All Saints Sunday: Six generations around the throne of God.
I
recently attended Bishop’s Convocation—it was a two day event around the topic, “Ministry Across the Generations: From
Infancy through Elderhood.”
The
thrust of the presentations were that for the first time in human history there
are 6 generations all living together, and worshipping together…
and because
of this we as Pastors, and as the Church, need to keep in mind the wide variety
of experiences the people in the pews of different generations have.
At
one point an Older Pastor suggested all the generations are pretty much the
same, saying, “We all learned to read with Dick and Jane Books…”
And
before he could finish his thought, the Associate Pastor of his Church—a
Millennial, responded,
“I
have no clue what a Dick and Jane Book is.”
And
from somewhere in the room came a snide voice, “Our Sunday School Students
don’t know what books are.”
A
wide variety of experiences between the GI
generation and the as yet un-named generation populated by our pre-teens, all of them in our pews.
And
just to get an idea about these 6 generations all here together—
Who
here is under 13? You’re that yet un-named generation who is more
familiar with tablet computers than books.
Who
here is between 14-33? We’re the generation the Media is going gaga
about, we’re Millennials.
Who
here is between 34-49, you’re the generation sandwiched between two
giant generations and are sometimes ignored…
which may suit you
just fine…
you’re GenX.
Who
here is 50-68? You’re the generation currently in charge,
but you’re a
generation consistently suspicious of those in charge, you’re Boomers.
Any 69-87
year olds? Like the GenXers you’re sandwiched between two powerful generations,
but unlike them, you try to bridge the gap between the two of them, you’re the Silent Generation.
Finally,
if you’re between the ages of 88-113, you’re the generation who put
together the rules this world is playing by, you’re the GI Generation.
Six
generations, all together… Six generations worshipping together.
And
on this All Saint’s Sunday, I do
want to celebrate
the saints around the
throne who’ve been
and the saints before
the Lamb who will be.
Those who’ve gone before and those yet to come.
And I
also want to consider the six generations gathered in worship
before the throne of God today.
Six generations around the throne of God.
Let us pray
Six generations around the throne of God.
One
or probably two generations after
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
one John the Revelator was locked up on the
Island of Patmos and wrote an astounding,
visionary, Old Testament laced, letter to the churches of Asia Minor—modern day Turkey.
He
wrote to a generation of Christians facing either explicit state sanctioned terror at the hands of the Emperor Nero, or local
persecution
—you know the
kind—peasants with pitchforks and bigots with nooses.
In addition to threats
to their life, they also likely
experienced threats to their livelihood
—economic
discrimination, the inability to do so much as buy basic goods and services.
And
to that generation, John writes, “You’ve
been through a great ordeal… and God knows it, and cares!”
“Some of you’ve even died, for the sake
of your faith! In heaven your death is redeemed and made into a great baptismal washing, joined to Christ’s
death, and his resurrection too!”
“Your faithfulness in these trying times,
is taken as worship before God in the heavenly temple.”
“And God promises to you that salvation
from all of this is coming…
God promises that your
ongoing faithfulness is like Palm Sunday—you’re entering into the Temple with
Jesus our Savior.
And not only that, those are the same Palm fronds used to build
a Sukkah—the booth used at the festival of booths celebrating the end of the
Exodus
—the end of Slavery in Egypt
—those Palm fronds are telling you just as Pharaoh’s power over
God’s people came to an end, so too has the Emperor’s.”
“God promises that the economic
discrimination you’ve experienced will end—you’ll be fed and your thirst
quenched.”
“God promises you’ll be protected from
those who threaten you.
Though your church leaders may have
fallen, Christ the Good Shepherd has not stopped leading and guiding you.”
“Even as you mourn for your fellows,
who’ve died, in the faith and for the faith, God promises to wipe away every
tear.”
“You might be cut off—away on the Rock of
Patmos like me, or in an isolated Church far from the majority of Christians
—but know that there are innumerable multitudes, from all
places, and I dare sa,y from all times,
here around the throne of God with you, being comforted by God too!”
That
was John’s message to his
Generation—and it should not be lost on ours—on
all of us Six generations around the throne of God.
John
says to the GI generation:
“I hear the sadness in your voice as you
tell me of losing your friends and contemporaries
—of a funeral every week or so.
I note early on you came through a depression and a war,
and you’ve loyally soldiered
on ever since./
God has seen and noted your loyalty,
God was and continues to be with you through the great ordeals
and God holds you in your mourning, wiping away your tears.”
He
says to the Silent Generation:
“You tamed the systems your predecessors
put in place, making them more humane. I see you consciously leaving space for
those who come after you—so much so that your generation never had a president
in the oval office. They call you Silent—your war was said to be the
‘forgotten’ war./
Know this.
God hears you O’ Silent ones.
God also sees your gentleness and your peace-making and your
meekness, for what it is, a blessing.
Follow after the Good Shepherd O’ Sheep, He will make you to lie
down in green pastures and restore your soul.”
He
says to the Boomers:
“You peered into your father’s world and
saw no soul—and so you broke it apart and then looked inward to make sure you
yourself had a soul, and your intensity is here to stay. You are the
wealthiest, most well fed generation in existence, you took leisure and fitness
to stratospheric heights, and yet you
hunger and are restless./
God offers you living water and a true meal, for in God you will
never hunger nor thirst.
“We are restless until we rest in God”—and that rest is offered
to you, with joy—for the Lamb has built a booth for you.”
He
says to GenX:
“I see the scars of your latch-key childhood.
I smell the sizzling cynicism roiling inside you, that comes from a
super-saturation of self-sufficiency.
I’ve heard the soulful wrath
of your Punk, Metal, and Hip-Hop./
God hears your rage for what it is, an angelic chorus calling to
God in a time of need.
God promises to protect you unconditionally, and to never
abandon you.
He
says to the Millennials:
“A 50% divorce rate, your don’t trust
relationships. The 2000 election debacle, you don’t trust politics. 9/11 and
the Roman Catholic sexual abuse revelations, you don’t trust religion. The Iraq
war, you don’t trust your country. The Great Recession just as you went out
into the work world, you don’t trust your own industry. Trust…/
God will lead you by your hand, and I can assure you He is
someone, finally, worthy of your trust.”
He
says to the youngest among us:
“I’ve heard of your screens, your
helicopter parents, being on the go no matter where you go. I gather that your
older brothers and sisters are overshadowing you—you may be a new Silent
Generation—with your fondness of
electronics, perhaps The Muted
Generation?/
I do not know where you are headed, but I do know God will be
faithful to you
—God is your shelter and food,
will quench your thirst and wipe away your tears.
God is your guard and
your guide.
God will see your loyalty even when you despair,
God will redeem your deaths,
And God will transform your lives into the holiest of worship.”
The
six generations around the throne of God, as well as those who came before and
those who will come after, can all attest that:
God
has been faithful,
God is faithful,
and
God will continue to be faithful.
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