All Saints Day

Reformation, Media

Larry V. Smoose

I hope you don’t mind that I changed the second lesson.  I know it is sort of a strange lesson, this list of names.  Paul often will greet people at the end of his letters, they are usually people whom he met from previous visits to that congregation – which is what makes this list in Romans a bit more interesting – Paul has not yet been to Rome.  He is planning a visit, and will eventually get there, but this letter precedes his visit, which makes you wonder a bit about this list of people. 

Sometimes a roll call can be sort of interesting.  When I went to my ninth grade reunion, we took a bit of time at the beginning to call the roll of those expected to attend, and I was pretty interested in that because I wasn’t sure I would recognize most of these classmates.  There was Eddie Como, who lived about a block away, and who was still just as thin as he was in 1961.  And Tom Greeves – the Greeves kids were always getting into trouble and I once had a fight with his brother Denny, so I was curious to see what Tom was doing now.  Gary Frederick still lived in the same house, and so did Connie Dibler.  Tom O’Connell lives in Erie now and is still good in sports.

So Paul’s roll call could be interesting even if it is just to say, “I wonder how Paul knew all of those people, since he had never been to that church?  I wonder if you could buy mailing lists back then?  After all, part of what Paul is trying to do in Rome is raise money for his mission in Spain – even back in those days the church was asking members for special offerings, and Paul was one of the best.  “Tell this one hello, give my greetings to that one.”  In some ways this roll call gives us a profile of the church.

Now I don’t expect you to remember, but there is a husband and wife, Aquila and Priscilla.  There’s a man and his mother, Rufus and his mother.  There’s a brother and sister, Nereus and his sister.  There are brothers, Andronicus and Junias, and two sisters, Tryphaena and Tryphosa.  There is an old man, Epaenetus a single woman, Mary and a single man, Herodian.  Interesting profile of the church isn’t it.  Not a lot of nuclear family.  It’s sort of an interesting list. . . maybe.  I guess more so if you knew them. 

Of course for Paul, it’s not a list.  We shouldn’t even call it a list.  Paul is in the home of Gaius in Corinth, the leader of the church in Corinth and Paul’s host while he is staying there, and Paul is packing his stuff and getting ready to go west to Italy and Spain.  He’s about to move to a new parish, one pretty far away.  Paul is probably about my age – 59 and he probably feels that he has one good ministry left in him.  Most churches don’t want a 59 year old pastor, but those churches didn’t have much choice, because Paul started his own.  He actually got started a bit late in the ministry, when he was about 35 or so, which might account for his desire to take on this final challenge. 

So he’s packing his things – doesn’t have much really, his coat, his books and few other belongings, but while he is packing, he might come across some correspondence, notes and letters that he has received over the years and he begins to sort them out, deciding which he might keep and which he will discard.  The notes trigger memories – we shouldn’t call it a list really. 

You’ve done this sort of thing yourself haven’t you.  I’m getting my townhouse painted and it has become an opportunity to take pictures and memorabilia off the wall and assorted knick knacks off the shelf.  On one of the shelves in my home office is a gift-wrapped box and Linda said, “don’t you think you should open that?”  I said, “read the note on it.”  Kay and Barbara, office workers at God’s Love had given it to me.  And there was the picture of the congregation in Mlalo, Tanzania that was partnered with Newtown, and all of the Global Mission Ministry members had signed it – Mel White, who used to argue with me about just about any issue that came up, Mike and Irma Kelly.  We can’t really call it a list. 

“Aquila and Priscilla risked there necks for me,” says Paul.  Andronicus and Junias, we were in jail together, Phew, they are great Christians.  And Mary, everyone was grateful for Mary, what a hard worker she was.  She was always the one who would say, “Paul, you go on home, I’ll but the hymnals away and straighten up the chairs, you go home, you’re tired.”  I’ll never forget Mary.  And Epaeneus, the first person converted under my preaching – I’ll never forget it.  I went home that night and said to myself, “Thank God.  Somebody finally heard me!”  What a great day that was. 

Then there’s Tryphaena and Tryphosa – probably twins, you hear it don’t you, in their names – Tryphaena and Tryphosa.  They always sat on the pulpit side and I could never tell them apart.  I bet I called them the wrong name a hundred times.  And greet Rufus and tell his mother hello – she’s my mother too.  Isn’t that amazing that a woman earned the title ‘Mother” from Paul.  She probably always gave him a hug when he came to the church and would have something for him to eat.  This isn’t a list.

I remember when I first went to Washington and saw that list of names at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  Some of us looked at it as if it were just a list of names, but others walked slowly along the columns.  I say a woman put her finger on one of the names, and another held a child up and put the child’s hand on a name.  There were flowers along some sections of the wall.  Don’t call it a list. 

You see, these names in Romans 16 are very special for Paul.  Even though he says, “Say hello to,” what he really is saying is good-bye.  Oh, he’s going to Rome, but as he travels there, he is going to stop at Jerusalem with a special offering he has collected to help those who are suffering and starving there.  He is going into a nest of hostility. At the end of chapter 15  to pray for him, that he won’t be killed in Jerusalem and that he’ll be able to make it to Rome to see them.  This letter to the Romans is Paul’s last letter, and in a way, he was writing to the whole church – to all the congregations he had ever served, and remembering all those who were important to him over the years.  These are not just names.

Do you have a piece of paper – just use your bulletin.  Would you write in the martin somewhere or at the bottom these words – “I THANK MY GOD FOR ALL MY REMEMBRANCE OF YOU.”  Then write a name – who do you want to remember and give thanks for.  Write another name and another and another. 

A Baptist pastor once told me about his first parish, a little church in Appalachia.  It was their custom on Easter to have a baptism service at sundown.  They practiced immersion, so it was held at a nearby lake, out on a sandbar.  The pastor and the candidate for baptism would go into the lake and the congregation would be on the shore singing and cooking supper.  They had a little booth made from blankets for changing clothes, from the wet ones to dry ones, and when all those who had been baptized had on dry clothes, they would all gather around the fire, the newly baptized first and the rest of the congregation forming a circle around them, while they stayed warm by the fire. 

The ritual was that each person in the circle would give his or her name and said “My name is ___ if you every need someone to do some washing and ironing.”  My name is _______ if you ever need someone to chop some firewood.”   “My name is ______ if you ever need someone to babysit.”  All around the circle.  Then they would eat and have a square dance.  And at a time that seemed right, Percy Miller, with thumbs in his bibbed overalls would say, “it’s time to go.”  And everyone would begin to leave. 

The first time he experienced this, the pastor stayed behind a while, and Percy came over to him and said, “Pastor, folks don’t ever get any closer than this.”  In that little community, they had a name for that.  I’ve heard it in other communities too.  Their name for that is Church.  They call that church.  And that’s what Paul called it too. 

Do you have a few names written down?  You might want to add a few more at some point – you’ll think of others that you want to remember.  Keep that list.  In fact, next time you move, keep that list.  Even if you have to leave some of your furniture or some books.  Take that list with you.  In fact, when your life is over, and you leave this earth – take it with you.

I now, I know – they say you can’t take it with you – and when you get to the pearly gates St. Peter will probably say, “Now look, you went into the world with nothing, you gotta come out of it with nothing.  Now what have you got?”

And you say, “Well, it’s just some names.” 

“Well let me see it.” 

“well this is just a list of some names of folks I worked with and folks who helped me along the way.”

“Well let me see it.” 

“Well this is just a group of people that – if it weren’t for them, I’d have never made it.” 

He says, “I want to take a look at it.”  And he smiles and says, I know all of these folks.  In fact, on my way over here to meet you I passed a group.  They were painting a big red sign to hang over the street, and it said, “Welcome Home.” 

Amen.