INTRODUCTION:

Most of you know that I spent a year in Japan where I served on a Coast Guard Long Range Aid To Navigation Station. While on temporary duty in Tokyo, waiting to get shipped to the LORAN Station, I had the opportunity to get my International Driver's License. They always gave the Temporary Duty personnel the dirty grubby jobs, so it was either be on some grubby work crew or sit in classroom for three days. I chose to sit in the classroom. We didn't just sit, we learned how to drive several kinds of vehicles from large to small.

When I arrived on Station, it turned out I was only one of two guys who had their International Drivers License and he was rotating out in about five weeks. That gave him five weeks to teach me all the routes and all the landmarks.

Driving in Japan was a real adventure. They drove on the opposite side of the road. You try driving a big old Dodge 6 by truck with American Steering on the opposite side of the road. Do you know how hard it is to see around traffic?

That wasn't the only fun part about driving in Japan. I found out quickly that you had to navigate by landmarks. Ninety-nine percent of the signs were in Japanese. Try finding a street when you can't read the names on the street signs. So, you can see, going anywhere was an adventure.

Sometimes those Landmarks were gas stations, restaurants or businesses. Sometimes they were parks or even a zoo. The turn to the Obihiro airport was just past the local zoo.

Sometimes, the Landmarks were nothing more than a small family shrine at the corner of an intersection. And sometimes what we thought was a Landmark wasn't a Landmark. I'll never forget the time we started looking for the old rusted tractor that we had used as a Landmark on where to turn for a short cut through the country back to the base. That shortcut normally cut off about 10 minutes on our trip.

After we'd driven for about 15 minutes and still hadn't hit our intersection, we decided something was wrong and turned around. We drove all the way back to the last Landmark we knew and headed back. We were typical guys, we weren't going to be defeated by anything. As we pass the spot where we thought the tractor should be, it wasn't there. And that's when we saw it in the opposite field. The local farmer was using it, to plow the field. Obviously it had just been parked there until he needed it. We found another Landmark.

This morning we stand before one of the central Landmarks of our faith. This table of Remembrance tells our story through bread and wine. The elements of Holy Communion, tell the story of God's great love for us. It tells the story of how far God went to prove that love. It reminds us of how God's own Son gave Himself up for us and broke Himself on the cross for our sake. It reminds us of the blood that was poured out for our forgiveness.

It even reminds us of our brokenness and our need for healing.

Living faithfully is kind of like driving in Japan. as we live out our faith in the world, sometimes it feels like we're driving on the wrong side of the road. And at times it even feels like all the signs and everyone around us is speaking a different language.

That's when we need the Landmarks like the Lord's Supper, our Baptism and Scripture. That's when we need the Landmarks of the memories of the faithful who have gone before us and been significant in our lives. They've become the trailblazers in our journey of faith. Their lives, their faithfulness, their service have become Landmarks for us.

The Apostle John speaks to this a little in his first letter. You can read along if you would like. 1 John 3:1-3 (NT p. 186 or 1454). I'm reading from the Message.

[1] What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to.

[2] But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him - and in seeing him, become like him.

[3] All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own.

[Msg]

Jesus is that model for our lives. Just as He was the model for the lives of all the Saints before us, that "great multitude" which Revelation talks about. As we pause today to think about all of those who have been influential in our lives, we need to remember our PAST, consider our PRESENT, and look to the FUTURE.

I. PAST: OUR FAMILY RESEMBLANCE:

AS WE REMEMBER OUR PAST: WE CAN SEE THE FAMILY RESEMBLANCE.

Have you ever noticed how people love to point out family resemblance? They say things like, "You look just like your father." or "You've got your mother's nose." Or maybe it's just a mannerism that you've picked up that reminds them of a relative.

For example, I don't know why but, when someone asked my Dad, "What do you know?" a lot of times he would answer, "It takes a big dog to weigh a ton." I have no idea what that means. The scary part is that I say it, too.

Sometimes you catch yourself, like when you suddenly see your parent's finger on the end of the hand you have shaking in your child's face. Or when you hear your mother's words or your father's favorite phrase come pouring out of your mouth. You suddenly see your own family resemblance.

Today we celebrate All Saints' Sunday and remember those people who have gone on to their reward whose lives and faith have influenced ours. One of the reasons we claim these folks as our personal saints, is that they somehow reflected the love of God and the presence of God in a way that helped us love them and love God more.

In some way their lives reflected the love of God. They were the children of God and through them we were able to see the family resemblance.

II. PRESENT: OUR OWN UNIQUE PEOPLE:

WHEN WE CONSIDER THE PRESENT: WE FIND OUT WE ARE OUR OWN UNIQUE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALSO THE CHILDREN OF GOD:

The Apostle John writes: "What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we're called children of God! That's who we really are."

You see, there are no step children or orphans in the Kingdom of God. We're not just "called" the children of God, John says, "That's who we really are."

What a great promise. This promise, this affirmation helps us claim our own inheritance. It empowers and strengthens us to live AS God's children.

One of the very first affirmations of Scripture is that we are created in the image of God. God so loved us from the very beginning, that God created us in God's very own image. When we look at one another and when we look in the mirror we are seeing a portion of the image of God.

It's not the full image of God, only Christ is the full image of God, but we see a portion of it. We're able to see the family resemblance. But we're also able to see our unique portion of it.

Now it's not yet been revealed what that fully means or what we will be like when it comes to fruition but we have the assurance that because we are the children of God, when Christ returns, we will be like Christ. And we'll see Christ as Christ truly is.

III. FUTURE: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND:

AND FINALLY, WHEN WE LOOK TO THE FUTURE: WE'RE REALLY LOOKING AT WHAT WE'LL LEAVE BEHIND:

You see, we each have our personal saints, those folks who influenced our lives and faith. But we also need to remember that because we ARE the Children of God, we ARE and CAN BE Saints for others. All baptized believers are God's saints. When we live as God's children, others will see the family resemblance in us and in our actions.

Our Saints left a legacy that has effected our faith and our relationship with God. It impacted us in such a way as to change our lives.

Their legacy of faith helped build this Sanctuary and the one before it.

Their legacy of faith helped lead countless people down this very aisle for the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, for Baptism, for confirmation, for marriage, and for their funeral.

This place holds lots of memories and there are folks who have a sense of mourning mixed with their sense of joy and anticipation about the new building. But it was the same way when this building was built and we moved from the first Sanctuary.

The place might change, but the memories and the message stay the same. Because it is the memory of how the message transformed our Saints that really lives on in us. And that memory doesn't depend upon the place, it depends upon the message and the Author of the message.

Our faith and our faith walk can do the same for others. As a matter of fact, we are called to do that for others.

The Apostle John wrote, "What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we're called children of God! That's who we really are." When we claim this promise and live as the children of God, then we become someone who can lead others on the upward journey of faith in Christ. We become those who leave behind a Legacy of Faith.

CONCLUSION:

There are some people who leave legacies. There are others who only leave scars. There are some people who shape us and mold us. There are others who only bend us and break us. There are some people whose memory is as refreshing as a drink of cold water on a hot summers day. There are others whose memory is like a nightmare that haunts our dreams.

What legacy will we leave? Will our kids and grandkids look back and remember us with the same delight that we remember people like Tom Goodrum, Beulah Miller, Pauline Cruze, the Chedesters, and the Gregorys and Jo Cater?

Whose Saint are you?

As we remember and celebrate our Saints and all they meant to us; and as we come to celebrate the Lord's Supper, I would like you to think about two things:

First: Remember and give thanks for your saints.

And Second: Ask yourself: "For whom are you a saint?"

PAST PRESENT OR FUTURE: WE'RE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD. AND THAT'S WHO WE REALLY ARE.

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Preaching Magazine (Preaching Resources, Jackson, TN)

Circuit Rider, (The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN)

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The New Interpreter's Bible, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1995)

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