“The View from the Balcony”

Hebrews 12:1-2, 12-16

November 3, 2002

St. Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John Fleming

It may surprise some of you, others of you who know me a little better it will not surprise at all, that there were some Sunday mornings, when I was very young and growing up, that I got in trouble during my church’s worship service. I was probably three or four years old at the time when that happened. Back in those days, I sat in the pew that had been the home to the Fleming Family for ten years. The pews in that church were curved and there were three sections of them with an aisle that divided the three. Upstairs, there were also three sections of pews, but I did not graduate to those pews until I was in Junior High School. Our pew, the Fleming’s pew, was on the left hand side of the church about ten rows back, near the aisle. Every Sunday I sat in our pew, flanked on one side by my mother and on the other side by my older sister, Emily. Dad was in the choir loft.

I do not mind telling you that back in those days I was squirmer. It was hard for me to sit through the hour worship service. Because I was prone to wiggle, my mother always came prepared. In her purse were the things that were intended to keep me occupied if the twitching began. Mom’s first line of defense was to reach for the little pencil in the pew rack in front of us and the morning’s worship bulletin. On the front of the bulletin was an outlined sketch of the outside of our church. I would take the little pencil and shade in the parts of the church that were not shaded. And when I was finished with that, I would draw all over the rest of the, I am sure, a very well planned out, order of worship.

In those days, I loved that little pencil. Which, by the way, you can find in the pew racks in front of you in our church. But unfortunately, one of my spiritual gifts was not being able to hang on to the pencil. It would make sense for my little fingers to be able to hang on to the little pencil, but for some reason I dropped it more than I hung on to it. By the way, did I mention that our sanctuary had a slant to it from the back to the front and that the floor underneath the pews was a wooden floor. Maybe you can see where this story is heading! We sat ten rows back and if you dropped the pencil just right, then it might roll all the way to the front pew on it’s way to the altar of the church. And when it rolled, everyone around you could hear it. Which was fine when you were singing a loud hymn like O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing but not so good when the preacher was preaching or praying. Can you guess when I dropped the pencil more times than not?

On this Sunday morning that is etched in my mind forever, I had been warned. I had already dropped my pencil twice. My mother told me if I dropped it again, I would be in big trouble. I can remember that our preacher at the time was Jack Henton. Jack read the morning’s scripture lesson, then he asked the church to join him in prayer. It must have been in between the time when the preacher asked us to join him in prayer and the time when the prayer actually started when the little pencil slipped out of my fingers. Friends, I dropped it just right! To me it sounded like an explosion as it rolled all the way to the front of the church. I wanted to keep my head bowed in prayer, but instead I looked up t my mother whose lips were pursed and who had a look on her face that I had seen before. It is a look that I have seen since that morning, too. Before I knew what had happened, my mother had whisked me out of our pew, up the aisle, out the front doors of the sanctuary, around the side of the church and towards the back of our church near the sanctuary. While she whisked me, I prayed, “Dear Lord, I know that you have worship services to attend this morning, but if you could pay me a little attention, my mother is about to kill me.” I am sure that it was there, on the parking lot, that I bargained with God that if He would spare my life, I would be a minister when I grew up.

By now you know that my mother did not kill me. In fact she did something that I will never forget. What she did was better than any sermon that I could have heard and probably better than any one that I have preached. Mom led me to the edge of the parking lot. Next to our church was a nursing home whose front yard was full of soft grass. Mom told me to lie, in the grass on my back. At this point, I was in no position to argue with her. She laid down beside me and she told me to look up at the sky. It was one of those days when the fall sky was full of white, puffy clouds. That Sunday morning, we played the game that I have since played hundreds of times. looking up at the clouds, my mom asked, “John, who do you see in the clouds?” In preparation for today’s sermon, I wanted to play that game again. I tried to do that yesterday, but the all day rain got in my way. Who do you see in the clouds? What do you see in the clouds? I have seen a variety of things through the years, I guess.

In our scripture lesson for this morning, taken from the epistle that we have come to call Hebrews, Paul has a different kind of cloud watching game in mind when he writes, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses...let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us...” Spend a little time with this epistle and you will see that Paul intended his words to be encouraging ones to folks who were new to the faith, but who were thinking about giving up on it. It seemed that there were people who were around them who were being thrown out of the Temple. There were others who were losing their lives for what they now believed in. Others found themselves sitting in jail cells for their new found beliefs. The question that had to keep coming to their mind was this one, “Is it worth this? Is following Jesus really worth all of this?” I don’t know, maybe it was the tug of the familiar and the old and the fear of the new that had these folks wondering about their faith. What I do know is they were considering packing it all in and so Paul urges them on with these words.

We did not read the eleventh chapter of the letter this morning, but if you will go home and do that this afternoon, you will l see what Paul was up to. He mentions name after name of persons who served as examples of faith for them. The list is a powerful one that becomes a mantra. By the end of the chapter, it is a mantra that you will be able to recite. Paul writes, “By faith, Abraham. By faith, Isaac... By faith Moses. By faith the people of God passed through the Red Sea on dry land. By faith.... by faith... by faith....” And then our lesson for this morning, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses...” The witnesses are the folks named and un-named from the eleventh chapter who have gathered in the stadium, up in the bleachers, now watching and cheering us on in the race, that whether we like it or not, we are all in. As the apostle puts this, “....and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us...” Like it or not, you are in the race. and leave it to Paul, the one time athlete, to use such an image. Now imagine this, there you are entering the stadium, by yourself, and you glance to your left and to your right and there sitting in the bleachers are people that you know. Maybe you don’t notice it at first, but then you do. All of the ones sitting in the stands are people whose very presence is a strong influence on you.

Then, having seen the cloud of witnesses, there is some preparation for the race that is coming up. Paul says, “Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” Another version of the Bible translate the verse this way, “...and the sin that so easily entangles.” Paul does not mention what the sin is. I think that he does that on purpose. I think that he leaves it up to us to name the sin, because I think that the sin that clings is different for each of us. I also think that shedding it is a whole lot easier said than done. What sin is the one that trips you up? That is the problem with sin; it trips you up.

Last weekend, Emmit Smith broke Walter Payton’s career rushing record. It’s quite a feat. I can remember a few years ago, on Monday Night Football, the commentators were talking about Walter Payton’s record. They were talking about it with amazement. One of the commentators said, “In his career, Payton has run more than nine miles.” Sometimes I don’t appreciate what sports commentators say. But I like what the next guy said. Listen to his words, “Yeah, and to think that every three or four yards, someone was knocking him down.” Isn’t that good? Do you know what that is like when every three or four yards, someone is knocking you down? Then what does Paul say? He says, “But we look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith.” When you keep your eyes focused on Jesus, things just seem to go better, don’t they? That is what sin will do to you and if it gets the upper hand, then it might even take. You will know this, when we take our eyes off of Jesus amazing things can happen. Just ask Peter. When his eyes were on Jesus, he walked on water when his eyes were elsewhere.... he could only tread water and nearly drowned. You have probably experienced that kind of a feeling. Then the end of our lesson, “Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.”

So what are we supposed to do with these words of scripture this morning on this day that we celebrate as All Saint’s Day? Here is what I think that we are supposed to do with these words. I think that we, too, are to be encouraged by them and to think about those in our own lives who have run the race and now cheer us on. I heard about a group of three park employees who were driving through the park alongside the walk and every few feet they would stop and dig a hole. Then they would get in their truck and drive a little further up the way.

A little while later, another group of workers, would could through and fill in the hole that was just dug. A man watched this happen for a few minutes but his curiosity got the better of him and so he approached the workers who were filling in the holes. He asked them why one group dug the hole and why they were filling in the holes. The worker said, “Oh, well, we’re a tree planting crew. There’s a group that digs the holes, a group that plants the trees, and a group that fills in the holes. It’s just that the planters have today off.” Think about this, who are the people in your lives who have planted you firmly, watered you, watched you grow, and given you deep roots? This church does not have a balcony, but imagine that if we did, up there, sitting there, are the people who are cheering you on. I’d like for you to imagine your own personal balcony full of people who are important to you, who have influenced you and who I am sure now are cheering you on.

Because I am the pastor and the preacher this morning, you’ll have to hear about the ones who planted seeds in my life and who now cheer me on. Upstairs in my balcony is Verlene Humphreys. Verlene worked in the nursery in my home church for over 30 years. When my mother came home from the hospital with me, Verlene came too. She helped my mother with two of her children who were under two years old. When I was a little older, I can remember Verlene saying to me time and time again, “Hello precious. I love you so much.”

It was the first time that I remember anyone calling me precious. For years, Verlene had Christmas evening dinner with my family and when she got sick and needed treatments for cancer, it was my mom who drove her there every week. Verlene Humphreys is in my balcony.

Sitting near her, though they don’t know each other, is Louis Moore, my grandfather. I was twelve years old when he died. He was born on the day that the Presbyterian Church was founded in Conway, Arkansas. I can remember going through his front door, sitting in his lap, and reaching for the butterscotch candy that was always in the pocket of his shirt. Louis Moore is in my balcony, cheering me on.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Do me a favor, church. It is something that I am sure that you have already started doing. Look up in your balcony. Spend a minute or two with your cheering section. I’ll give you time to do that. That is what today is all about. Let us pray.

(I am grateful for the lesson from my mother on the Sunday described in this sermon. It was a wonderful lesson. I am grateful for those who have influenced me and cheered me on in the race that I am in).