Spectators and Witnesses

“Spectators and Witnesses”

The Rev Jen Van Zandt

November 7, 2021

As John already said, what a beautiful day! Today is a perfect day. It's a perfect day to go apple picking or pumpkin picking or to take down your Halloween decorations. It's a perfect day to clean out your garden beds and rake up the leaves, go for a drive in the country… or meet up with friends and family and start swapping Thanksgiving recipes. It's also a perfect day to get the last four or five Thanksgiving baskets that Deacons need filled by this Friday. They're still on the bridge. It's a perfect day to tailgate at a football game. But, most of all, it is a perfect day… for the New York City Marathon and it’s happening as we speak.

There's tons of discussion annually about what connotes the “perfect day” for a marathon. Can't be too hot; can't be too cold; no rain because you need dry streets; and all of these things leading up to the race affect the runner's mentality about how they're going to endure the elements; how they're going to layer themselves; how they're going to deal with wet sneakers and slipping and sliding. But the weather is also a crucial aspect for those who are gearing up to actually cheer the runners on - the spectators; their friends, their family, their co-workers, neighbors and even strangers. And you know almost every year someone gets engaged, (really!) in the middle of the race. One of my friends’ family members actually did that about six years ago. But for all the personal support, there are also people on hand as EMTs, and police, and volunteers to fill cups of water and provide power bars to give sustenance for all of those who race. And by the time we all get home today, we'll know who won. We’ll know where they hail from and probably also their history of marathons and other wins that they've had: Olympic awards (if they have any), how they've trained and other human interest stories about the runners and top 10 winners; because, after all, we want to know everything about the winners of the race. But what's less common, and downright rare, is what are those winners thinking about for the four plus hours that they're running the marathon.

Now, maybe some of you have done marathons. I've done a couple of 5Ks in my earlier days, and I was just thinking about getting across the line without falling down like a fool. But what about the 30,000 people who are running this race today--what are they thinking about? Do you have any idea? They’re probably thinking about a million things; like whether they can stay in their marriage or how they're going to reprimand their child or how they're going to save for college education or where they can get their next rest stop; they're starving; they're dehydrated; or maybe they're just in that runner's high and they don't think about anything, and they just zone out for the 26.2 miles.

We all know what they do to train for the marathon. It's a huge undertaking. It calls for tremendous commitment, dedication, discipline and, of course, endurance. But as spectators, we can only imagine what it takes to train, let alone run the race. One consistent theme, of course, is high performance and regular marathoners find inspiration from those who have gone before them. They found repeated success in those who have the best shoes or the best gate or have the best coaches, so that they know how to endure and cross the finish line as close to the front as possible.

Some of you may have had the opportunity even, to walk a 5K, and it's not for the faint of heart, figuratively and literally. Clearly, the author of Hebrews understands the demands of both a marathon-like contest and what it takes to be a faithful follower of Christ. But again, it's not for the faint of heart; because the essential characters of faith start with confidence, (not in oneself or in one's abilities or intellect or achievements), but the confidence that the presence of Christ will be with us; the great priest who agrees, (even as naughty as we can be), to keep cleansing our hearts of all of our sins. It calls for unquestionable obedience, which we actually hate. We don't like obedience. We’d rather do everything on our own terms. But to choose to be willfully persisting in truth and not deceit, that's another mark of the character of faith; knowing that we possess something better, something more lasting, through following Jesus Christ than following our own rules and then breaking our own rules and starting all over again. Another character of faith is clinging to God's promises; trusting in the knowledge that God is going to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves; that God is going to bring good out of bad; trusting that God knows better than we do, even what escapes the physical eye, and trusting the mystery of creation, of the existence of a visible and invisible God.

So my friends, the invitation today, as we honor those who now are at the heavenly banquet, is to look at these people, (pointing to the Memorial crosses), these names who have already run the race, because they were running right behind Jesus. What they invite us to do is run behind them, because they ran behind Jesus. They invite us NOT to not be a spectator; to not come and go as we please or to sit and watch from the comfort of our living room with a cup of hot cocoa and a cozy fire, in our sweatpants. But to RUN and FINISH the race. These people, and even people that we know and love who are not on these crosses, but were meaningful people in our lives; they are the voices in our heads that say, “Keep going. Don't give up.”

My friend, Ethel was a woman who lived down the street from my parents. Her husband was home-bound and I used to visit them on a regular basis when I was in high school, college and as a young adult. After her husband Winston passed away, (who I thought was the big believer), I got to know Ethel. She seemed like the most demure, kind, sweet, doting wife. One night after work, I decided to stop by and surprise her for a little visit. I thought she’d be watching TV or baking a cake….no! She was sitting in her living room with a cigarette and a can of beer! (Human, like the rest of us!) Throughout all the years of our friendship which went on into my late 30’s, she'd always say, “You've got to keep pushing yourself, Jenny .” (Don't you dare call me Jenny. There's only a few people who can call me that.) “You've got to keep pushing yourself.” And that's what the people on these crosses did and said, so that we could be sitting here, doing this.

To finish that race takes endurance. It takes commitment. It takes dedication. Not every day is going to be perfect. Every marathoner will tell you that some days they just literally can't go the distance. And that's okay. But the invitation is not to quit, but to persevere. Because Christ invites us to do that and that's the only way we can get out of our own way and do the meaningful work that Jesus Christ calls us to do, even when it's hard and exhausting, and sometimes darn difficult, including loving that one family member who's going to be at your Thanksgiving table who makes you totally crazy. These people, my friends, (pointing to the memorial crosses) are the saints who are inviting us to follow behind Jesus and get IN the race, not SIT on the sidelines. You know what you need to do...I know what I need to do to start persevering again. And, I'm sure if they were sitting here, they'd tell us the same thing.

So, friends, stick with this text. Stick with running the race, even if it's just one foot in front of the other, because that is a far better life than not getting in the race at all and sitting on the sidelines.

May it be so. Amen.