The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church - Cleveland, NC
RCL – Year B (All Saints’ Day) – November 1, 2009
Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44
Happy All Hallows’! This is one of those special days, one of those great feasts in the liturgical calendar where we pause for a minute and remember all the holy ones (All Hallows’)… the Saints that are part of our common life as Christians…
All of the saints that have gone before us, ALL of the saints that are here today and ALL of the saints who will come after us… All part of that great communion or gathering of the saints.
You all know, that I love to learning about Church History and ALL of the great witnesses that have gone before us… But I want you all to know that most of the Saints’ that I know were not great witnesses to the faith, nor will they be martyrs, or great confessors, or not even great theologians. But they are Saints!… and that includes us. We are all saints…
I love telling the story this time of year about the wise old priest who was once asked, “How many people were at the early celebration of the Eucharist last Wednesday morning?” The old wise priest replied, “There were three old ladies and the janitor… several thousand archangels, a large number of seraphim, along with several million of the triumphant saints of God.” He had a grasp of what it meant to be celebrating with that great ‘cloud of witnesses’ or the communion of saints at every Eucharistic feast.
It is actions like this that become the answer to our deep human urge to be part of something larger than ourselves, to not just stand alone… It gives our simple individual lives meaning. It has often been said that “one drop of water, when left alone, evaporates very quickly. But one drop of water in the immense sea endures.” We are connected to something larger… we are very much a part of that great communion of saints.
We are as St. Paul said, “Children of God.” We hold that divine seed of Christ within us, because we have been created by the one true living God! We are Holy – All Hallow – We are blessed! We are Saints! That’s what we are!
Because everyone who claims Christ as Lord and Savior, and has been baptized into Christ’s life, death, and resurrection has been purified and made holy, and made His saints - Saints to dwell in the fellowship of the communion of saints. And today is our special feast day! This is our day to celebrate the everlasting life that we have as a result of our faith in Christ and our adoption as Children of God. That’s a lot to take in…
We have a special day on the calendar that is ours… I don’t know if any of us realized that... But not only do we have a special day, we share it with all the other great ones that don’t have another day specifically assigned on the liturgical calendar…
You can probably sit for a second and think of who those great ones are… You could name all the saints in your life… it could be your husband or wife, your sister, brother, cousin, child, nephew, grandparent… the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the peacemakers… anyone in whom you have been able to recognize that Christ within…
That Christ that is the light… the light of the world… I always like the image of a stained glass window… reminding us that as saints we are like a stained glass window… We let the light of Christ shine through. Or even the other metaphor that says… “a Christian is like a keyhole, though which other folk see God”... All of the Christians in our lives are saints; it is just that some of them have day jobs and most of them will never have a feast day named for them.
The challenge this morning is for us to be that stained glass… to be that keyhole… To be that person on the day job that lets the light of Christ shine through…
Allowing others to see that Christ within because we live with that unquestionable faith in the God who created us, who redeemed us, and is sustaining us…
This morning, we get to add two more to that great multitude of saints who walk in the light of Christ. In a few minutes, Ginger and Megan will share with us in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and become part of the great communion of Saints.
They, like Lazauras, in the Gospel Lesson, will come out of the darkness of the tomb of their lives into the light of Christ. They will loose themselves from the things that bind them down, the evils in this world that seeks to destroy the creatures of God.
It has been a long season of learning… learning how to live a life of discipleship… learning of how to be the church and love one another, growing and learning about how to reach out to others and show others the kingdom of God… Learning how to build up God’s kingdom using our earthly treasures and talents. Letting the Christ that we believe in, whom we emulate… who is known by us, and who knows us – be known to the world. And when it gets rough, that is when it is most important… That’s when we have to reach down deep, into our innermost self, and trust that God in Christ will help us.
It is our training to become saints…
Have you ever noticed the baptismal covenant promises, (that we will say together with Ginger and Megan in a few minutes). It never says that we can do it all by ourselves… It never says that we have been shown, therefore we are on our own…
It always says, “with God’s help”… It is with God’s help that we are able to resist evil, and proclaim the Good News of God in Jesus Christ to the world…
It is with God’s help that we continue to learn about our faith in the apostles’ teaching, and continue to break bread and join in the prayers… to love “the other” our neighbor as our self.
It is an ongoing process for us… with God’s help… so as assured as our sainthood may be, it is up to us to continually strive to become the best saints we can be – with God’s help…
As we stand in a few minutes and recite the baptismal vows, we will once again have the chance to own these for ourselves, we get the chance to be refreshed, and transformed, as we seek to be formed in the image of Christ…
My prayer for us is that we all pay attention to the words as we own them once again… And then seek to do the things that we promise to do together as followers of Christ… and then live a life worthy of the sainthood that we have all been given.
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