¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.”
  “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.” 

It was just over thirty years ago that Emma Gay revised her manuscript about these Sanctuary Windows.  I am not sure how many copies of her work were distributed, but it has been of great assistance to me as I have sought to tell the stories in the windows.  In her forward, Mrs. Gay wrote, “My idea was to bring them alive for the children in the Sunday School class and Children’s Department so they would understand and love them and know they too were ‘sermons’ for us who worship here.” She pointed out that Immanuel, God with us, is the thread running through the Bible and through this sanctuary as well.  She cited the pointed arches with the open Bible at their base as symbolic of our aspirations and striving toward spiritual growth. 

The windows are the stories of Jesus from his birth on the southeast side to his resurrection on the southwest side.  The stories in these windows as well as the Rose Window have been told in earlier sermons available on our website in the 2008 and 2009 sermon archives.  Over the next four weeks we will conclude the telling of the stories in the windows by focusing on the beautiful windows that I get to see every Sunday, but that many of you may have never noticed.  Way in the back of the balcony is a magnificent group of three tall windows, simply referred to as, “The Trinity Windows”.  We will begin looking at these next Sunday.  Today, I want to tell the story of the Community of Faith Windows.  These are windows that tell our story – the story of the people of God.  They are actually in two places.  One is a pair of windows in the east side of the narthex and the other is a trio of windows on the east side of the balcony.

The narthex windows are dedicated in memory of Ellue Turner.  Mr. Turner was a young construction worker who died building this sanctuary. He was raising an iron pipe when the pipe came in contact with an electric line.  He was killed instantly.  Nearly 60 years later that incident still stings.  I wish I could make a noble statement of this man giving his life for the building of this sanctuary, but the truth is he died in an accident.  Sadly, every year in this community young people die in accidents.  It is impossible to have tens of thousands of students within a mile of this sanctuary and not be touched by the tragic reality of a life cut short.  These windows not only remind me of Ellue Turner, but also of so many young people to whom we have had to say good-bye too soon.

The second set of windows, the ones on the east side of the balcony, was placed there through a loving gift from the second pastor of this church and his wife.  The Reverend and Mrs. Jesse C. Thompson served this congregation from 1924 – 1932. We are grateful for the vision of Pastor Ramsey in Bryan who seeded this church with its first $500 in1919 and to the zeal of King Vivion who provided the leadership to organize us into a congregation in 1923.  However, without the pastoral ability and heart of Jesse Thompson we would have simply been a church with a beginning and not much more.  Jesse and Clara Thompson began to build on the foundation of Pastor Vivion, and we continue to build on their efforts today.

We do owe a lot to Ellue Turner and Reverend and Mrs. Thompson.  In their own way they helped to build this church and their memory is kept alive through the stories in these windows. The physical characteristics of these windows follow the predominant themes of the windows in this sanctuary.  They are translucent windows described beautifully by Emma Gay who wrote, “Light passes through these windows in muted shimmering grays.”  Translucent is a curious word.  Simply defined it means that light passes through it, but is translated by the characteristic of the window.  Transparent glass has little character.  In fact, I have seen glass so transparent that I have walked right into it.  That has never happened with translucent glass.

So I started thinking about this verse in Revelation that Lindsay read.  Just one verse and realize that our lives are meant to be translucent.  The Light of the World passes through us, but is translated through our individual characteristics.  Of course, how we translate that light has a huge impact on the community of faith and on the world.

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

In this one verse John assured his readers that faithfulness matters.
 

The Faithful Life Believes it is Blessed Life

There are seven beatitudes peppered throughout the book of Revelation.  This is the second one.  The first one is in first chapter and the last one is in the last chapter.  They all have to do with those who live faithful lives: obeying the Word of the Lord, watching for the Lord, being invited to the Lord’s Marriage Supper (of which we receive the first course today), and washing their robes in the grace of God.  Producing grace filled, faithful lives is a main objective of this often confusing book of Revelation.  This verse is encouraging followers of Christ to persevere in the face of persecution.  Emperor worship was being imposed upon all who resided within the bounds of the Roman Empire.  They could either align with this idolatry and be branded as a devotee or they could remain true to their faith and be tortured and killed.  Those who refused to submit to this type of coercion were called, blessed.  The voice spoke as a teacher in the middle of a lecture, “Write this.”  It must have been something important, something that one must not forget, “Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.”  That word, blessed, is translated by Sophie Laws, a New Testament scholar, “to be in the best possible situation in life.”  That means if one is forced to choose between comfort and Christ; apostasy and death, the better choice is always Christ.

We don’t usually have a choice that is so clear and dramatic, but that doesn’t mean we are not faced with parallel decisions.  We generally know the blessed way.  When we have a great story about someone, the telling of which could be considered damaging gossip, we know the blessed way.  When there is an opportunity to invite someone to church with you or to share your faith with them, but that might feel uncomfortable or even embarrassing, we know the blessed way.  When the waitress brings you the check and forgot to charge you for the iced tea that you drank, you generally know the blessed way.  We are confronted with choices for Christ every single day.  It is doubtful that we will be called upon to die to for your faith, but we are often called to live for our faith and to live it out in the moments that may seem the least significant.  I like that word, blessed, and I want it to be used to describe my life in Christ.  Faithfulness matters.  The faithful life believes it is blessed.
 

The Faithful Life Receives Rest

The Holy Spirit speaks; surprisingly this does not happen a lot in Revelation, outside of the letters to the seven churches in chapters two and three.  However, here the Spirit speaks and assures the faithful rest from their labors.  Again, the labor to which John referred is not your typical labor.  Leon Morris wrote in his commentary that this is sometimes merely pain, it is “laboring to the point of weariness”. Those who faced persecution day in and day out were tired.  Some of this weariness was probably due to the physical pain that they endured, having been treated as bad (or even worse) as those in concentration camps during World War II.  Some of the weariness was also produced by the pessimism that would creep into their souls when looking at their world.  Godlessness seemed to win the day.  This was Elijah’s weariness in I Kings 19.  It was John Coffey’s weariness expressed in, “The Green Mile”.  I saw this movie advertised on television during the holiday season and remembered the scene where the falsely accused prisoner looked at his friendly guard and assured him that he was ready for his rest.  He said to him, “I’m tired, boss. I’m tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain…Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other.  I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day.  There’s too much of it.  It’s like pieces of glass in my head…all the time.  Can you understand?”  I can imagine the people of John’s day being tired, weary, but instead of telling people to give up, the Spirit encouraged people to hold on.  Rest would be their reward.  Faithfulness matters.  The faithful life believes it is blessed and receives rest.
 

The Faithful Life Leaves a Legacy

The Spirit continued to speak stating that their deeds follow them.  Robert Mounce wrote in his commentary about this promise, “There is no separation between who a person is and what that person does.”  So those who were faithful to the point of death had their faithfulness to God and kindness to others follow them.  It was easy for the reader to wonder what difference their faithfulness would really make.  They could have easily been like the song writer from years ago who wrote, “I work my fingers to the bones and what do I get? Another day older and deeper in debt.”  Sometimes life can seem insignificant, as if what you are doing doesn’t make that much difference one way or the other.  But the message here is clear – faithfulness matters.

I think this is what Paul was trying to say in I Corinthians 15:58 when he wrote, “Therefore, my beloved, stand firm let nothing move you, always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”  Whether in daily life or at the point of death – faithfulness matters.

So as you walk by all these windows of which Emma Gay wrote, “Light passes through these windows in muted shimmering grays,” remember Ellue Turner and Reverend Jesse and Mrs. Clara Thompson.  Each of them really did give their life to building this church.  Remember that your life is a translucent window through which the light of Christ shines every day.  Today is a day of fresh starts.  It is a new year and we get to begin at this table of fresh starts.  Forgiveness and divine encouragement can be experienced at this table.  Commit your life to be one through which Christ’s light shines.  Commit this year, this new decade, to be one of faithfulness, because faithfulness matters.  Amen.