Sermon for All Saints Day (November 3, 2024)
Sermon for All Saints Day (November 3, 2024) at St.James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day.
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Transcript
May only truth be spoken here and only truth be heard in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated.
In the revelation to John, we heard, see the home of God is with mortals. God will dwell with them. They will be God's people. God will be their God. The home of God is among the living who will die and God will be with them. They will be God's people. I need to hear that this week. There is so much anxiety in every room that I walk into this week. Every time I pick up the phone, every time I turn on the news, it might be me. I might be the one bringing the anxiety into the room.
But it is like we experienced in the pandemic. Each of us goes through seasons in life where we're carrying a private anxiety or grief, our own suffering. And what we're used to is if I am anxious, maybe my companion Gail has in her heart the peace that passes understanding. So if I'm shaking, I can lean on my friend and she can hold me up and we can walk together. But remember what we experienced during the pandemic is what happens when it's like someone took the whole world and started shaking it and everyone's knees are shaking and no one feels like they're on solid ground. Then what are we supposed to do?
Fear is all around. So where can we stand? And upon whom can we lean? The home of God is among mortals, those who inhabit time and who will die, and in whom nevertheless, the light of Christ shines. I'm so grateful that today is All Saints Day. During our communion, we are going to fill this altar with light to symbolize, to remind us of the light that shines in the lives of the saints of God, the great apostles, teachers martyrs. Maybe you'll light one of these candles for Mary of Magdala or for St. John the Divine or for Julian of Norwich who said, during the plague, all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well. Or maybe you'll light one of these candles for someone who at some point sat in one of these very pews next to you and who you watched pass through life in the steady faith that God's home is here with us and whose faith made them brave and true.
Someone whose example you want to follow today, this week, but we're going to fill this little altar with light as an answer to the question. When the world has been taken and everybody's knees are shaking and there seems to be no solid place for us to stand, who should we lean on? God, of course God, but the saints God is God divine. There's a beautiful prayer that asks God to carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation. God who changes not, abide with me. We can find solidity in God who transcends all of the shakiness, but the home of God is also among those who are mortal and who are shaken. And it is Jesus who reveals this and it is the saints in whom that truth shines. They walk one foot in front of the other day by day with the light of Christ shining in their hearts and when it was time for this mortal life to end, they take their place in the glorious company in heaven with God.
And it is the saints, your saints, our saints upon whose prayers and love encourage. I ask you to lean today because they were people like the hymn says, who were just like me and you. They were not fully human and fully divine. They were people who were frightened, who were uncertain. And yet people who knew that the heart of Jesus was beating at the heart of their lives, people who walked through great darkness and knew that there was a light within and all around that the darkness would not overcome. And when we gather in this room, when we gather around this table, we are leaning on them. We are sharing in the blessed communion with all the saints who are praying for you and for me. Even now, God help her to have courage. God help him to walk in the way of Jesus. No matter what the world may throw at him, the saints are praying for you.
And their example is a light for your path. What does it take to be a saint? Who gets to be a saint in the New Testament? Over and over again, the leaders of the early churches write to the people of their church and call them saints. The saints of God are just folks like me. What it takes to be a saint is to promise to do with God's help what the life of Christ within you calls you to do. And at its very simplest, you are already a saint because you have been baptized into the blessed communion of saints as a baptized person in this place who belongs to the body of Christ. To be a saint means to know that you are part of that body, that the knees of that body do not shake, but the feet of that body have a dwelling place, eternal in the heavens and that you are called now to respond to the world as God calls you. And it's all outlined in the vows we make at baptism, will you seek and serve Christ in all persons loving your neighbor as yourself?
We say, I will because I have God's help. Will you stand for justice and peace and uphold the dignity of every human being? I will because I have God's help. Will you persevere in resisting evil when harm is coming toward one of God's children? Will I hear God's call to place my power in the way when words are spoken that would cause the least of these to stumble? Will you speak up even if your voice shakes and when it comes to persevering and resisting evil, will you look within your own heart too? Because with all of these things, it begins with us. And if we cannot see the log in our own eye, we cannot hope to resist the evil we see in the world around us. Will we persevere in resisting what is evil? And whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the God of love? We will because we have God's help.
And the very first of these vows that we make at baptism that we will renew together this morning lest we forget our calling to be the body of Christ. Will you continue in the apostles teaching and fellowship? Will you listen to the Spirit as She speaks through the ages, as she shows up in the lives of the saints who lived through worlds just like this one? And sometimes worse. Will you continue to heed the teaching of their lives and will you continue to break the bread to share your bread? And will you persevere in prayer? Because the Lord knows that we need to pray.
I will because it is God who helps and because I belong to the body of Christ, which prays, breaks bread, protects the vulnerable, speaks for those who are in harm's way, sees Christ in everyone, even those who might cause us harm and live a life of service that is an offering and a sacrifice of love to the God who gave us this life, who gives us the love and the courage to persevere. Who gives us the examples of the saints and the power of Jesus who was not afraid to take away the stone, look death in the face and say, let him go. Let all of them be free.
Let the light shine in the darkness and let it not be overcome. In that hymn, we sang at the beginning, which, thank you guys for singing all eight verses. God bless you. But ask my husband, have I not been singing that hymn all around the house all week, all week? Because we need whatever it is that will keep us stout hearted, courageous. And that fourth verse: we feebly struggle, our knees shake, our voice shakes. We are afraid. We aren't sure what to do. We are humble. We want to be right. We feebly struggle. They in glory shine! With the light of Christ. But all are one in thee, one body, for all are thine. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.