Well, as usual, I’m a day late and a dollar short.  Actually, I’m more than a day late this time, because Halloween was on Wednesday, and here it is Sunday, four days later, and it’s only now that I’m going to tell you “How to Build a Haunted House.” 

I have to tell you first of all that I have never really liked Halloween.  I’m glad it’s over.  I know for some of you, it’s your favorite holiday, you start decorating on July 4 or Memorial Day, or whatever it is, but I’ve never really liked Halloween.  I especially don’t like all of these horror movies that seem to come out at this time of year.  Of course, as a kid I was curious about these horror movies.  I wasn’t allowed to watch them, but I would sneak off to a friend’s house sometimes, or get up in the middle of the night, and watch a horror movie, they were pretty tame back then compared to now.  But I would watch these scary movies sometimes, and then I would go to bed, and be wide awake, anxious over every sound, every floorboard that creaked, sure that the monsters I saw in a movie were right outside my door, or in the closet, or under the bed, lurking, waiting, for just that instant when I would fall asleep so they could do something.           

I remember hearing about this little boy who was playing outside, and using his mother’s broom as a toy horse.  When it got dark, he left the broom in the yard and went inside.  His mother, looking for the broom later, asked if he knew where it was, and he told her it was outside.  So she asked him if he would go out and get it, since he was the one who left it out there.  But the boy said that he was afraid of the dark and didn’t want to go out there.  But the mother said, “Don’t be afraid.  There’s nothing to be afraid of.  Jesus will be out there with you.”  So the boy opened the front door, and kind of looked out there, a bit hesitantly, he wasn’t so sure about this, and finally he said, “Jesus, if you’re out there, will you please hand me the broom?”           

There are things in life that are kind of scary: the darkness, Halloween and horror movies.  Maybe it’s something else for you.  One of the things we sometimes think about and worry a little about, and even are perhaps a bit scared by, is this question: What will be the result of my life?  What difference have I made with my life?  What is my legacy?  What am I leaving behind?  At the end of their terms in office, they say that every President begins to worry about his legacy.  How will history remember his presidency?  I wonder if this is not something that should be more consciously on our minds as well as we live our lives.           

Everyone here no doubt has heard of the Nobel prizes that are awarded every year in medicine and science and literature.  We probably hear most about the Nobel Peace Prize.  But do you know where the Nobel Prize comes from?  Probably you do.  Alfred Nobel was a chemist in Sweden in the 19^th century, who made his fortune by inventing dynamite and other explosives, and then he founded a company that made munitions and armaments.  One day Alfred’s brother died, and one newspaper, instead of printing his brother’s obituary, mistakenly printed Alfred’s obituary, thinking he was the one who died.  So Alfred Nobel got to read his own obituary, what people thought of him, what his legacy was, while he was still alive.  And what he read was this, “The merchant of death is dead.  Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”  Well he was shaken by this assessment of his life, and he resolved to use his fortune from then on to award accomplishments that benefited humanity.  And so the Nobel Prize was born.  He couldn’t undo what he’d done, but he wanted something other than dynamite to be what lived on after him.  He had the rare opportunity to read his own obituary, but then to live to try and change what that obituary might say.           

Now I know that this is a little morbid, but we are still in the aftermath of Halloween, and so I’ll ask you, what would you want your obituary to say?  What do you want your legacy to be?  What do you want to live on after you?  Bill Hybels is the pastor of what I believe is the largest church in America, out in a suburb of Chicago.  And early on in his life he was going in a different direction altogether with his life, and not a completely good direction, but someone saw the great potential in this young man and took him aside one day and asked him, “Bill, what are you doing with your life that will last forever?”  And this simple question changed his life.  Maybe this is the real question we need to ask ourselves, “What are you doing with your life that will last forever?”  What am I doing with my life?           

It is on days such as this, All Saints’ Sunday, when we express our gratitude for those who must have asked themselves this question, “What am I doing with my life that will last forever?” and what they came up with, their answer was that they were going to build this church.  They were going to use their imaginations, they were going to take risks, they were going to allow God to use them, and then see what happened, and this is what happened.  Now many who built this church, and who are continuing to build in a variety of ways, are right here with us, you’re right here in the pews.  But some of those who built, some of those who sacrificed have traveled on to that eternal kingdom, and we call them saints.           

I’ve been in contact with Dr. Harry Peelor, the founding pastor and magnetic preacher and chief dreamer and visionary of those early years here at the church, and Dr. Peelor tells the story of a time when he was trying to raise money to build this sanctuary, and he happened to be speaking to a group at Jumonville, one of our United Methodist camps, and he told them in irresistible ways I just know about this church he was trying to build, and after his message, a little boy came up to him in tears and said, “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.”  And Dr. Peelor asked him, “What’s wrong?  What are you sorry about?”  And the little boy held up a dime and a nickel and said that he had had a quarter, but he’d spent a dime on some candy, and so he was sorry that he only had 15 cents to give to the building of this church.  There are stories like that in the history of this church.  And there were others in those early days who gave more than just 15 cents, who mortgaged their homes and businesses to make sure that this church was built.  And there are all those who have poured their lives into other building projects, and into the ministry of this church over our 58 years of history.           

We live in a kind of haunted house.  We have inherited a house that is haunted, haunted with memories, haunted with literally thousands and hundreds of thousands of hours of work and effort and resources that have been poured into making this church what it is, haunted with the lives of those who have come and gone on before us.  The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it this way, we are told that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.           

It was Sir Isaac Newton who had this famous quote.  Sir Isaac, of course, is credited with so many scientific inventions and discoveries that revolutionized the way we think about the world.  But he was smart enough to realize that his inventions and discoveries really rested on the hard work of others who had come before, so he once said famously, “If I see further, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.”  If I see further it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.           

There was a little girl I heard about who said something similar.  This three-year-old girl was being carried one day on the shoulders of her grandfather, and they happened to meet a man they knew.  In fact, he had just seen them the day before when the little girl had been walking with grandfather.  But that day she was on her grandfather’s shoulders, and this friend came up and said, “My goodness, how you’ve grown!  You’re about three times taller than you were yesterday.”  And the little girl didn’t quite understand the humor of this, she probably thought who is this idiot who thinks I’ve grown three times taller in one day, doesn’t he see that I’m sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders?  But what she said to the man was, “Not all of this is me.”           

And we might look around too at this church and this congregation and all of our ministries here, we might look around at what all has been accomplished here and is being accomplished here every day, and say, “Not all of this is us.”  We stand on the shoulders of giants.  We have inherited a house that is haunted.  We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.           

The thing is that we now have an obligation ourselves to build a house that is haunted, haunted with love and with faithfulness to God, for the generations that will follow us.  What are you doing with your life that will last forever?  I tremble just a little bit every time I climb into this pulpit and recognize the great responsibility that I’ve been given.  For us, this is something of an adventure to be here: Brenda and Duane’s excellent adventure.  Who ever would have thought?  And yet I tremble just a bit every time I’m up here, and frankly, I wonder if you shouldn’t be trembling just a little bit out there in those pews.           

There was a young minister in England years ago who was preaching to a small evening congregation way out in the rural countryside.  It wasn’t a very large crowd, and some of those who were there left before communion, which was at the end of the service.  There were maybe a half dozen or so who stayed for communion.  This young minister wondered if it was even worth it to continue, he almost suggested that they all just go home, it seemed like such a waste of time to stay.  But he continued, and he came to that part of the liturgy that said, “Therefore with angels and archangels, with the saints of light and all the company of heaven, we laud and glorify Thy name.”  And when he said that he stopped, and thought about it a minute, and read it again, “Therefore with angels and archangels, with the saints of light and all the company of heaven.”  And with that he prayed, “God forgive me, I did not realize I was in such company.”           

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”