11/09/2025 ~ Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 27 ~ Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Haggai 1:15b-2:9; Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 or Psalm 98; Job 19:23-27a; Psalm 17:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17; Luke 20:27-38
EKC YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NymSNwZNIg8
HARPSWELL PUBLIC ACCESS TV YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJQsHKfOSfU

The Redeemer

“For I know that my Redeemer lives— / my Vindicator Who, at the last, at the end, / will stand upon the earth;…” — Job 19:25.

I am a voracious reader. You’re probably suspected that. Most of my reading is non-fiction— history, biography— or professional areas— theology, Scripture.

But I occasionally delve into, even re-read fiction, especially science fiction. And so I recently re-devoured the British classic— The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

For those unfamiliar with the books in this series, it’s a combination of science fiction and dry British humor. Think Star Wars meets Monty Python and you’ve got it.

Here’s an example of its comedic style. The Hitchhiker’s books are called a trilogy— three books. Except there are five books in The Hitchhiker’s trilogy— that’s British humor— strange, dry, eccentric.

At the start of the story Arthur Dent, the protagonist, finds his house surrounded by bulldozers. They are there to destroy Arthur’s house and build a highway right through where the house was. The foreman says the demolition plans have been available at city hall for months. Arthur says ‘no one told me’ and lays down in front of the bulldozers.

But Arthur’s best friend, Ford Perfect, snatches him away and takes him to a local pub. Despite looking human, unbeknownst to Arthur, Ford Perfect is from another planet and knows the Earth is about to be destroyed. Determined to avoid being caught up in this, Perfect insists he must hitchhike on a starship and wants to take with Arthur him.

Why is the Earth being destroyed? Like the bulldozers at Arthur’s house, the Earth is being destroyed to build a superhighway for starships. The documents about it are on file at a record hall in another galaxy but earthlings don’t know it.

Hence, not far into the novel the Earth is destroyed, gone. But Arthur and Ford Perfect escape by hitching a ride on a starship. As I indicated, British humor— dry, eccentric— and it takes strange, interesting turns. (Slight pause.)

I have mentioned this about my family background here before. When I was about five, my father had what back then was called a nervous breakdown. Today we would have describe it as the onset of the mental illness identified as passive dependency or passive aggression.

While I won’t get deep into the psychology of this, one way to look at it is to say I lost my father figure. So for me the Earth, as I knew it, was destroyed. And like the hitchhiker Arthur Dent I survived. (Long pause.)

This is what we find in the work known as Job: “For I know that my Redeemer lives— / my Vindicator Who, at the last, at the end, / will stand upon the earth;…” (Slight pause.)

Christians often refer to Jesus as the Redeemer. I would be the last one to disagree with that. Equally, because I read a lot about theology and Scripture, I know to exclusively limit the idea of redeemer to Christianity, while a fairly common practice, defies the evidence in Scripture. As we just heard, in Job God the Creator is called ‘redeemer.’

In fact, in Handel’s Messiah the work, I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, strings together both this passage from Job and words from I Corinthians 15. This music tells us God as Redeemer is not exclusively Christian. The testaments are connected, a continuum. The God of the Hebrew Scriptures and Jesus— they are connected.

That brings us to the story we heard from Luke. At the resurrection who will be the husband of this woman who has married seven? While the answer of Jesus is couched in the language of resurrection, Jesus is not making a point about resurrection.

What is the point Jesus makes? (Quote:) “God is not of the dead but of the living. All of them are alive to God.”

God lives. That is the belief of Jews. That is the belief of Christians. God lives.

The idea that God lives, moves and works among us not confined to one segment of the text. That concept is scattered throughout Scripture. (Slight pause.)

The Call to Worship today paraphrased words from Psalm 98. Quote: “God has made salvation known, has shown vindication, divine justice, to the nations / Yahweh, God Who forever remembers us with steadfast love, truth and faithfulness.”

A God Who does these things is a living God. God is then and God is now and God is in the future. God lives. (Slight pause.)

That, in turn, does bring us to the belief called Resurrection. If God lives, if God is in ancient times, if God is now, if God is in the future, if Jesus and God are connected— then Jesus— Who we call the Second Person of the Trinity— lives. (Slight pause.)

I say this each Easter Sunday morning. Resurrection is not about resuscitation nor is it about reanimation. Resurrection addresses a basic Jewish belief and a basic Christian belief: God lives. (Slight pause.)

That brings us back to both my background and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide the Earth is destroyed. But survive Arthur Dent did.

My world was destroyed when I was young because a parental figure in my life ceased to be present to me. But survive I did. Paradoxically, that opened my eyes to a theological truth: God lives.

I realized that truth because, while my world was shattered, my world was not destroyed. For reasons I cannot, myself, explain, I held firm onto the reality, the truth we call the living God. (Slight pause.)

Diana Butler Bass is an Episcopal member of the laity but she’s also church historian and theologian. In Credo, A Litany of Grace she reminds us the Latin word Credo does not mean “I believe.” Credo means ‘I give my whole heart.’

She also says this (quote:) “I believe God creates the world and all therein— good, even very good, no matter how far from that goodness human beings wander; I believe Love casts out fear and that living with compassion is the path to joy; I believe Gratitude threads all of the connections in the web of life.”

“I believe Wisdom dwells among us, embodying both divine insight and human intellect; I believe Hope banishes cynicism, always drawing us toward a creative future;…”

“I believe Awe opens us to an awakened life that reaches out to the world to restore and save; I believe Justice flows all around us, like a healing river; I believe All Shall Be Well.” — the words of Diana Butler Bass. (Slight pause.)

Do terrible things happen, things we abhor, do they happen? Yes, they do. Our world can feel like it has been destroyed, shattered. But God lives.

And my point is not just that God lives. God walks with us at all times and in all ways. God is with us, always. Or as Diana Butler Bass says, “All shall be well.”

You see, when the words “I know that my Redeemer lives” are said what we need to understand and to hear that is this simple: God lives. God is with us. God walks with us. Amen.

11/09/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “The well known pastor and theologian Brian McLaren said ‘If you summarize all the work of Diana Butler Bass into a single thought this would be it: “Nostalgia is a really, really bad idea.”’ Brian McLaren on Diana Butler Bass. Why is nostalgia a bad idea? It’s about yesterday. But God lives is about right here and right now and about what will be. It’s not about yesterday. Fondly remembering is fine. But do not let fondly remembering— what we call nostalgia— interfere with this basic theological concept: God lives.”

BENEDICTION: We can find the presence of God in unexpected places. God’s light leads us to places we thought not possible just moments ago. God’s love abounds and will live with us throughout eternity. The grace of God is deeper than our imagination. The strength of Christ is stronger than our needs. The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. May the one triune God sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.