He was doing what all pastors do on Sunday morning; he was at this church leading worship that spring morning directing the people in prayer, sharing the news of the church family, and preaching his sermon. While all this was going on, a group of people from the church broke into his house, the manse across the street, and were ransacking the place because they were upset with the pastor and the session for going along with the presbytery’s direction to ordain women as ministers, among other things. They sprayed obscene graffiti down the hallway leading to his children’s bedrooms. They broke windows, smashed pictures, and emptied the contents of the refrigerator into their piano. Drawers were emptied onto the floor and the beds had their mattresses sliced from top to bottom. They wanted to send a message that there was trouble in the church.

This is a church that went through a schism, a rending into two distinct parts and factions. One side used hate and vitriol to get their message of how things at the church should be, “All in the glorious name of Christ.” The other side was caught flat-footed and found itself on the defensive. The case went all the way up to the Georgia State Supreme Court which sided with the members who wanted to stay with the presbytery and continue their over 100-year-old ministry there. I arrived two years later as a fresh new pastor out of seminary to a faithful remnant of 60 people. I wish I could say I made this story up but I’m not.

Needless to say, the church I inherited was the same church that was established back in the 1800s but it was definitely different as a result of the schism that took place. Literal families were ripped apart taking opposite sides on what Christian orthodoxy really was. The remnant there were tired from the fighting. The budget had been whittled away through the lengthy court battles. Now they were fighting to survive and rediscover their sense of purpose in the community. Yes, it was the same church but it was really different.

This is what is going on in our scripture Story this morning. John, the Beloved disciple and one of the first four who responded to Jesus’ call to follow, is writing to a church somewhere in today’s western Turkey. It too was a church that underwent schism over orthodoxy and right beliefs. There were some who said Jesus was a good person but was not really Emmanuel, i.e., God with us. They also taught that in order to find salvation, you had to learn special knowledge about how God worked. They were called Gnostic Christians. The letter of John was written to the remnant who held to Christ as the living Son of God. John is reminding them to maintain pure beliefs about Jesus, to live obedient lives, and to be intentional with their devotion and worship. He was writing to a church that was the same but because of the rift among the people. The church was different now. He was reminding them even though it may feel different, they were to maintain the basics of the faith.

Our brief text this morning is in the midst of a section where John is giving the church some encouragement. Listen to 1 John 3:1-3, the Word of God.

1 John 3:1-3

^3.1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.³ And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.^[1]

The same but different. John reminds the Church that because of Jesus, the Father’s love has been shared with us thereby making Jesus followers adopted children of God. What a powerful promise and fact! No longer are we outsiders looking in through the living room window, but we are now members of the family sitting inside and having our seat at the table! We are the same, but we are so totally different from who we were before. As children, we now have a stake in the family. As children, we now have inheritance rights. As children, we now bask in the love of the gracious Father. And how do we know we are adopted children of the Father? Because we know Jesus.

In 1 John 2 immediately preceding our text this morning, John reminds the Church that those who deny the Son deny the Father but those who confess the Son has the Father as well (1 John 2:23). He assures members of the Church their current family status will reap future rewards later. You see, Jesus’ Easter has given you and me a glimpse of what we will be like when we die and rest with the Father. We will be the same but different. “What we will be has not been revealed but when Jesus reveals himself to us, we will be like him.”

Our Christian faith believes that we will be raised with a spiritual body – same but different. We will be united with God and reunited with those we have lost in this life. Our relationships with them will be the same but different as well. All dysfunctions between us will be erased from the relationships. All ill will, suspicion, and doubt of other people’s motives will be gone. Any sense of impatience with those we knew in this life will melt away as we bask in each other’s presence as we are mutually seated at Christ’s table. There will no longer be any need for fear and the very concept of hatred is an impossibility in the presence of the Loving Father. The Church, life as we know it, our very being will be the same but oh so different when Jesus is revealed to us in eternal life.

Today we pause and remember those saints who have experienced their transition from this life to their life in the glorious presence of God the Father, Son, and Spirit. Our memories with tears remind us of who they were to us but All Saint’s Day is our reminder that they are now so much more of who they were meant to be. They are healed and made whole from any disease or moral deficiencies they had as they have put on God’s heavenly cloak of pure love. They are the same as we knew them, but they are so different now as well. They, along with the angels, cheer us on, encourage us, and tell us we can do it. That’s why communion is so important. It’s our reminder we are not alone and that for this brief moment, we can sit with Jesus and the saints at the Table of Heaven.

In the Name of the One who is, who was, and is yet to come. Amen.

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls.  Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of the First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

^[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.