Running In A Cloud

Gordon E. Ellis
Confirmation Sunday
June 3, 2007

RUNNING IN A CLOUD

13 years ago THIS month, my family and I had to face the most difficult CRISIS we had EVER experienced up until that moment. I’ll NEVER forget the way our PEDIATRICIAN couldn’t even look in our EYES as he told us the news that our 13-year old daughter, Lyndsey, had CANCER. Well, that NEWS sent EACH of us in the family REELING emotionally, and we all DEALT with the news in our OWN way. For ME, in the days FOLLOWING her diagnosis, I had a hard time CONCENTRATING on my WORK. I didn’t feel like I was INHABITING my body, but instead, looking IN at myself from the OUTSIDE. It was the STRANGEST feeling.

Well one day, when I was IN such a state, I found myself sitting right up there in the BALCONY of our Meetinghouse. Sometimes I just COME here when I need to be ALONE, or when I’m STRUGGLING with something and need to LISTEN for the voice of God. And AS I sat here, I began looking around at our blue-sky ceiling and tall windows, the ROWS of white-painted pews and the ORGAN pipes and CROSS up front. And suddenly I began thinking about ALL the PRAYERS, and ALL the HOPES, and ALL the FEARS, of ALL the people -- thousands and THOUSANDS of them for almost 200 years -- who have sat in THESE very pews and LIFTED up to God their heartfelt PRAYERS and HOPES, FEARS and DREAMS. And ALL of a sudden, I felt like I wasn’t ALONE in this room! ALL of a sudden, I felt like I was in the PRESENCE of ALL those who had SAT here before me. And it was as if MY prayers were like a cup of WATER being poured into a stream FILLED with ALL the prayers of ALL those people, and being CARRIED up to GOD in a RUSHING current of prayer.

Then I began to IMAGINE that, ALSO in these pews WITH me, were people of FAITH through the AGES. Abraham and SARAH were here; and Moses and Miriam; RUTH and Samuel, David and Elijah; Isaiah and Jeremiah; Peter and JOHN, MARY and Paul; Augustine and St. Theresa; and my teacher and mentor, Henri Nouwen; and COUNTLESS more! There was just a SEA of faces, MOST of whom were UNKNOWN to me, but ALL of them praying for LYNDSEY, and ME, and our FAMILY. It was a POWERFUL moment! And for the FIRST time in my life, I TRULY understood WHY that CLOUD of witnesses mentioned in our Scripture Lesson today is SO important, and SO life-giving!

And they’re NOT just important to us during a time of CRISIS! They’re important to us EVERY day on our journey of FAITH and discipleship. St. Paul says that being a disciple of Jesus is like running a RACE. From Ray Vander Laan, a scholar of the CULTURAL world of the Bible, we learn that, in THOSE days, NOT unlike today, they had huge ARENAS where athletes would COMPETE. But the PURPOSE of sport in those days was NOT to win glory for the ATHLETES, as it is TODAY, but to glorify their GODS, the ROMAN gods. Well, BY the time of Paul and the EARLY church, the EMPEROR of Rome had declared HIMSELF to be DIVINE. In other words, HE was the god of the EMPIRE! In fact, HE was the ruler of the UNIVERSE. And ATHLETES would COMPETE in order to show their ALLEGIANCE to the Emperor, and to bring HIM glory! They would COMPETE as THEIR way of saying that CAESAR, the Emperor of ROME, is their GOD! And Caesar would go to the arenas and WATCH the athletes GLORIFY him by the RACES they RAN (or DROVE, as in the case of CHARIOTS). But it was ALL for the glory of their GOD, the EMPEROR! And SO, these were RELIGIOUS events for them! And the OLYMPICS were the CULMINATION of it all, the high HOLY days!

Well, St. Paul KNEW that people in those days UNDERSTOOD this, so he USED this imagery to TELL people what it MEANT to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And for PAUL, being a follower of Jesus was like being a RUNNER in an arena. It was being like an ATHLETE, running in order to TELL the world, with WORD and DEED, that Jesus CHRIST is LORD and GOD! Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:7, I have fought the good fight (Friends, that’s ARENA language!), I have FINISHED the race (and that’s OLYMPIC language!), and I have KEPT the faith! Yes, for PAUL, the journey of faith is like an OLYMPIC event! And you and ME are Christ’s ATHLETES, His RUNNERS! And SO, WE are called, as BEST we can, to DO and SAY what JESUS would DO and SAY if HE were here in the flesh. AND, we are called to GIVE it our ALL, just like an OLYMPIC athlete – so that we TELL the WORLD who is TRULY the Lord and RULER of the UNIVERSE! And it’s very IMPORTANT that we DO it, because there are so many WANNABE gods COMPETING for people’s ALLEGIANCE today, gods that will only HURT or DESTROY us, or at LEAST keep from having the FULLNESS of life that God envisions for EACH of us. I tell our Confirmation Class: WHATEVER gives your life its MEANING is your GOD. SO, your GOD can be ANYTHING: from money to sports, from family to beauty to education! But watch OUT, because EVERY other god -- except the one TRUE God, the God REVEALED to us in Jesus Christ – is going to let you DOWN. SO, for a CHRISTIAN, our MEANING-GIVER is the God that we MEET, face-to-face, in Jesus Christ! And WE ought to be living our lives in such a way that we glorify THIS God, and TELL the world that THIS God is the one TRUE God. And we do that BEST when OUR values and interactions, OUR words and deeds, REMIND people of JESUS!

However, trying to DO and SAY what JESUS would do and say at any given moment is NO easy task! If you don’t BELIEVE me, just TRY it for a DAY! And YET, like Olympic ATHLETES, WE are called to give it our ALL -- EVERY day. And THAT’S why we NEED that great cloud of witnesses. You see: those HEROES of our faith are like our FANS in the STANDS as we RUN the race of FAITH! They’ve FINISHED the race already! And NOW, they’re cheering US on! LOOK! There’s PETER! And HE’S saying: Come ON! You can DO this! I did it! God gave me what I NEEDED to DO it! And YOU can do it TOO! And there’s David and Ruth and Isaiah, Thomas and John and Mary! And they’re ALL shouting: Come ON! Don’t QUIT! KEEP on RUNNING!

But, do you know what ELSE? ALSO in the STANDS, cheering for us, are the great HEROES -- and by HEROES, I mean those who lived their lives FAITHFULLY and RAN the race of faith the very BEST they could -- but ALSO in stands are the great HEROES of YOUR life and MINE: maybe a PARENT or GRANDPARENT, a TEACHER or MENTOR. When I think of my OWN faith journey AS a RUN around an ARENA, I see in the stands my great GRANDMOTHER, Bertha Ellis, who LOVED me SO much. And she’s SHOUTING: Come ON, Gordon! You can DO this! Keep RUNNING! Just take another step! And I see my teacher, Henri Nouwen, shouting: Keep running, Gordon, keep running! Don’t QUIT! And I see a MULTITUDE of others, who have TOUCHED my life and INSPIRED me in FAITH! And their encouragement MAKES me want to keep on RUNNING and FINISH the race!

Well, WHO is it that YOU see when YOU look around the arena? Well, THESE are the people you need to LOOK to, because THEY are YOUR encouragers! THEY are CHEERING you on! Now, I’m NOT saying that they can SEE you. I don’t think that’s the POINT of it! The POINT is that you’re supposed to picture THEM as your FANS, and ALLOW them to ENCOURAGE you! You’re supposed to HEAR them shouting: RUN! Don’t QUIT! It’s worth EVERY effort you MAKE! Yes, friends: LEARN to HEAR them, ESPECIALLY when the going gets TOUGH and you JUST want to give UP. LEARN to HEAR them when you feel like you WANT to give IN to the TEMPTATIONS of some OTHER god, but a god that will only HURT you or your loved ones in the END! Yes, LEARN to HEAR them encouraging you, because the race of FAITH is LONG and DIFFICULT! And it’s BEST run in a CLOUD, a cloud of witnesses, CHEERING us on, and a cloud that ONE day, by the grace of God, WE will be PART of, because WE will have FINISHED the race! Yes, we TOO will become PART of that GREAT cloud of witnesses for those WE leave behind: our children, grandchildren, students and others.

WELL, friends: if WE want to be PART of that great cloud of witnesses one day, MAYBE we should start NOW. SO, instead of JUDGING, CRITICIZING and UNDERMINING people, maybe we ought to be HELPING others ALONG, and ENCOURAGING them! Maybe we ought to be saying to them: Come ON! I’ll run WITH you! Just keep going! YOU can DO it! And then, when WE’RE having trouble, THEY’LL help US! And THAT’S why being in a COMMUNITY of faith is SO important, and even ESSENTIAL to being a Christian! I’ll tell you, friends, the HARDEST part about being a CHRISTIAN -- and that means GENUINELY trying to LIVE our lives attempting to DO and SAY what JESUS would DO and SAY if HE were here in the flesh -- the HARDEST part in OUR culture, where EVERYTHING is supposed to be EASY, is that it takes SO much EFFORT! It really IS like running in an OLYMPIC event! But I PROMISE you: it WILL be WORTH it! But we ALWAYS have to REMEMBER that it’s much EASIER if we RUN the race of FAITH in a CLOUD! Amen.

(Thanks to Ray Vander Laan’s Faith Lessons, Walk as Jesus Walked: Making Disciples, Zondervan, 2006)