a student pastor serving 3 churches in Chambersburg, PA and my mentoring pastor asked me to preach at his church. It was First Chambersburg, and this would be my first time to preach to a large crowd. At that time, they averaged around 450 between the three services they had. I don’t remember the specifics of the sermon, but what I do remember was after the service was over, Rev. Bill Brown, an elder of our conference, came up to me, shook my hand, and said “Jenn, I baptized your mom when she was a baby, and I knew your family well. I can tell you they , as part of the communion of saints, are beaming down on you. Oh Jenn, I can just see them!” That was and continues to be my favorite compliment I ever got, and to be honest the best, especially when we look at this passage from Hebrews and understand what the communion of saints can and should mean to us.

As we continue our study of the book of Hebrews, we’ve looked at Jesus as the great high priest, higher than the prophets and angels, whose words and way engage us in the practices that renew our faith and community, assuring us of our salvation.

And so today we began with the definition of faith Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, and then we heard the story of what that faith looks like from creation to covenant to the new covenant.

So let’s break those stories down to learn more about this faith. 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. The author of this letter wants us to remember that the God who created us, created us for a purpose. It wasn’t like one day God was bored and thought I’ll create the world. No, the creation story is written in our Bible to remind us God is our creator, who makes things good, and blesses us to care for this good creation. And Hebrews says we see that played out with the characters we know in the Bible. Like Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, who was killed by his brother, Cain. ⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. 

What the author is getting at is Abel had a faith and understanding of God that Cain did not, and even though Abel was killed out of jealously for that approval, his death was not in vain. We recall him, we remember him, we know of his faith, that is a powerful witness.

Verse 5,  ⁵ By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death, and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.”

In Genesis 5 we read of the generations from Adam to Noah. And in verse 21 we read: ²¹ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Enoch walked faithfully with God, or as the author of Hebrews claims “he had pleased God” and so because of his faith, he therefore escaped death.

Now let’s recap: so far we learned that to have faith is to please God like Abel and even  come out on the other side of death, like Enoch..

Next we come to father Abraham. ⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. Abraham, the author claims, built a life of faith. Think about it, God called him, and he went. Where was he going? He didn’t know. What was God up to? He didn’t know, but he believed and trusted in God and he wanted to be part of what God was doing. So the author of Hebrews is teaching us that faith is not a general religious attitude to life, and its not believing in the impossible for the sake of it. No, faith is when you believe that what God is doing is best and you recognize that will be bigger than yourself.  Bet you haven’t heard that definition of faith before, have you? Let me repeat that: faith is when you believe that what God is doing is best and you recognize that will be bigger than yourself. Meaning faith isn’t about “what’s in it for me?” It’s not a business transaction, it’s the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

Listen to verse 13 again: ¹³ All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. …¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.

 ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them. The author of Hebrews is revealing that the Old Testament patriarchs and matriarchs were not just looking for their own wellbeing, and not just a homeland, but for something in the future beyond the present life. They wanted to be a part of God’s work and purposes.

You know one of my favorite stories about the history of this church is how the original building was located on Park Ave, a few blocks from here.

But they outgrew their building. This picture is the Sunday school of 1918, they had 281 in their Sunday School.

Here is the congregation that same year. 

They couldn’t all fit in, so what did they do?

The people of this congregation knew that the type of building they needed would look like this:

And in order to get that, a number of members from the church, remortgaged their homes in order to build this church. And why did they do it? Do you think it was so they could point to it and tell the people around them they helped to build it? No, it was a sign of their faith, that is believing in what God was doing was best and they recognized that was bigger than their own lives, families, and yes, even their homes.

Today, those people are the communion of saints watching over us, cheering us on, loving that we are here to grow in our faith and understanding.

And so First Hershey United Methodist Church of 2024, what is faith leading you to do? What is it that God is up to and you want to support? Because as we prepare to celebrate holy communion with the saints, and as we get ready to offer prayers for the saints, don’t we call them saints because we see how their faith pointed beyond themselves, to the God of creation, the God of the covenant with Abraham, the God of the new covenant in Jesus Christ? People like Jean Bomgardner, Carole Faidley, Harry Heath,  Paula Hess, Margery Kokal , Richard Vickroy, Betty Zeiger, and Barbara Zimmerman Each of them had faith, faith in what God had done and is doing, and each of them left a mark in the history of this church, and in our lives.

You have names too. Loved ones that lived by faith, and would want you to live by faith too. That’s why when we go to our time of prayer, I will offer you an opportunity to say their names out loud, because they should be lifted, they should be praised.

In Habakuk 2:4  we read “the righteous shall live by faith”, it was so for them, church, may it be so for us. Let us pray:

Ever living God, this day revives in us memories of loved ones who are no longer with us.

What happiness we shared  when they walked among us. What joy, when, loving and being loved, we lived our lives together. Their memory is a blessing for ever.

Months or years may have passed, and still we feel near to them. Our hearts yearn for them. Though the bitter grief has softened, a duller pain abides; for the place where once they stood is empty now. The links of life are broken, but the links of love and longing cannot break as their souls are bound up in ours forever.

We see them now with the eye of memory, their faults forgiven, their virtues grown larger. So does goodness live, and weakness fade from sight. We remember them with gratitude and bless their names.

We bless those our church family has lost this past year: Jean Bomgardner , Carol Faidley, Harry Heath, Paula Hess, Margery Kokal , Richard Vickroy, Betty Zeiger, and Barbara Zimmerman. And we bless those named out loud by the this congregation or lifted silently in our hearts: Congregational naming of the saints….

We give you thanks, Lord, that they now live with you in the heavenly city and as a great crowd of witnesses, they surround us with their blessings, therefore we join them this day to offer you hymns of praise and thanksgiving, for you are our God, and we are your people now and for ever more. Amen.