John 11: 32-45 (links validated 9/11/24a)
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Illustrated Resources from 2018 to 2024
No "Ifs," Only Light
There is a popular story I’m sure generations of pastors have used as a sermon illustration. A little boy stands inside a church nave staring at the stained glass windows depicting various saints and apostles. A Sunday School teacher asks him, “Do you know what a saint is?” The little boy replies, “Sure! The saints are the ones the light shines through.”All Saints (B)(2018)
he time had finally come. I had been dreading this day for weeks but could not put it off any longer. Our old faithful dog, Waco—named for the city where my wife and I met—had suffered long enough. As I drove to the animal hospital, I reflected on the 11 years that had passed since we rescued her. Waco weighed only 20 pounds, but she had at least 100 pounds of personality. She intimidated all the bigger dogs in the neighborhood with her intensity and high-pitched barking, but with our young children, she was always patient and gentle. Now, Waco—struggling to breathe and barely able to rise—needed the final mercy we could offer her. As I drove down the country highway, I lowered the window so she could enjoy the breeze one last time. To my surprise, she rose unsteadily, leaned forward, and extended her nose into the wind. She closed her eyes as her ears flapped back, and a hot stream of tears began running down my cheeks. I was an emotional wreck by the time we arrived. Our veterinarian was an older man who did not typically show much emotion, but on that day he reached out, placed his hand on mine, and assured me that “it was time.” I looked up at him and was startled to see tears in his eyes as well... His tears somehow were comforting to me. Here was a professional who had euthanized thousands of beloved pets, but he was still grieving with me over the loss of our Waco. In that moment, I felt less foolish over my tears and less alone in my sorrow.The Surprise of the Resurrection
Winston Churchill, arguably one of the greatest political and military leaders of the 20th century, planned every detail of his funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He worked clandestinely with cathedral staff, under the code name “Operation-Hope-Not.” (That code name reveals a lot about humanity’s attitude toward death, doesn’t it?) One aspect of his funeral seems absolutely inspired: a bugler played The Last Post, which is like the equivalent of Taps in the United States, from the west end of the cathedral. When the somber notes of that solo bugle echoed through the cathedral, I can imagine the stiff upper lips of many Brits quivered, as they were no longer able to hold back tears. Then a full minute of silence passed. And then, surely a surprise to all those mourners who crowded into St. Paul’s that day, another bugler, this one positioned in the east, rose to play Reveille, the happy morning bugle call that gives soldiers and scouts the “get up and go” they need to kick-start their day. Perhaps after the tears, a few suppressed chuckles slipped out. Always a commanding presence – even from the dead – Churchill relayed two important messages...When Jesus Weeps
When Jesus weeps, he legitimizes human grief. His brokenness in the face of Mary’s sorrow negates all forms of Christian triumphalism that leave no room for lament. Yes, resurrection is around the corner, but in this story, the promise of joy doesn’t cancel out the essential work of grief. When Jesus cries, he assures Mary not only that her beloved brother is worth crying for, but also that she is worth crying with. Through his tears, Jesus calls all of us into the holy vocation of empathy. When Jesus cries, he honors the complexity of our gains and losses, our sorrows and joys. Raising Lazarus would not bring back the past. It would not cancel out the pain of his final illness, the memory of saying goodbye to a life he loved, or the gaping absence his sisters felt when he died...
Illustrated Resources from the Archives
A Time To Cry
("He was a tough old bird. I broke my ankle during scrimmage, and Coach growled; 'Drag him off!' I can't imagine him ever shedding a tear; however, he did produce some great championship football teams...")A Life, a Whole Life, and Nothing But a Life - So Help Us, God!
I saw an e-mail story entitled “Getting to Heaven” -- “I asked my children in my Sunday School class, ‘If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would I get into heaven?’ “’NO!’ the children all answered. “If I cleaned the church everyday, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?’ “Again, the answer was ‘NO!’ “’Well,’ I continued, ‘then how can I get to heaven?’ “In the back of the room, a 5 yr. old by shouted out, ‘You gotta be dead!’” That is one word, at least, about All Saints Sunday: For some things in life, we just got to be dead! We got to remember the dead -- to value the ways they not only “die for us,” as we say, but they live for us!...Weeping with One Eye
("In the slums of Calcutta, India, thousands live on the streets. If they own a ragged blanket to spread over the place where they sleep, they feel lucky. Early each morning trucks come by to pick up the bodies of those who die in the night. Babies are born on the sidewalk and left in cardboard boxes....")I Am the Resurrection And the Life
("In his book The Best is Yet to Be, Henry Durbanville told the story of a man who lay dying and was fearful, even though he was a born-again Christian. He expressed his feelings to his Christian doctor...")Comforting The Miserable
("Max Lucado has written, 'Tears. Those tiny drops of humanity. Those round, wet balls of fluid that tumble from our eyes, creep down our cheeks, and splash on the floor of our hearts.... They are always present at such times. They should be, that's their job. They are miniature messengers; on call twenty-four house a day to substitute for crippled words...")Tears for Living
Eddie was killed last week. He was forty-two years old, and his mom called him a big kid who never grew up. He was a part-time heavy metal roadie, a sometime chef, and full-time party animal. He and a buddy were riding on a motorcycle, and some idiot ran a light, struck them, and drove off. A hit-and-run. I preached his grandmother's funeral about a month ago, so the family asked me to say some words for Eddie...All Saints' Day (B)(2015)
Philip and I went to see the film Suffragette earlier this week. It was a powerful film which followed the lives of some of those who fought for equal rights for women in the early part of the 20th century. They endured imprisonment and force-feeding, but perhaps worse than that many of them found themselves cut off by family and friends. The central character in the film faces losing her marriage and her child because of her involvement in the struggle for the vote – her story was fictional, but based on fact...In Darkness
("She and I were strangers. The only reason we sat next to each other was that our ticket stubs placed us together in the theatre that July day, five years ago. Before the play, we giggled and rejoiced over little things...")Just Another Zombie Tale
In the undead stories I enjoy, Lazarus-like "happy" endings are rare. For Hollywood, the zombie apocalypse is uniformly grim. With television's oddly popular The Walking Dead, the optimistic characters (like wise veterinarian Hershel Greene) and the innocent characters (like Carol's 12-year old daughter Sophia) experience horrific deaths. And while the Brad Pitt blockbuster World War Z concluded with Pitt's movie family intact, and a plan for defeating the zombies, the earth felt far from safe when the credits rolled...Talking to the Dead
This became very real for me a few years after my bone marrow transplant. The most difficult part of that experience was not the actual treatment. The first couple of years after recovery were very tasking. I still had a port line stuck in my chest so that I could receive fluids to prevent dehydration. My hair grew back very slowly and very thin. My feet hurt because of nerve damage. My strength was not nearly what it had been before the transplant. I did not have a permanent job because I was serving as an interim pastor. And I had one daughter in college and one who was soon to be. When I focused on all these issues that were circulating in my life, I had a difficult time dealing with discouragement. Reading did not seem to help very much. My theology books were too abstract and technical. The popular books offered solutions that were too simplistic and trite. They were very self-help oriented and filled with positive thoughts that did nothing to change mine. Fortunately, I was enrolled in a Doctor of Ministry program and the professor recommended that I read a book from the 17th century, The Saints Everlasting Rest. It was written by a Puritan divine to help his congregation to prepare for a good death. You do not hear that type of jargon today. Pastors are suppose to help their parishioners learn how to live not die. They are to teach their people how to live the happy victorious life. Baxter thought differently. He believed that a person could not life faithfully until he or she was prepared to die. The section that really helped me was the chapter entitled “The Excellencies of the Saints Rest.” In the eighth section of the chapter, Baxter expounded upon all of the virtues of our rest. His opening statement alone could be meditated upon for days. “We shall then have joy without sorrow, and rest without weariness.” He then goes on to write about 10 or more things from which we would be delivered because heaven directly excludes all forms of sin...A Sighting of Saints
("These were some of the surviving members of those men we have come to know as the Band of Brothers, Easy Company from the 506th regiment of the Airborne Infantry. We know their story from the book, and the HBO series, but here they were in the flesh and blood")All Sorts of Saints
So look around you at the saints of God sitting here in this church this morning. "But I'm no saint!" I can hear you saying. "I am not worthy of being called a saint. I have made mistakes in my life. I have done things that are wrong." There are all sorts of saints! I think of a young man in North Africa who led a wild life. Even after he decided to become a Christian he refused to be baptised because he still had some sinning to do. "Lord, make me chaste, but not yet!" he prayed. We know him as St. Augustine. His book Confessions provides us with a wonderful account of the search for truth of a sinner who became a great saint. There is the story of John Newton. His life was one of total depravity. He was a slave trader in the West Indies. He caused untold suffering. One day he realized what a terrible life he was living. He turned his heart over to Christ. He wrote a song to celebrate his conversion. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. There is Dorothy Day who has never made it officially into the ranks of the saints of Roman Catholicism. You see! She had a child born out of wedlock. She, more than anyone, knew all the fears and injustices of life – and she did something about them. She couldn't bear to see mothers and children suffering and people working for unjust wages. She wrote about the injustices, and when newspapers wouldn't publish what she wrote she started her own newspaper, The Catholic Worker. She worked tirelessly, giving her life in service to the poor. She was often condemned for putting the gospel into social action. She was called a communist traitor for protesting war and violence. "I don't care what people think of me," she said. "There is only one judge who really matters. God doesn't expect us to succeed. All God asks is that we hang in there, bearing witness, loving, sharing ourselves with those who have no one else. And we can only do it with God's help." God makes saints of all sorts of people...Called to Be Saints
The cult movie, Pow Wow Heaven, is the story of two young Aboriginal men who travel south from Montana together to rescue a friend and sister from a new Mexico jail. One is a handsome, vibrant community organizer ready to conquer the world, advocating political change for his people using whatever means is necessary; the other is the nicest, most easy going person you can imagine, a six foot something hulk of a man, a happy-go-lucky soul without a care in the world. An unlikelier pair of mates is hard to imagine. However, the organizer needs a car. The other has one of sorts--a fifty dollar clunker, his so called “war pony”. Not surprisingly, their styles clash. At one point the organizer snarls at his companion, “With everything bad that happens to us, with impoverishment, sickness, and pain, how do you stay so happy?” The response is simple but profound. “No matter what happens, I always remember that I am a Cheyenne. No one can take that from me.” It resonates a sense of community that comes about only through living as part of that community, through total commitment...A Dead Duck or a Soaring Eagle
("Remember the musical The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy's house was swept up by a horrible cyclone. When her house finally landed in Munchkin City, it landed right on top of an evil witch who had been tormenting the Munchkin people...")The Making of a Saint
Lazarus is raised to live on earth again, with a death still in his future, and with the life of heaven still a promise. Makes you want to run to the ringing promises of Isaiah: 'And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples ... he will swallow up death forever'. That's more like it! Get rid of that shroud! Destroy death forever! That's what we should be hearing on All Saints' Day: a celebration of the Resurrection Life for God's saints, especially for those who have died...Tears Are Our First Words
("Tears are our first words. The beginning way we have of communicating is through tears. Is there anything that gets a baby more attention than tears? Is there anything that can command complete, immediate devotion more than a torrent of tears. Is there anything that can makes adults feel more dismal, daunted, desperate than the wailing of an infant?...")All Saints
("You cannot beat Audrey Hepburn. Whether her accent is quintessentially English, or transatlantic, she is stylish, funny, sexy, intelligent, and she is her own woman. I recently discovered that Sister Barbara thought so, too...")A Second Chance at Life
"Abigail Jones is, today, a healthy baby girl who is, probably going to live a fine, long life. That's not what her mother was told when she was only 30 weeks pregnant (a pregnancy is considered full term at 39 to 40 weeks). A tumor was detected growing in Abigail's brain. The doctors in Florida told Abigail's parents that the tumor would more than likely kill Abigail..."
Other Resources from 2021 to 2023
Resources from the Bookstore
Untie Him
Let me share with you a story, a true story of a young man named Peter Finley. To appreciate his story you have to imagine yourself as nineteen years old, old enough to enjoy very vigorous life, vigorous health, the ability to love. At that age one exults in one's body and strength and powers, rejoices in one's mind and powers. At nineteen many are looking ahead to a successful future and a second year of college. Well, in Peter's case this whole dream was somewhat shattered when it was discovered that he had leukemia. For three years, this nineteen-year-old man suffered a terrible battle with the deadly disease. And finally, he received a bone marrow transplant, and he wrote these words which I'd like to share with you: "It seemed that I triumphed physically and spiritually over my disease, and that life in abundance was to be my reward." Well, he was exhausted by the ordeal, of course, but strength returned slowly every day, and this gives a clue to why. It was not just because of the triumph of medicine. But listen once more to what Peter said: "I believed then that the combination of my will to live and the intense love poured forth by the members of my church and by many others have brought about a miracle and that I was finally cured.'...(from Telling Stories, Compelling Stories)
Currently Unavailable
Big Sisters
the woman that I relate to and who inspires me most is Blessed Julian of Norwich. Imagine how bare, how stark, how cramped and cold it was to live in a nun’s cell in 14th Century England. Yet she lived there in glory with her constant companion… Her Loving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As she summed up her relationship with God: In you alone, I have everything. She recorded the full dimensions of her life in Christ in Revelations of Love… the very first book published in English by a woman. Among her reflections on God’s love, she wrote: God loved us before he made us, and his love has never diminished and never shall… The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love. And that is how she lived… humbly, gladly, confidently in God’s love...