When I choose a title for a sermon or a message, I tend to try to pick up on the main theme.  But I don’t know what possessed me to talk about a rear view mirror this time, but that’s the title!  And as it works out, as you do you study, God does help provide at times.  So I found a story this week.  The story is at an auto auction.  And I’ve been to one of those.  And I went with the purpose of purchasing a car, but I want to tell you that I got cold feet and I never bought one.   I just kept saying, “I can’t spend that much” or “I’m afraid to make the final decision”.  Well, the setting of this story is a charity auction.  All of the automobiles have been donated for the purpose of raising money for a charity.  So you can imagine some of the conditions.  They would basically classify the autos as “running” or “no starters”.  And the auctioneer was having fun with it.  One came up on the auction block.  Everyone looked at it with its smashed windshield, the front bumper hanging down and touching the ground, a cockeyed grill, the hood up at an angle not normal and dings and dents all over it with one headlight smashed out.  The auctioneer pointed over at it and said, “Let me read a statement from the current owner.  Be aware, the radio does not work.”  I guess that’s probably the true meaning of caveat emptor—buyer beware.  Maybe the working radio was the deal breaker or not; I don’t know the rest of the story. 

            But I wonder, in thinking about the theme for this week, whether that car had rear view mirrors?  What if it didn’t?  I want us to think about the value of a rear view mirror.  Actually, the best automobile is the one that has three—one up in the windshield on the inside, one on the outside to the left, and one to the right.  Particularly if you are hauling anything behind it becomes even more important. The bigger the rear view mirror goes with the bigger the truck particularly. 

            But what if you had no rear view mirror?  What if you were driving along never looking behind you?  Is it a safe thing to do?  No, it is not.  Is it safe for us to go through life never looking back?  No, it’s not safe nor is it wise.  Today is a time of looking back.  This is our rear view mirror day by the remembrance of those that you see the candles lit for.   But I want you also to think about what it would mean in reverse.  For it would be just as dangerous and foolish to drive only looking in the rear view mirror.  Maybe you have seen some people who have done that one the highway.  Think about what that would mean.  Never a forward glance, never looking ahead to see what might be on the road, always thinking, only viewing what has happened in the past.  Occasionally we should look back. It is wise for us to do so.  To look back and give God the praise and thanksgiving for what has been or maybe for what isn’t any more.  That’s part of the reflection.  To look only in the rear view mirror is dangerous.  To never look back is dangerous. 

            As Christians and as a congregation we can apply this principal to our very lives.  To focus on what has been and not see where God is leading us is a mistake.  That’s the primary reason for today.  For a moment, we’re looking toward the back to the very early days of the church, when those who were faithful to Jesus Christ would follow in the way of Christ and meet head on with the resistance of the world.  Many were martyred.  In the very early days, the faithful would gather around where the person had been killed and offer the remembrance of the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist.  Well, as time went on and more and more and more people died, and of course one generation passed on, it became too cumbersome to meet over every one, so institutionally we organized it into what we call “All Saints Day” or “All Saints Sunday” or “All Saints Weekend”.  Actually November 1^st is All Saints Day officially.  And the first Sunday following becomes All Saints Sunday. 

            All Saints Day—do you know the meaning of Halloween and how it is connected?  The word “Halloween” means the “eve of all saints”.  It is intended to be, in our perspective, for October 31^st to be as holy as November 1.  Well, the Christian church tried to do that.  We tried to take over a pagan holiday just like we did with Easter and Christmas.  We’re fairly successful with Easter and Christmas, discounting secular encroachment or two, particularly Christmas.  But the purpose of All Saints Day was to take what had been a pagan ritual on the eve before, not necessarily satanic but definitely pagan.  We haven’t been quite as successful.  We can’t get away from Halloween being the trick-or-treat emphasis.  But also we have somehow forgotten what it means to recognize our saints.  The eve of All Saints or All Hallows or Halloween—yes, but All Saints Day in our culture and in our country, isn’t as big as it is in other areas.  For example, I read in an article from the Philippines, here’s the quote: “All national roads have been cleared of obstruction in time for this year’s observance of All Saints Day,” says the Department of Public Works and Highways.  That must be a big celebration!  We don’t quite do that here.  Gear it up and spend billions for Halloween and trick-or-treating, and all of a sudden we go silent.  In the Mexican culture and other Latin American and other parts of the world, Día de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead, is a big celebration.  And as morbid as that may sound about the day of the dead, it is really a joyful celebration.  The intention is to remember joyfully those who have died.  A much brighter emphasis on celebrating just as we have intended to do today.  Our intention is to remember with a joy, not just a sorrow.  But belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life.  That’s what Día de los Muertos means. 

            Here at Grace, once a year we set aside our rear view mirror topic and look back with love, with appreciation, with gratitude, with praise and joy to God for what we have had in this life of those loved ones gone before.  In our rear view mirror look, some of those lives though may bring pain and sorrow possibly in their last years or days, difficulty in health, etc.  Jesus’ words in our passage for today from Luke, Chapter 6, Versus 20 -22, as it will be displayed, shares with us the word of hope in part out of the Beatitudes.  When Jesus in Verse 20 looks at His disciples and says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.  Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.  Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.  Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of Me the Son of Man.”  Those are meant to be words of comfort to those who have had a rough life particularly in the last days or years. 

            Yet we also have the warmth of a fondness.  And this moment in time of my life has been one of more reflection because my mother has decided to move from her home of 24 years, 14 of which she spent with Dad.  She is now moving to a retirement community; will be in the near future.  And it’s a very mixed time of feelings for her, I know.  But for me it was more of a warm reflection because we’re going through some old pictures and things like that.  In fact my goal is to create a Christmas calendar for the family members.  Something like this—Mom and Dad, the early years, for Dad was quite a photographer and there’s a good record.  It’s fun and it’s a warm reflection.  I look at Dad and remember those good times when growing up.  But I also sat down some pictures of Dad in his last year when he was frail physically.  But he was never frail in spirit.  Dad never looked in the rear view mirror very much.  A little, from time to time; he would always still look forward most of the time.  Dad looked forward to a hug and telling us, me, that he loved us.  He would say, “I have lived longer than I ever expected.”  He lived to be 82 and thought he would die before the age of 50.  He told me that story many times.  But he said, “It’s been a good life.  A good life with your mother.  It will be even better in the life to come.  See you there.”   

            For me, the following words from Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians is helpful to take a backward glance from time to time but to keep looking forward most of the time.  II Thessalonians, Chapter 1, it says in Verse 3, “We ought always to thank God for you brothers, sisters and rightly so because your faith is growing more and more and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.  Therefore among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.”  Moving on down to Verse 11, “With this in mind we constantly pray for you that our God may count you worthy of His calling and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.  We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in Him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.” 

            All Saints Sunday gives us that opportunity today to look for a moment in the rear view mirror.  Occasionally, for safety of our soul, we need to do so.  But not so much to be reminded of what has been lost but what we find in looking back that will sharpen our days forward.  The consecration of the adult wing this afternoon is based on remembering Sarah Sibert from back in the 20’s and Reverend Bill Early who died just a little over a year ago.  But the purpose is not just to look only at those two in the past, for both of them were future thinkers and doers.  It’s a place for future adults to come, find Christ, be strengthened in their faith.  Jesus reminds us many times in His parables that there is a similar joy in the Kingdom of God when any one who has been lost is found.  And may we consecrate that adult wing for that very purpose, a very forward looking experience.  Indeed, may we not dwell on what has been lost or changed; but more importantly on what we have found and will find.  New life in Christ is the most important finding.  New life now and life to come—not in a morbid way, but in the joy and anticipation.  For us to live life fully now, today, is to have our eyes set on the future.  Not on a prize to be claimed, but a gift to be received. 

            So today the sacrament of communion, Holy Communion, the Eucharist as we call it, gives us a meaningful moment to remember what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  That’s a rear view mirror look so that we might look forward and see God’s presence, God’s great gift for us yet to be.  Amen.

E-mail Comments to: Pastor Bob Coleman

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