All Saints Sunday

The Beautiful Feast

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Sabbath Day Thoughts — “The Beautiful Feast” Isaiah 25:6-9

In October, we revived the pre-pandemic tradition of Committee Night, a monthly evening when the committees of the church gather. The evening begins at 5:30pm with a potluck supper. You never know what will turn up on the dinner table, but it is always good and plentiful. Last week, we had homemade soup, bread, charcuterie, fresh and dried fruit, salad, and a host of desserts, including not one but two birthday cakes for me. What a feast!

We typically transition from the dinner table to our small workgroups around 6:00pm. But as we laughed, swapped stories, and enjoyed the meal, time, as it often does when there is good food and good company, slipped away. About 6:20, I reluctantly shifted us from feast mode to work mode. Committees met, plans were made, and tasks assigned, all in time for choir practice to start at 7pm. That potluck meal felt like a victory as we shrugged off the vestiges of the COVID-19 pandemic and returned to right rhythms of eating, caring, and serving together.

In our reading from Isaiah, God granted the prophet a vision of the beautiful feast in the Kingdom of God. The table overflowed with sumptuous food and the finest of wine. The people of Israel and all the nations of the world rejoiced, feeding on the bounty that God had prepared. Every belly was full, every face flushed with satisfaction. The sound of laughter and song and heartfelt conversation rose in a blessed crescendo. Almighty God, that most generous and loving of hosts, met every hunger, dried every tear, and comforted every sorrow. Then, God had God’s own feast, to the amazement of all. God swallowed up death, ending forever the mortal shroud that parted the holy from the ordinary. What a feast! Isaiah’s vision has prompted hope and delight ever since.

This church is no stranger to the hope and delight that our beautiful feasts can engender. Back in 1927, we called the Rev. Hiram Lyon to serve as our pastor. The recent seminary graduate was a young bachelor with a flair for cooking. On several occasions, he put on summer dinners at Split Rock Farm for the church’s Men’s Club. We don’t know the menu, but since it was a bunch of guys, I think we can trust that there was grilling involved. There is a record, though, of what happened after dinner. The men sat around the campfire until late in the evening, watching the moon rise and the night fall. They pondered the billion stars of the Milky Way and the great mystery of the divine.

Perhaps the church’s fanciest feast took place in 1985. We had building on our minds—the extension of the church to create the Great Hall and the Christian Education classrooms. To share plans and kick-off the church’s fundraising efforts, we hosted a dinner at the Hotel Saranac. Invitations were mailed. Neighbors from the community were invited. I hear the food was excellent and the hall filled with hopeful expectation as we dreamed together about the blessing that would flow for us and for the community when our building effort reached completion.

I may be a little biased, but I think Duane’s and my wedding reception in the Great Hall, almost nineteen years ago now, was another echo of the beautiful feast. It wasn’t fancy. The deacons cooked up seven crockpots of soup. Duane and I provided an abundance of sandwich wraps, cheese and crackers, punch, and a fabulous wedding cake made by Dawne’s sister. Duane’s friends came all the way from Virginia to provide bluegrass music. Little girls twirled around the dancefloor in their princess dresses. And, the golden girls of the United Presbyterian Women sampled and provided commentary on every single soup. What a feast!

It might surprise us to learn that when Isaiah shared God’s hopeful vision of the holy banquet, the Hebrew people didn’t have a lot to celebrate. Gone were the days of unity for the twelve tribes. The northern clans had long ago split to form the Kingdom of Israel. The southern tribes confederated under the banner of Judah. Waves of foreign invasion had wracked the two kingdoms. Indeed, when Isaiah spoke, the northern kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians. Many of their northern kin had been deported, sent to the far corners of the Assyrian Empire. The invaders had almost vanquished Judah, too. They encamped around the walls of Jerusalem and sought to starve the kingdom into submission. Only the forethought of King Hezekiah, whose men had tunneled beneath the city walls to allow access to fresh water and supplies, allowed the hungry city to outlast the siege. As Isaiah spoke the vision of God’s beautiful feast, foreign invaders were again on the horizon. The Babylonian army was rising in the east in what would prove to be an unstoppable tide.

Our beautiful feasts don’t happen in a perfect world. When Hiram Lyon hosted those starry suppers for the Men’s Club, Saranac Lake was at the height of the tuberculosis pandemic. Sanatoriums and cure cottages overflowed with desperately sick neighbors who had come to our village in the hope of a cold air cure. Hiram Lyon knew all about that. He came to the village as a tuberculosis patient, having contracted the disease while a student at Union Seminary in Morningside Heights, NYC. He stayed in the village to pastor our church for ten years and minister to the sick whose experience he had shared.

When we banqueted at the Hotel Saranac and dreamed of a bigger, better building, we weren’t too certain about the future. The church’s Christian Education building—Gurley Hall—had originally been built as a stable and had not withstood the test of time. Under-insulated and poorly heated, it was no longer fit for classes or community use, and our efforts to excavate below the sanctuary to create the Lower Room hadn’t provided nearly enough space for our programs. We were renting space from St. Luke’s and the Methodists. In fact, we debated closing our doors and merging with our neighbors. And then there was the matter of funding. Someone—probably Sally’s husband Bill—had the vision to build, but we definitely didn’t have the money.

When Duane and I danced a bluegrass waltz and the children blew bubbles to bless us in the Great Hall on our wedding day, the church had been through bleak times. There was a full-blown schism with the departure of Pastor Chuck, and we had weathered a lengthy interim with the tough but wise Pastor Carol. People had left the church. We were plagued by poor communication and rival factions. I had inherited a $45,000 budget deficit. We would either make it or we wouldn’t, but we needed to turn the corner fast.

Isaiah’s vision affirms that our beautiful feasts do not happen in a perfect world where everything is blue skies, sunshine, and lollipops. It also affirms that God is present in the midst of our chaos. God longs to feed us, nurture us, dry our tears, and comfort us. The world is filled with war and the threat of war, pandemics, declining mainline churches, and bitter divisions. Yet Isaiah reminds us that God is more than a match for our chaos. God is in the middle of it, fighting to deliver us from all that makes our hearts tremble. Indeed, the God who swallows death whole has raised Jesus from the dead and broken down every barrier that can ever separate us from God’s eternal, unstoppable love. One day, we will all be seated at God’s table, bellies full, laughter ringing, conversation flowing, joy complete. What a feast!

Today, we will celebrate our own feast, here at the Lord’s Table, where generations of Presbyterians have been fed. Our beautiful feast does not happen in a perfect world. Bombs are falling in the Middle East. Children are starving in Gaza and Yemen, Afghanistan and Congo, Somalia and Sudan. We are days away from a hotly contested election that will leave at least half of our neighbors bitterly disappointed, no matter what the outcome. Yet we dare to come to this table, to remember that God is with us even when the world is at its most chaotic. God longs to comfort the grieving, feed the hungry, and dry the tears that flow. The Lord holds out to us the hope that one day all people, all nations, will gather at God’s banquet table—peaceful, beloved, and satisfied. Lord, speed the day!

This morning, like Isaiah, we engage in a prophetic act. As we share the Lord’s Supper, and we pledge our gifts to support the church in the coming year, we acknowledge that we do not live in a perfect world. But with God’s help, we can nudge this world a little closer to the Kingdom. With God’s help, we can live with hope and delight. With God’s help, we can feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and bless the children. With God’s help, we can build a world where all are welcomed to the table. What a feast it will be! Amen.

Resources

Evelyn Outcalt and Judy Kratts. A History of the First Presbyterian Church of Saranac Lake, written in celebration of the church’s centenary, July 25, 1990.

Anathea Portier-Young. “Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 1, 2015. Accessed online at Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

Amy Erickson. “Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 4, 2012. Accessed online at Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

Julianna Claasens. “Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 1, 2009. Accessed online at Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

Corinne Carvalho. “Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 7, 2021. Accessed online at Commentary on Isaiah 25:6-9 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

Isaiah 25:6-9

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
    a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
    of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
7 And he will destroy on this mountain
    the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
    the covering that is spread over all nations;
8     he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
    and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
    “See, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
    This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

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The Great Multitude

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Sabbath Day Thoughts — “The Great Multitude” Rev. 7:9-17

When our neighbors at St. Bernard’s talk about saints, they point to people of exceptional piety, heroes of the faith who have been martyred, worked miracles, or had singular spiritual experiences. The process of becoming a Catholic saint is lengthy. First, a local bishop investigates the candidate’s life and writings for evidence of heroic virtue. Then the findings are sent to the Vatican. There, a panel of theologians and the cardinals evaluate the evidence. If the panel approves, the pope proclaims that the candidate is venerable, a role model of Catholic virtues. If the person is responsible for a posthumous miracle, then the saint is beatified—honored as holy by a particular group or region. In order for someone to be considered a true saint and canonized, there must be proof of at least one more posthumous miracle- the healing of a pilgrim at the grave site, a mass vision, a statue weeping. Canonized saints are the center of worship, devotion, and prayer, like praying to St. Anthony to help you recover your lost car keys.

We don’t share this understanding of saints in our tradition. Since the Reformation of the 16th century, we have insisted that God alone must be the focus of our worship, devotion, and prayer. By studying the use of the title “saint” in scripture, Martin Luther pointed out that the true meaning of “saint” had nothing to do with exceptional piety. Instead, it was all about faith. When the Apostle Paul wrote to his church in Philippi, he greeted the “saints,” all members—men, women, youth, children, both slaves and freeborn. All were holy, not because of their impressive spiritual accomplishments, but by their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

On All Saints Sunday, we take time to remember and celebrate this beautiful, broad understanding of the great multitude of faithful people, who, having lived their lives in faith, now live eternally with God. We are especially mindful of those saints whom we have lost in the past year, like our friends Jean Fitzgerald and Henry Schwalenstocker. But we also bring to mind those sainted people who have made a quiet and faithful difference in our lives: the parents who introduced us to Jesus, the mentors who called us to fully utilize our God-given gifts, the caregivers who prayed for us when we could not pray for ourselves. These saints will never attract the notice of a panel of theologians and cardinals, but they worked gentle goodness in our lives that blesses us to this day.

In today’s reading from the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos described his apocalyptic vision of the heavenly throne room, where God and the Lamb were ceaselessly praised and glorified.  Before the throne, worshipers of every land, language, nation, race, time, and place were assembled, a great and countless multitude. All were clothed in robes of dazzling white.  All rejoiced, waving palm fronds in victory.  All joined their voices with the heavenly host to proclaim, “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!  Amen.”  Can we imagine it?

John says that God “sheltered” those who worshipped.  The Greek word for shelter skenosei means to stretch a protective covering over something, like a roof keeping out the weather, or a tent protecting us from a summer storm, or the wings of a mama bird shielding her chicks.  Those who worship are safe. They hunger and thirst no more.  With the Lamb as their shepherd, the vast flock is guided to the waters of life.  Every sorrow comes to an end; every tear is tenderly dried.  The great multitude has found shelter, nurture, guidance, life, and comfort with God.

I’m sure that, among the saints who worshipped before the throne, John of Patmos saw people of remarkable spiritual accomplishment like those canonized saints, but John’s vision would have largely comprised little-known saints, like the beloved ones, mentors, friends, and caregivers who have had such a powerful, positive impact upon our lives. Those who rejoiced before the throne may have been a lot like us: everyday saints, who faithfully worship God, trust in our Good Shepherd, and leave a legacy of faith for the generations to come.

This church has had many such saints. Their photos are not hanging in the gallery of pastors in the hallway. They don’t have a plaque on the pipe organ or bell tower. But they faithfully shared themselves in ways that made a difference in the life of this church and the unique history of Saranac Lake.

Among our first members were Emma and Theodore Hanmer. As newlyweds, they came to Saranac Lake in 1889 from Black Brook, where Ted had driven a stagecoach and apprenticed as a boat builder. It didn’t take long for him to move past apprentice to master boat builder with his own workshop on Lake Street, where he specialized in crafting guide boats. Ted’s boats weighed about 80 pounds, yet they could safely carry a load of a half-ton, including three people. One of Ted’s handcrafted boats sold for about $65 in 1900. Today they are priceless. Neither Ted nor Emma ever served as an elder or a deacon, but they worshipped weekly and raised eight children in the church. If you ask me, that’s a remarkable accomplishment.

Another early member of the church, whom you’ll never hear celebrated by local historians, is Edmund Horton. He became our fourth elder in 1902. Ed had a gift for growing things. In 1903, he opened Horton’s Greenhouses and Florist Shop at the present site of Nona Fina Restaurant. A vintage ad in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise has some snappy copy to promote Ed’s plants and creations. It reads, “What better gift than flowers? They’ll return a little care with gorgeous blooms. . .  give someone a living gift of flowers. Every glance at them will be a reminder of your thoughtfulness.” Early pictures of the sanctuary, beautifully decked out with poinsettias, ferns, Easter lilies, and big bouquets, reflect the talents of Ed Horton, a legacy that we celebrate every time we take a bouquet of flowers to someone who needs a little extra love.

You’ve probably never heard of longtime members Florence and Arthur Utting. They lived and worked for many years in the Spaulding Block, an impressive three-story brick building that stood at the corner of River and Main Streets, where the Verizon store is now located. Arthur ran a grocery store on the first floor and Florence had a vanity store right next door. She sold “fancy goods, crockery, and stationary.” In the church’s early days, the Board of Trustees may have been charged with the oversight of our church building, but it was often the Women’s League that did the work of care, cleaning, and improvements. When the church coffers were empty in 1902, it was Florence Utting who came up with $100 to buy new carpeting, paint the walls, and repair the seats. Thank you, Florence!

As I finish this message, I’d like to lead us in a brief reflection about how we might share our time, talents, and treasure with the church, in keeping with the legacy of those quiet saints who have made a difference. Like those faithful ones I have just described—and like the saints in John’s vision, we have found shelter in God. We have claimed the Lord as our shepherd. We trust that we, too, will one day celebrate in that far brighter light on that far better shore.

Let’s begin with thinking about our time. Perhaps, like the Hanmers, we’ll commit ourselves to weekly worship and prayer. We’ll bring our kids to Sunday School. We’ll show up for Bible Studies. We’ll frequent potlucks. We’ll come out for movie nights. We’ll shovel snow or mow the lawn. We’ll do those everyday tasks that sometimes go unnoticed. What will sharing your time look like?

How will we share our talents? Perhaps, like Ed Horton, we’ll serve as an elder. Maybe we’ll exercise our green thumbs with landscaping in the churchyard or growing vegetables in the church garden. Our love for worship and our gifts for order may lead us to serve as a Sanctus volunteer, ensuring that the church is ready for Sunday mornings. We could share gifts of caring as deacons, express our love for children as Sunday School teachers or Youth Group leaders, or bless the church with music in the choir. What will sharing your talents look like?

How will we share our treasure? Today we’ll submit pledges to support the church’s operating budget. We may also choose to follow the example of Florence Utting and provide financial resources for building projects. We could consider a memorial gift in honor of a beloved one. We may even think about a legacy, including the church in our financial planning to bless the generations to come. What will sharing our treasure look like?

On All Saints Sunday, we celebrate the great multitude that rejoices before the heavenly throne, people like Emma and Ted Hanmer, Ed Horton, and Florence and Arthur Utting. Unsung heroes, they shared their time, talents, and treasure to serve God and bless this church. This Sunday, we choose how we will also share of ourselves in gratitude for the shelter we have found in the Good Shepherd. We will most likely never be canonized, and yet there is a place for us before the throne, to rejoice amid the great multitude. May it be so. Amen.

Resources:

“Resident of Saranac Lake Is Only Remaining Builder of Adirondack Guide Boat.” Adirondack Daily Enterprise, June 24, 1935.

“Old Adirondacker of Guide Boat Fame Dies.” Adirondack Daily Enterprise, April 19, 1957.

Evelyn Outcalt and Judy Kratts. “A History of the First Presbyterian Church of Saranac Lake,” July 25, 1990.

Anna M.V. Bowden. “Commentary on Rev. 7:9-17” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 5, 2023. Accessed online at workingpreacher.org.

Micah D. Kiel. “Commentary on Rev. 7:9-17” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 5, 2017. Accessed online at workingpreacher.org.

Walter F. Taylor, Jr. “Commentary on Rev. 7:9-17” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 2, 2014. Accessed online at workingpreacher.org.

Revelation 7:9-17

9After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. 16They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; 17for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

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The Glorious Inheritance

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Sabbath Day Thoughts — “The Glorious Inheritance Eph. 1:11-23

On All Saints Sunday, we remember our ancestors in the faith.

In July 1890 when Jennie Conklin signed her name to the church register as a founding member, she was newly widowed. Earlier that year, Jennie’s husband John had moved the family from Rochester to Saranac Lake in pursuit of a cold air cure for his tuberculosis, but John died soon afterward.  A Scottish immigrant with three children under the age of ten, Jennie was hardworking and resourceful.  She transformed the family home at the corner of Main and Church Streets into one of the village’s earliest and most successful cure cottages.  Jennie accommodated nine tuberculosis patients at a time, charging them $16 to $18 a week for room and board. That may not sound like much money, but in today’s dollars, Jennie collected about $4,700 a week, all while tending to a three-year-old, six-year-old, and a nine-year-old. Jennie brought that same ethic of ingenuity and industry to her forty-five years of church membership. When she died in 1935, she was remembered as an “active worker” for the church, known for her “first-class doughnuts.”

When William and Rosa Roberts signed on as charter members of the church, they were Saranac Lake pioneers. Not long after their marriage in 1874, the two had come to the north shore of Ampersand Bay where William served as the clerk for the Saranac Lake House, one of the most famous Adirondack hotels of the 19th century. By the time the Lake House burned down in 1888, William Roberts had moved on to serve as the village’s first postmaster. Then, as the tuberculosis boom brought more and more people to town, Roberts saw his opportunity and took it, launching a real estate and insurance agency. William Roberts helped to build this sanctuary.  He was one of the church’s first two elders. In fact, he served as our clerk of session for thirty-eight years, until his retirement in 1928, taking minutes in a nearly indecipherable hand.  You can see him in the photo at the back of the church walking ahead of President Coolidge and Rev. Newell as they emerge from worship. He was notoriously intolerant of long-winded preachers.  One Sunday, he felt the service ran too long, so he collected folding chairs from the center aisle when people rose to sing the last hymn. Unaware that their chairs were gone, worshippers tumbled to the ground when they tried to take their seats for the postlude.

When William Roberts died in 1934, the church grieved, and the elders of session served as his pallbearers.  Among those who carried the burden was Dr. Hugh McClennan Kinghorn. Kinghorn was the young medical superintendent of Montreal General Hospital in 1896 when he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. He came to Saranac Lake for treatment from EL Trudeau and stayed on after receiving a clean bill of health, serving first as an assistant to Dr. Trudeau and then opening his own medical practice, just one block up Church Street. There was great excitement at the session table in 1897 when Rev. Tatlock announced that Dr. Kinghorn was joining the church. He was promptly appointed to the newly minted board of deacons and continued to be a mainstay of the church for sixty years, until his death in 1957. Dr. Kinghorn was particularly interested in the spiritual nurture of young people. In the mid-1920’s he recommended that confirmation students be given Bibles upon joining the church, a practice we continue today. He also suggested that the minister counsel the youth of the church on the importance of abstinence from the consumption of alcohol.

Jennie Conklin, William Roberts, Hugh Kinghorn. What a glorious inheritance they have left for us here at the Presbyterian Church!

In our reading from the letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul reminded the church that they were heirs to a glorious inheritance.  Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of what is now Turkey, was the leading city of the Roman Province of Asia.  The prosperous port was home to a prominent Jewish community and a well-established synagogue. There Paul had taught for three months during his third missionary journey, until he wore out the patience of the temple’s traditionalists and was asked to leave.  Ephesus was also a major center for pagan worship. Indeed, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Tempe of Artemis, drew worshippers from across the Roman Empire.  There pilgrims sacrificed to a many-breasted idol that had fallen from the sky.  Paul, Apollos, Prisca, and Aquila had improbably planted a church in Ephesus, a Christian community that had knit Jews and Gentiles into the body of Christ.

Being a Christian wasn’t easy for those first church members in Ephesus.  They faced opposition from the synagogue, which saw them as heretics who had forsaken the Torah to affiliate with unclean Gentiles.  They also faced opposition from their pagan neighbors.  In one of the most sensational stories of the Acts of the Apostles, we learn that Demetrius the silversmith started a riot in Ephesus in protest of Christians, whose winning ways detracted from the worship of Artemis and put a dent in his sale of silver idols. Members of the Ephesian church were verbally abused and beaten during the riot, and Paul was forced to flee for his life.

It sounds like a tough setting for ministry, yet Paul wrote that his Ephesian friends had every reason to celebrate.  Through Jesus Christ, God had claimed them for God’s purpose and adopted them into the people of Israel. They had a share in the glory and honor and power of Jesus, who had been raised from the dead and seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly realm.  Earthly powers of synagogue and temple might make for challenging ministry, but the faithful of Ephesus were heirs to a glorious inheritance among the saints.  Because they dared to hope in Jesus, the Ephesians could live for the praise of his glory. Their mourning turned to dancing, their lament to jubilation. How could they keep from singing?

On All Saints Sunday, we consider our glorious inheritance among the saints – the saints of Ephesus and the saints of Saranac Lake, like Jennie Conklin, William Roberts, and Hugh Kinghorn.  We, too, have been claimed by Christ and sealed with the Spirit for God’s purpose.  We also acknowledge the responsibility that comes with that wondrous heritage. As heirs and bearers of a legacy, we live in ways that are worthy of our calling. We honor the past and look to God’s future, confident that we are beloved children and inheritors of an imperishable legacy. 

This church abounds with people who honor our glorious inheritance with the sharing of their time, talent, and treasure.  Ted Gaylord, Anita Estling, and Skip Outcalt followed in the footsteps of William Roberts as Clerks of Session.  They may not have served in that capacity for thirty-eight years straight, but their handwriting is a whole lot better.  And with the advent of computers and acid-free papers, the minutes they take today will be perfectly legible for the saints of tomorrow. Others among us have served as elders, doing the prophetic work of making budgets, planning programs, discerning where the Spirit may be leading, and sharing the yoke of leadership. Do we have some elders here today? 

Others among us have, like Dr. Kinghorn, been called to the Board of Deacons.  We care for members and friends in times of sickness or struggle.  We are the first to welcome our babies and to bless our dead.  We have been known to prepare a delicious Spaghetti Dinner or offer tasty treats in big bake sales.  We raise money and awareness to support vulnerable neighbors through the Deacons’ Fund. Do we have any deacons here today?

Many, like Jennie Conklin, honor our glorious inheritance as “active workers” behind the scenes.  We prepare the sanctuary for Sunday mornings as Sanctus volunteers.  We mow the lawn and shovel snow.  We roll up our sleeves for the annual spring cleaning.  We ply the paintbrush, hammer nails, hang drywall, run electrical wiring, or implement new technology. We make “first-class donuts,” chicken noodle soup, and Mardi gras king cake.  Do we have any “active workers” out there?

On this All Saints Day, we remember that we are heirs to a glorious inheritance and bearers of a local legacy.  Through Christ we are welcomed into the company of all the saints, and by choice we have followed in the footsteps of local saints.  Let us live in ways that are worthy of our calling, honoring the past and looking to God’s future, saints one and all.

Resources:

Evelyn Outcalt and Judy Kratts. A History of the First Presbyterian Church of Saranac Lake. Church archives.

Historic Saranac Lake. “Hugh M. Kinghorn.” Accessed online at https://localwiki.org/hsl/Hugh_M._Kinghorn

–. “Dr. Hugh Kinghorn Dies; 61 Years in Saranac Lake.” Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Nov. 7, 1957.

–. “Jane Conklin.” Accessed online at https://localwiki.org/hsl/Jane_Conklin

–. “MRS. CONKLIN DIES AFTER LONG ILLNESS.” Adirondack Daily Enterprise, June 15, 1935.

–. “William F. Roberts.” Accessed online at https://localwiki.org/hsl/William_F._Roberts

–. : W.F. ROBERTS, SARANAC LAKE PIONEER, DEAD.” Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Dec. 13, 1934.

Sally Brown. “Commentary on Eph. 1:11-23” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 7, 2010. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/all-saints-day-2/commentary-on-ephesians-111-23-5

Emerson Powery. “Commentary on Eph. 1:11-23” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 3, 2019. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/all-saints-day-2/commentary-on-ephesians-111-23-4

Mark Tranvik. “Commentary on Eph. 1:11-23” in Preaching This Week, Nov. 3, 2013. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/all-saints-day-2/commentary-on-ephesians-111-23-3

Ephesians 1:11-23

11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. 15I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

First Presbyterian Church of Saranac Lake, 1901