Last week's fires brought back memories of when our farm home burned on a chilling October Sunday night in 1957.  It had been a wet and dreary fall, and Dad had done something he'd never done before - he'd worked in the fields on Sunday.  He wanted to finish combining a small field before it snowed, so he went against his personal rule of never working in the field on a Sunday.  And that night our house caught fire.  I guess it's not good to break a pledge you've made to the Lord!

          We had an old house and the fire started in worn electrical lines in the basement.  The dense smoke would have smothered us all had not Mom awoke and cried out.  Dad covered her head with a towel and took her down the stairs and my brother and I climbed out a window and jumped off the porch.  The house didn't burn completely, but the smell was around for months and its memories for a lifetime.  In recalling that night I remember the sound of my mother's cries as she saw flames burn through the roof.

          It's always good to remember our loved ones who are gone.  The people of my parent's generation had personalities so very unique.  Uncle Karl bragged a lot and Uncle Ernest drank a lot.  Aunt Marie often cried, and Aunt Emma often griped.  Mom was always smiling but Aunt Esther never did, and Harvey Olson never stopped talking but Uncle Paul sat there in silence.  Some were poor and others had money, but all got along which was good because they all attended the same church.  Looking back, we see now how each one left an imprint on us.  But now they are all gone, the old ones of our family, and now I am one of the old ones, and my children and their cousins are being imprinted with the personalities of my generation.

          It's All Saints Sunday.  A saint is someone made holy by God's grace through faith in Jesus, whether living or deceased.  All Saints Day has been around since 720 AD, when Pope Gregory III designated November 1 to commemorate all the saints at the same time.  On October 31, 1667, 150 years after Luther posted his 95 Theses, Duke John George II of Saxony re-designated November 1 as the day to remember all the faithful departed, not just saints of the church.

          All Saints Day was also called "All Hallows Day", the day after "All Hallows Eve," or Halloween as we know it.  Halloween was celebrated in the past much like we do today.  When Luther went to post his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, it's likely some people were getting ready to go about as goblins and ghosts, walking the streets begging for a handout, trying to scare away any spirits who might make All Saints Day unhappy for the faithful departed.

          All Saints Day often brings a lump to our throats.  In a few moments we're going to list the names of those who have died the past two years.  Memories of loving parents, faithful friends and good neighbors who have passed are a blessing to us all.  We're grateful when our loved ones die in the faith, but their loss is still hard.  It's difficult to leave them and it's difficult to be left behind, even when you know their time has come and departure is best.

          Whether it's the loss of a loved one or loss of one's own health, whether it's the breakup of a marriage or breaking a leg, we all have reasons to weep.  There's a myth that real men don't cry.  Of course men cry - they just don't like to let others see them do it.  In times of sadness women weep, but men become angry.  After Mom died, my Dad would sometimes chase us out of his room if knew tears were coming.  He wasn't hiding them; he just wanted to be left alone.

          But praise God the day's coming when there'll be no more tears!  The Bible says in Revelation: "He[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  "No More Tears."  Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo made that motto a household phrase.  If you get it in your eyes, it won't sting.  It has to do with chemistry, that the right pH balance will keep eyes from stinging and tearing up.  Wouldn't it be great if we'd get the pH balance in our lives so right that we'd all have no more tears?

          Some folks believe they already have.  They think that if we educate people right, life will be so good there'll be no more tears.  But life will always give us something to cry about.  There are tears of joy after childbirth, and tears of relief after victory, as well as tears at the death of a loved one, or tears of injustice from war, tears of nostalgia over the past or tears when we lose our self-respect.  So long as we live in this world of sin, there will always be tears.  Blaming others will never keep away the pain life often brings us.  Only God can wipe away our tears.

          Billy was in church with his Daddy and asked about the big plaque high on the back church wall.  "What are those names up there for, Daddy?" he asked.  "Oh, those are the names of all the people who died in the service, Son," his Daddy said.  Billy was startled and asked, "The early service or the late service?"

          Billy was discovering that the church likes to remember its dead.  The Gospel Lessons show that our Lord Jesus faced death.  He wept as He stood at the tomb of His friend Lazarus.  But why would He weep, knowing that in just a few moments He'd raise him from the dead?  Probably He wept because He saw others weeping.  That's a human thing, you know, to weep when we see others do.  Never be ashamed of your tears, whether of sadness or of sympathy or joy.  The ability to weep is a good part of what makes us truly human.  Tears are helpful - they clear our own eyes and settle our emotions far better than anything a doctor can prescribe.  Our tears always help us see life more clearly, and they often bless those who see us cry.

          Jesus wept when He saw the people's hardness of heart.  He wept over Jerusalem when its people rejected Him, and He still weeps when He sees the rejection of people today.  Christ is sad when the innocent suffer or when people abandon Him for the shallow delights of the world.  He also knows the heartbreak and sadness of unrequited love.  St. Paul told us to "rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn." (Romans 12:15)

          But thanks be to God that one day there'll be no more tears.  Though here on earth there will be sadness, it's not so with the Lord.  One day, St. John said, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

          God washes us clean in the blood of His Son, the Lamb, Jesus Christ.  St. John also wrote, "The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)   Old Testament ritual laws required a sacrifice for the sins of people, and Jesus was our complete and perfect sacrifice.  He fulfilled that requirement once and for all by shedding His blood on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  No longer does anyone or anything have to be sacrificed to remove sins.  It's all been done, paid in full.  Jesus is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)   All who trust Him in faith are granted eternal life with the saints.

          Some of you may remember the Sunday four years ago while we were still worshipping in the Drinkwine Mortuary Chapel, the Sunday morning we discovered there was a body lying in state in one of the back rooms.  There were a few snickers when I mentioned this in church, but everyone was respectful and understanding.  After the service I asked an usher what our attendance was.  "Seventy-four," he said, "not counting the guy in the other room."  That November Sunday I recorded that our attendance was "74 souls and one body."

          All who trust in Jesus will be in heaven one day.  It's easy these days to neglect God.  We work long hours and make incredible sacrifices to survive in today's business climate.  We're not home as much as we should be.  Unexpected tragedy strikes us more often than we wish.  Fire, unemployment, disease, relationships gone sour, rebellious children - all gang up to make us wonder if we can handle life at all.  It's vital to balance work and family, the secular and the sacred.  We must leave room for worship and prayer.  Living only to work and make money is a hard life, one that will bring tears of regret.  Losing a home, a job or a loved one robs us of peace and joy.  We must all take care not to forget the important things, the things of faith and love, of memories and loved ones, of Jesus Christ and His salvation by faith.

          Each Tuesday Carol and I and some of our members go to the Castle Rock Care Center to provide a brief Christian message and song for the residents.  The old ones there come and go, most usually a little more frail in mind and body each week.  As I talk to them I wonder what goes through their minds as they sit and listen, or shake my hand or join in the Lord's Prayer or a hymn verse.  I can only hope the Gospel message reaches their hearts and helps them trust God in these their final days.

          May God who gives us life give us also faith and love, as we remember those who have gone before us and now rest with Him.  May we all respect our elders who have left their marks on us - our relatives, neighbors, teachers, co-workers - for they have left us far more good than bad.  God has placed them into our lives for a purpose.  May God in His mercy grant that we may join all the believers one day in glory, before His heavenly throne where there will be no more foolishness, no more problems, no more fire, or hardship, or sadness, or misery, and especially "No More Tears."  And what a day that will be!  Amen

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.