Blogging for Sunday: That Great Cloud

It has been several weeks since I have written on this blog. Today in the sermon I shared that I might offer a sermon blog. Tonight seems like a good time to try that out.

Next Sunday is our annual Memorial Sunday. It is the Sunday we remember those of our congregation who have died in the previous year. We call these people our saints. My scripture for Sunday will be from Hebrews 12:1:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us...

What do you see in this oft-quoted scripture? Where does it take you?

Hebrews seems like a dense, hard-to-understand academic treatise. But in truth it was originally written to be read during worship....in other words, a sermon. It was preached to people who were tired. They were tired of trying to follow Jesus in their daily lives. Being a Christian then isn't like being a Christian today. For the most part we can have religious anonymity. If you don't want to tell anyone that you are part of the La Verne Church of the Brethren you don't have to. But these early Christians were doing something counter to their culture. They were making a different religious decision than generations and generations of their families and neighbors. These early followers of the Jesus way were being ridiculed by their own people. They had religious fatigue and many of them were slipping away. The answer wasn't to shame them or to entice them back by having a praise band. Instead the preacher acknowledged the difficulty of the Christian life and invited them to stay in the race for the long haul.

I love the image of the cloud of witnesses because we are talking about one cloud. Our saints aren't a bunch of little clouds. They are part of a great community cloud and they are cheering us on. Tom Long claims this race we are on is a relay race. We aren't each on our own little race. This is a community effort. Our cloud of witnesses may be cheering us on but they need us to keep on running the race that they began.

As you run your race of faithfulness, who is cheering you on? What did they model for you that helps you keep on keeping on?