the waiting room

from my sermon on the first Sunday of Advent, 11/29/09, from Luke 21:25-36

How good are you at waiting?

Three persons arrived at the Pearly Gates at the same time. St. Peter came but said he had some pressing business and would they please wait? He was gone a long time, but finally he came back and called one of the new arrivals in and asked if she had minded waiting."No," she said, "I've looked forward to this for so long. I love God and I can't wait to meet Jesus. I don't mind at all."St. Peter then said, "Well, I have one more question. How do you spell 'God'?"She said, "Capital-G-o-d."St. Peter said, "Go right on in."He went outside and got another new arrival, told him to come on inside, and said, "Did you mind waiting?"The man said, "Oh, no. I have been a Christian for fifty years, and I'll spend eternity here. I didn't mind at all."So St. Peter said, "Just one more thing. How do you spell 'God'?"He said, "G-o-d. No, I mean capital-G."St. Peter said that was good and sent him into heaven.St. Peter went back out and invited the third person in and asked her if she had minded waiting."As a matter of fact, I did," she replied. "I've had to stand in line all my life - at the supermarket, when I went to school, when I registered my children for school, when I went to the movies - everywhere - and I resent having to wait in line for heaven now!"St. Peter said, "Well, that's all right for you to feel that way. It won't be held against you, but there is just one more question. How do you spell 'Czechoslovakia'?"

How well do you do at waiting? How many shopping days till Christmas? Did you get caught up in the lines and the traffic of Black Friday? How soon did the stores start putting up Christmas decorations? The day after Halloween. There was one store, Nordstrom's, that said, we will not put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. One holiday at a time, they said. But most of this season is rush, rush, rush--a frenzy. There are so many ads, so many events....I wonder if we will miss Advent.

Advent means coming. We give thanks that Christ came in human flesh as Jesus the child. We anticipate Christ coming at the end of the age to bring all things to completion. I think that Advent is the Waiting Room of the Christian year. We live in the time between Christ who has come and Christ who is coming. Advent is the waiting room of the church year.

This idea came to me of course while I was sitting in Seton hospital in a .....waiting room. Shannon's mom was having surgery, and I was there waiting with Shannon and her sister. It struck me how many times I had been in this place...a waiting room. It struck how much of my life I had spent in waiting. We wait for someone in surgery, for test results, sometimes for the birth of a child (how appropriate for this season).

I bet you have done your share of waiting.....at the hospital, at the airport. I wouldn't be suprised if you weren't waiting for someone to arrive over the Thanksgiving holiday or to get a phone call that someone had made it safely home after traveling.

We know about being in the waiting room. It struck me what important work this is....waiting. What a privilege, what an honor, what trust...for someone to say, "Will you wait with me?"

We join a long line in the waiting room as we read the Bible. The LORD says to Abraham in Gen. 12, "I want you to leave security behind--home, family, country--and go to a land that I will show you." How long does that take? The people are in bondage in Egypt and cry out, "How long, O Lord?" They are set free but wander in the wilderness for how long. Entering the promised land, they eventually establish a kingdom that lasts only a short while before they are taken into exile in Babylon. Again they cry, "HOw long, O Lord?"

Then they are the cries of the sick, the poor, the oppressed.....insert your favorite Job story here....who say "Why do the innocent suffer...How Long O Lord?" These words sound awfully familiar to us today. How long will the unrighteous prosper? How long will Israel and Palestine continue to fight over this tiny strip of land? How long will people continue to medicate their feelings with alcohol and other drugs? How long will the powerful take advantage of the weak? How long will we suffer from depression and not feel like getting out of bed in the morning?

How long O Lord? This is what the disciples were asking about in this section of Luke. Now Luke is writing 30 to 40 years after Jesus spoke at a time when the Temple had been destroyed about 70 A.D. A generation had passed, and the people's worst fears had been realized. But Luke remembered the words of Jesus which gave hope.

First, "Your redemption is drawing near." Now all of the pronouns here are not singular "you." They literally say as we do in Texas, "y'all, you all." We were made for community. We don't go through this alone. What happens in an ICU waiting room? You become bounded together. "How is your dad doing today?" "His blood pressure was a little bit up which was a good thing." "Oh, I am so happy to hear it." Our vulnerability doesn't put up walls, it lowers them. I hope that we could see this passage is not about our individual survival, but that we are all in this together. We as a global community are in this waiting room together. We are all fragile. We need each other very much. The waiting room is a place for intimacy, for trust.

Second, "My words will not pass away." I need to teach you some theological jargon at this point. The word is "eschatology." It means the study of last things. But in my Aggie way of understanding, it means the study of lasting things. Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." The waiting room bring a wonderful clarity to our lives. What is really important? What can we let go of? The waiting room is the place to focus on what matters, what lasts.

Third, Pray. "Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that take place." What are you going to do in the waiting room but pray? The waiting room invites us to slow down, to turn to God, to pray. The waiting room is not a trap; it is an invitation to grow closer to God. Some of you may be rookies at prayer. We have Advent devotional guides for you. This is a great season to begin praying or to deepen your prayer life.

I have much more to say to you, but I can't get it into this sermon. Next week we will look at John the Baptist as a model of "the Waiter." Then the next week he gives us instruction on "what to do while waiting." I have more to say...if you can but wait.

The good news is that Jesus joins us in the waiting room.

abound in love

11/25/09 My breath prayer for the day is from I Thes. 3:12, "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you." That's what I wish for you and yours this Thanksgiving.

Love,
Lynn

waiting

11/24/09 My breath today comes from Psalm 25:5b, "For you are the God of my salvation; for you do I wait all day long." When I was in Perkins School of Theology, I was a part of the Seminary Singers. Each Christmas break we would take a weeklong trip, going on a concert tour, stopping in local churches along the way. My first year in 1977, we went all the way to Minnesota and back. Our theme for that year was speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. One of the songs we learned was a direct quote from Psalm 25. We had to memorize all of the music, so when I read this psalm today, the words and music leapt immediately to my mind. How comforting that is to have this psalm so deeply placed in my life and my heart, especially as we await the coming of the Savior here at the start of Advent.

Love,
Lynn

I like to preach

11/23/09 I didn't preach yesterday. Abby and Jim who work with me on staff both needed to preach in order to meet qualifications for the the Board of Ordained Ministry. So Abby led the 9 a.m. service and Jim the 11:15 a.m. service. I played the backup role doing prayers and other parts of the liturgy.
Several people, including my wife, asked, "Aren't you glad to have a Sunday off?" And the truthful answer is, "I like to preach." I like the rhythm of preparation, followed by the release of the presentation. I am a very dialogical preacher. I like the give and take of the sermons I preach. I like connecting with the congregation in this way. In short, I like to preach.

Love,
Lynn

change for change

11/19/09 Our church is completing Imagine No Malaria, the United Methodist Church's goal to rid the continent of Africa of malaria by 2015, working with other global partners. This past Sunday, the children made their contributions to the campaign in the form of coins. A few weeks ago they were given Chinese food take-out boxes and were asked to fill them up. They did! We half-filled a huge red wagon with all kinds of coins. The counting of the coins has been the biggest problem. Our bank no longer has a coin counting machine in Austin. The coins would be shipped to San Antonio and counted maybe within 2 weeks' time. Counting machines at grocery stores usually charge around 9%. We didn't want to do that. So, office angels have been patiently stacking and rolling change. I know we have already counted more than $600 in quarters. I hope we can finish the dimes and nickels today. Yesterday we took the pennies to one of those couting machines. It cranked out more than $117, after taking out the 9%. It all adds up. Change for change.

Love,
Lynn

a to z

11/18/09 My breath prayer today comes from Revelation 1:8, "I am the Alpha and Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." I am dealing with people who are trying to figure it all out--wars, poverty, disease, depression, hunger, abuse. I am glad that I know a God who knows it all from alpha to omega (the first to last letters of the Greek alphabet), or in English from a to z. Although I agonize over many of these same things, i am learning to turn them all over to the One who is and who was and who is to come.

Love,
Lynn

testify

11/17/09 My breath prayer for today comes from John 18:37b "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth." Jesus speaks these words to Pilate just before His passion and death. This morning as I was walking, I was wondering if we could speak them as well. That our purpose, like Jesus', is to testify to the truth.

Love,
Lynn

imagine no malaria

from my sermon on 11/15/09 from Ephesians 3:14-21

Imagine no malaria. I am so glad that the UMC didn't call it, Work Harder to Overcome Malaria, or Wrestle with the Problem of Malaria, or Worry over the Disease of Malaria. Big problems don't require more hard work or wrestling or worry. The require imagination, creativity, turning to God. And this problem is big--5oo million people are affected by the disease of malaria each year. One million die from it, most of them in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, many of them children under 5 and pregnant women.
The UMC wants to rid the continent of Africa of malaria by 2015. It is ridiculous, impossible, except for the word "imagine." I love this passage of scripture because it is chockful of words like power, might, energy. I love the ending benediction, "Now unto him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
I actually read commentaries to prepare for these sermons. Often they are dry and boring. But this past week, one of them said about this scripture, "In spite of mixed metaphors and hyperbolic language, this passage is designed with a practical end in mind, i.e., that God's power my be seen at work within the church in which God's fullness dwells by presence of Christ and His Spirit." The only way we can address this huge issue of malaria is through imagination, Christ's power flowing through us.
In 2008 the UMC set a global health initiative of Imagine No Malaria. They had partners with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the NBA with the Nothing But Nets Campaign, UN Fund, and other global partners like the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The UMC was given the lead to combat malaria in Africa because we have credibility, we have built relationships, we have the infrastructure. We can go places the government can't. We will give out bednets to Moslems without forcing them to convert to Christianity. We see all as our brothers and sisters. We have health care workers and clinics, we are developing communication systems, we are training people in the use of bednets and early detection.
The Southwest Texas Conf. of the UMC was offered by our Bishop, Jim Dorff, to take the lead for the denomination. Our Austin District Superintendent, Bobbi Kaye Jones, offered our district to be the guinea pigs. Our church is one of the first in the whole denomination to come up with the plan for Imagine No Malaria. There is no blueprint, no template to follow. We are writing the textbook on how the whole denomination is going to fight malaria.
All we have is our imagination. And you have been imagining. Children bringing coins today in Chinese food take out boxes--change for change! Youth making pledges of $1000 over the next 3 years. At our Bee Cave Barn dance a few weeks ago, we had a bug stomp, where we tried to pop balloons, that raised 100's of dollars. People have taken the spiritual gifts inventory that was incentivized by some anonymous underwriters $10/inventory that netted $540. We have sold these green bracelets for $10. I wore my yesterday to McKinney Falls State Park. One of the rangers helping asked, "What is that green bracelet for?" I said, "The UMC is in a campaign to rid Africa of malaria called Imagine No Malaria." "I didn't any church did anything like that," she said. I felt proud to be a part of this church. And last week you unselfishly ate pizza. You ate at Mangia's $2841 of pizza. That traslated to $284 for Imagine No Malaria. Mangia is giving us coupons that will net us $3000 more. What I love the best is our public witness in all of this. People see the church making a difference in the world.
Now I have a degree in math, but it is from Texas A & M, so I have had to count using a lot of fingers and toes. But I did a little figuring this past week, and it looks like we have already given and pledged about $20,000 from this congregation. Imagine that!
I know many of you will want to add to that today. I know that I have asked you to give a lot. I have set a vision of this church being a 50/50 church where we spend 50% on us and 505 on others. This Imagine No Malaria is part of that vision. I was thinking about how I ask you to give to the ongoing mission of this church and to the capital campaign and wondering if it was too much. But then the thought came to me, I am not supposed to protect you from giving, I am called to stir up your imaginations to what is really important. This is.
One of my best friends in the world is Dr. Dennnis Shanks. He was the best man at our wedding. He was a M.D. in the U.S. army for many years, retiring as a full bird colonel. He is now working for the government of Australia. His disease is malaria. I emailed Dennis this past week asking him for input on malaria. He emailed me back saying that he was actually in the States at his parents' house in Georgia. Dennis and I talked for about 30 minutes Wednesday night. He said that bednets absolutely work. Low technology but great results. He says to target malaria is doable. It is preventable. It is treatable. He say the Gates Foundation targeted malaria not for economic or medical reasons. They did so for moral reasons. It got to them that children could get this disease and die simply as an accident of where they were born.
Aren't we all a part of God's family? Isn' that what the passage says that every family in heaven and on earth takes God's name?
I would like for you to stand and join me in the closing illustration. Take your right hand and go over the top of your head to touch your left ear. You have to be 5 years old in order to do this. I know because I practiced with our pre-school children this past week. In Liberia, children do not get a name until they are 5 years old. Liberia is one of the countries in Africa we are trying to rid of malaria. Until age 5 children are known as "son #1" or "daughter # 3". Too many die before age 5. Extend your right hand over to your left ear. Imagine children reaching age 5. Imagine children getting a name. Imagine No Malaria. Amen.

faithful

11/12/09 My breath prayer for the day comes from Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." Cathy and I carpooled to work this morning, which means I got to walk around Lady Bird Lake. It is finally fall here, and it is absolutely gorgeous. All of the different trees are trying to outdo one another with their display of colors. The air is cool and fresh. It was a joy to walk and breathe these words of scripture.
I really like that the tone of the verse is plural, communal. Surely each one of us can't maintain hope by oneself. "Let us", "our hope" give me encouragement. But the biggest factor is that God who promises are faithful. As I walked, I held people and situations before the One who is faithful.

Love,
Lynn

up

11/11/09 Cathy and I saw the new film "UP," on DVD last night. We give it two big thumbs up. There was a section early in the movie when no words were spoken and a married couple's relationship was captured only in a series of images that made me weep. The values in the movie, the development of the plot, and the message all left us feeling up. We watch a lot of movies, and this one is right UP there with the very best.

Love,
Lynn

house blessing

11/10/09 Last night I led an order for a blessing of a home for our Music Director, Diana, and her family. They had waited for more than a year for their old house to sell before finding this new home that is so much closer to church and to their friends. There are some set pieces in the liturgy: greeting, prayers, scripture readings, etc. But I like to personalize it by having the invited guests and family go from room to room and ask specific prayers for that particular space. Those spontaneous prayers were very moving. I saw a few tears. We have a home....a church home, a family, a dwelling, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens...we are blessed.

Love,
Lynn

living in grace house

from my sermon on 11/08/09 from Romans 8:28-30

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods' appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, and the Muslim code of law -- each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.Aware of our inbuilt resistance to grace, Jesus talked about it often. He described a world suffused with God's grace: where the sun shines on people good and bad; where birds gather seeds gratis, neither plowing nor harvesting to earn them; where untended wildflowers burst into bloom on the rocky hillsides. Like a visitor from a foreign country who notices what the natives overlook, Jesus saw grace everywhere. Yet he never analyzed or defined grace, and almost never used the word. Instead, he communicated grace through stories we know as parables.-Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 45.

I have been preaching a series of sermons on basic UM beliefs. Here is one foundation stone; we build on God's grace. Here is a definition: justice--you get what you deserve, mercy--you don't get what you deserve, grace--you get what you don't deserve.
As UM's we believe there is one grace that is known in 3 movements. John Wesley who started the reform movement that later became the UM denomination used the analogy of a house when it came to understanding grace.
We start on the porch which relates to prevenient grace. That's a strange word to many of you, a uniquely Methodist word. It sounds a lot like prevent, doesn't it? That is one way to think of it, the love of God that prevents us from moving so far away we can't respond to God. It tries to keep us on the porch.
We also see the "pre" part of the word. It reminds us of the passage from Romans where God "pre"knows us and "pre"destines us. Now, don't get all Calvinist on me with predestination. What we claim is that God has a destiny for each of us and all creation. God is "pre", out in front of us, drawing us into God's future. We are not fated. We can refuse, but that does not keep God from wooing us, inviting us into God's plans for us. Prevenient grace is the love that God has before us, before we are even aware that we are loved.
We see prevenient grace in baptism, especially that of a child like we have in worship today. We write these prayers and blessings for Natasha today. Someday when she makes her own profession of faith, we can say to her, "You have been loved all along."
We see prevenient grace in marriage. Sometimes, the couple will be standing before me and the congregation all nervous. I will have them turn around and look at the family and friends who have come. I will say, "You didn't get here all by yourself. You have been loved all along."
We see prevenient grace sometimes most clearly when we look backwards. Sometimes I will be with a person in hospice care, and we will do a life review. They will say, "Now I know that that even was a God moment."
Prevenient grace is the love that goes before us. It is the porch.
The door to the house is justifying grace. It is represented in words like conversion, being born again, entering the new life in Christ, being saved. God cannot make us enter the house; it is our decision, but justifying grace is there helping us to accept our acceptance.
To make this more nuanced, I must admit that I have had several conversion experiences in my life. I knew justifying grace when I went through confirmation at age 13. I had an emotional conversion at a revival in my senior year in high school. In seminary, I learned to read the scriptures in their original languages of Greek and Hebrew and had an intellectual experience. Your moments of justifying grace may be emotional or not, come quickly or be drawn out.
Justifying grace feels like "just-as-if-I'd" never sinned. We are washed clean. We are made right.
Some well-intentioned folks will try to nail you down by saying, "Are you saved? Tell me the exact moment and place of your salvation." You can reply, "I was saved about the year 30 A.D. on a hill just outside of Jerusalem, when my Lord said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Justifying grace is the love God has for us. It is the door to the house.
Once we enter the house, enter salvation, we never do anything again, right? No! Living in the house is sanctifying grace. Sanctifying sounds like sanctuary, like holy. That's what it means, to grow in holiness and wholeness for the rest of our lives. Romans talks about us being glorified. That is code language in the New Testament for the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are to become Christian, "Christ-like", "little Christs." The passage talks about us growing into the likeness, literally the icon, of His Son. When people see us, they may see Christ.
Every UM pastor goes before the bishop who asks the question, "Are you going onto perfection?" You are supposed to answer "Yes." I like it when the bishop explains, "If you are not going onto perfection, then where are you going?" Every Christian is called to go onto perfection. This is our thank you back to God. This is sanctifying grace. This is living in grace house.
So today we come to worship to grow in relationship with Christ. We go to Sunday School and Bible studies and prayer groups to grow our souls. We serve on mission projects like Imagine No Malaria. And during this past week when what happened at Ft. Hood, we are mature, and we don't demonize a whole race of people or whole religion like Islam for the actions of one man. In fact we stand with people of other faiths or no faith and say, "This is not what God intends for us."
So grace is always going before us, helping us enter salvation, and calling us to grow in holiness. Grace is always before us, for us, and in us. Where are you today? On the porch, at the door, or in the house? Maybe your experience is like mine as I have wandered in and out of the house many times.
I have know several realtors over the years. I remember asking Joslin once how she knew what was the right house for her clients. She said, "I can tell you of my own experience. My daughter and I were looking for our house. I had all the facts and figures, the demographics, the square feet, the prices. We looked at a lot of houses. My daughter finally said, 'This is the one.' How do you know? She said, 'This house is just hugging me."
I hope the grace house of God is hugging you. That's the good news I have to share today.

restorer

11/5/09 My breath prayer for the day comes from Ruth 4:15a, "He shall be to you a restorer of life." Ruth has been given a son out of her marriage to Boaz. This makes Naomi something close to a grandmother. The women of the village say these words to Naomi about the newborn that he shall be a restorer of life. Of course I took the words to mean that the God revealed in Jesus (who is in the birth line of this son born to Ruth) is the one who restores us to life. What a great concept....that we can be down and out, broke, broken, hopeless, tired...and God provides a restorer.

Love,
Lynn

obedient

11/4/09 My breath prayer today comes from Ruth 3:5, "all that you tell me I will do." It is actually Ruth speaking to her mother-in-law Naomi, saying that she will follow her advice and go to their near kinsman Boaz. But for me today, it is what I am saying/praying to God, "all that you tell me I will do." It is the posture of obedience.

Love,
Lynn

a redeemer

11/3/09 Cathy and I got to carpool today (in my Prius, thank you very much). We are trying to save the planet one day at a time. She works at Austin High School, which means I took my walk around Lady Bird Lake on one of the best mornings ever. My prayer verse is from Ruth 4:14a, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer." A redeemer is one who sets free or who pays the price for freedom. In Ruth's context, it is the closest male family member who has the power to do the right thing and take care of 2 widows, which Boaz does by marrying Ruth. They have a child, who becomes part of the family tree for David, who becomes part of the family tree for Jesus. We have a redeemer.

Love,
Lynn

on our behalf

11/2/09 My breath prayer today comes from Hebrews 9:24, "For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, not to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." I was thinking how wonderful it is to have the very best intercessor in all of creation, the Lord Jesus Christ, carrying all of our prayers to God. Maybe that is another way to understand why we pray in Jesus' name. What confidence we have because of the One who pleads on our behalf.

Love,
Lynn

not left behind

from my sermon on 11/1/09, All Saints' Sunday, from Rev. 21:1-6a

Left Behind....have you read any 0f the books? I have. Not because they are great literature, which they are not. However, there is plot, character development, drama, a love story. Not because they are biblically and theologically correct, at least not according to what I believe. I read them because they were popular. Some 12 or 13 volumes have sold more than 60 million copies. I read them because people in the churches where I served were reading them.
What I didn't like most about the books is similiar to what I don't like most about the Halloween is going. Halloween seems to be about ghosts, goblins, and ghouls. In a word about fear. The Left Behind series seemed to be about scaring people into the faith.
The Revelation to John is about something else. In fact, I can tell what the book is about in one word. It's about hope.
Some people say that it is written in code language. It is not. It is not about trying to stay hidden. The very title says it about revealing, about unveiling. There are lots of symbols in the book, but most of the time they are explained right there in the text. Ten or multiples of ten are numbers of inclusion. Twelve or its mulitples are numbers for the people of God. So, when 144,00 are among those saved, it is saying alll of God's people are included, not left behind.
I took a course this summer with Mickey Eiford, a recongized scholar on the Reveleation to John. He confirmed what I had long felt about the book, really a sermon. He gave me confidence to preach from it this day, as it rarely comes up in the lectionary cycle.
He said that there are a series of visions. They are not predictors of the future, but bring hope for today. They repeat over and over again the message of hope. I had a member of my former church who happened to be an Aggie and who taught Sunday School. Bill said, "I've read the end of the book. God wins." That's the hope in a nutshell.
Today's scripture is the last vision in the REvelatkion. God makes all things new. Mickey said that new didn't mean to create, but to transform. In advertising language, we would say new and improved.
No more death. For the early readers, no more martyrs' death. No more mourning, crying, pain. for the early readers, no more persecution. It was dangerous to be a Christian at the end of the first century when this book was written. The text still resonates with those who are being persecuted for their faith around the world today.
We don't live with the pressure of being excluded from the social and economic circles like those early Christians. WE don't live with a death threat hanging over us. So how are we to appropriate these words?
The basic truth is still the same: Even when it seems as if things aren't so good, God is still in control; we keep on keepin' on, keeping on, doing the right thing, even if others don't; our reward is sure, if not now, in the age to come; evil is real and must be dealt with.
And the best news is that God dwells with us, and will be our God, and we will God's people. The word for home and dwells is literally, tabernacle. Remember when the Hebrew children wandered across the wilderness for 40 years, and God's presence went with them in the tabernacle. That's what it says here: God tents with us. God will be with us wherever we go. In life or death. Emmanuel, God is with us.
I actually got to know the 3 saints of this church who died this past year. Anne loved the mountains of New Mexico. She had a lingering terminal disease and used the time she had to prepare all of us for her dying. When she died, she was buried in Santa Fe, N.M. Carolyn was a church lady. She was our church secretary for many years. Edith was a charter member of this congregation, helping to mow the lawn in its early year. When her husband Tom died after 42 years of marriage, she continued to see him in their house. When I did her funeral service just one week ago, I talked about how they were inseperable. We who believe in the communion of saints, who's to say that they aren't.
The good news for today is that God doesn't want any left behind. God tents with us, in life and in death. That is our hope.