Valois United Church

Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
Ephesians 1:11-23

I guess not many sermons are preached from the Daniel text which we heard this morning.  In part, the apocalyptic form of the book is not something we’re used to.  We encounter it in Daniel, and we run into it again in the book of Revelations - - which is also not used in many United Church sermons!

But it is a part of our tradition, it is a part of our scripture - so let’s see what it will say to us today.  

The book was written in about 165 B.C.
Life for the faithful Jews was not good -
    IV Epiphanes was a Hellenistic ruler who decided, after unsuccessfully invading Egypt, to persecute the Jews.  He desecrated the temple by killing a pig on the altar of the Temple, and burning it there, and trying to force people to eat the pork - and when they refused.... well, we won’t get into that part.  

As far as is known, this is the first truly religious persecution.
That is life in 165 B.C.

People needed encouraging.
And what better way than to do so than to go back to an earlier time,
to look back at the Babylonian exile - which took place 400 years earlier.

In the Babylonian exile experience, the people learned an important lesson:
    Even in desperate times, God was with them.  They were not alone.
And that was an essential message for the people of 165 B.C.

So the writer set the book back 400 years, and centred it around Daniel, one recognized by Ezekiel as being wise and faithful, being on a level with Noah and Job.

In fact, part of what we take from this is the reminder that, as today we look back to discover those who have been faithful, as today we look back to remember those who have gone before us, so did the people of 165 BC look back and remember their “saints” - Noah, Job, Daniel.

And as the writer of this book remembered this faithful one, Daniel,
he wrote in an apocalyptic style.  Takes some getting used to.  And some interpretation is needed.  And a warning, too - - that misinterpretation, or over-interpretation are risks that go with this kind of material from the Bible.

People have tried to ascribe various current identities to the beasts of this passage.
But one has to consider that they were current political, military forces of the day:
Babylon, Medea, Persia and the Seleucids.

They do not represent anything other than that.  They do not represent religions of today, nor leaders of particular denominations, or peoples of particular modern nations.  None of it.  This book was written by an author in 165 BC to address the people of the day.  And to assure them of the bottom line, that just as God was with the people of the exile, 400 years before, so God was with them in their own time of persecution.  They were not alone.  

Today we celebrate All Saints.  The day is not until November 1, but we celebrate it today.  Now, in our United Church tradition, we do beatify saints.  And when we celebrate this day, we are not thinking of the word “saints” with a capital “S”.  It’s a small “s”: saints.

And so we are remembering the faithful.  
Like Noah and Daniel and Job.
And the writer of the book of Daniel.
And a whole bunch of others in ancient times who discovered that they were not alone, that God was with them in their day.

And so we are remembering the faithful.
Like the disciples, like Paul and Philip and a whole cast of characters from the New Testament who discovered that they were not alone, that God was with them in their day, whether they were listening to Jesus, or thrown in jail by the Roman regime.

And so we are remembering the faithful of 2000 years
including the ones who impacted our lives directly:
Moms and Dads, aunts and uncles,
preachers and Sunday School Teachers
people who discoved and showed that they were not alone,
that God was with them in their day, through wars, through depressions, through all the many experiences of their lives.

And then we come to today.
Without thinking that the writer of Daniel was thinking about our day,
we do know that we have our own beasts in our day:
We have the beasts of religious extremism,
we have the beasts of pollution and environmental concerns,
we have the beasts of racism and intolerance in our very own society,
we have the beasts of drugs and crime.

And in the midst of it, without denying the troubles,
We remember the people of faith.  
We celebrate their faithfulness.  
Our faith is nurtured.
And we affirm, even in our day:
We are not alone.  Thanks be to God.