Sermon 6th November 2016, job 19:23-27a and Luke 20:27-38.
When people die, after we have dealt with all the formalities we are left asking the
question, will our loved ones meet up with those that have gone before us? No one really
knows the answer to this question. For the majority of Christian people we accept that
sometimes there is no acceptable answer to the question we pose. There are those who
believe that they can communicate with the dead and they would say that we do meet our
loved ones. If this is the case, then if we have been married more than once the question
posed to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading is still relevant today. For those that have been
happily married they may long to be reunited with their earthly partners. This may happen,
but has with everything there are no guarantees in life. For those who have been married
more than once, they may wish to be reunited with only one of their former partners; if this
is the case do they get to choose which one or does God just assign them the person they
will remain with for eternity. Jesus could have gotten into deep debate about the answer to
this question. He didn’t, he simply said there is no need for marriage in heaven. In fact he
was chastising the Sadducees for focusing on earthly things and by doing this implying that
they wanted to have some say when they reached the heavenly kingdom. What they and
sometimes we forget is that heaven will be different to how things are on earth. We also
forget that we do not need to worry about what is going to happen after we die, God will
sort that out for us. What we need to focus on is how we are behaving to one another in
this life, how to we treat our neighbours and those we dislike. If we get it right in the here
and now then when we get to heaven God will take care of us. Suffering will end and we will
be restored to full health and we will meet up with our loved ones who have gone before
us. We do not need to worry about the how and why, we just need to focus on the here and
now, and asking how we can make life better for others. What we can say with all honesty,
is that once we have been baptised into the family of God, we can be sure of having eternal
life.
Today we are Baptising Charlie and later on at 12 o’clock Theodore into God’s family. They
may never set foot inside a church again after today, unless they are attending a wedding,
funeral or Baptism, three occasions when people turn to the church for help and guidance.
This does not mean that they are lost to Christ or that their Baptisms are pointless. It means
that we at St John’s are accepting them as part of our church family that we will be here for
them whenever they need us. They may never need us and that’s fine, but God will continue
to love them and watch over them just as he does all his family. Whether we believe in God
or not he believes in us, he suffers with us and rejoices with us. He will end our pain and
suffering at the end of our days. I ask two things of our parents and Godparents today,
whether you believe in God or not, firstly please take your promises seriously and secondly
make sure you help raise Charlie and Theodore to be caring and loving members of the
community they live in. Help them to respect the elderly in our community and to live
alongside people of different colours, cultures and faiths. Help them to understand that it is
okay to be different and that we do not have to agree with others all the time, but that
when we do disagree we are always mindful of other people’s feelings and the hurt we can
cause, even when we don’t mean too. Help them to build a better and caring society for
future generations. This is all God requires of us, that we care for all of humanity and
everything that he created.
Amen