All Saints' Sunday - November 6

Knit Together

Collect for All Saints' Day

November 1 of course is All Saints’ Day.  One of the great festive holy days in the church calendar.  We’re allowed to transfer it to the following Sunday, so we celebrating All Saints’ Day today in our worship together.

All Saints’ Day.  Have you ever thought about the fact that’s is not called “some” saints day?  It’s not Some Saints’ Day, it’s All Saints’ Day.  There is no division or separation or exclusion among the saints.

This is the way the word “saints” is used in the New Testament.  Writing at the beginning of the letter to the Ephesians, a few verses before this morning’ s reading Paul says:  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus…  all the saints…  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  The saints are all the people who seek to follow Christ.

The saints are not separated or differentiated:  by age, by relative sinfulness or holiness, by political persuasion, slave or free, male or female.  And, although Paul wouldn’t have been thinking of this as he wrote to the Ephesians, today we see there is no separation between saints living and dead.  It is All Saints’ Day.

And to be a saint, to be among the saints is to be knit together.  In one sense, there really isn’t such thing as a single saint.  Yes, an individual person is a saint, but never in isolation.  To be a saint is to be part of the communion of saints.  Remember the All Saints’ Day collect we just prayed: Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord.

Almighty God, knit together your elect in the mystical body of your son.  God’s elect, the saints, are knit together.  And it is the mystical body of Christ that knits, weaves, binds us together into one communion and fellowship.

As I think about it, there are several Implications of being knit together in Christ.

First, among the living saints, all of us who seek to follow Christ and still live this mortal life.  We are knit together into one communion.  Knit together by the body of Christ.

The world seems more belligerent, divided, and partisan now than it has every been, at least in recent times.  Or maybe it isn’t; maybe people are just acting on feelings that have always been there.  But actions can be controlled.  What if we worked at acting like we were bound together in Christ?  What if we all worked at acting like the body of Christ unites us and holds us together?

Second, the living and the dead are knit together, too, by the mystical body of Christ.  I think especially of the faithful departed saints whom we remembered on Wednesday at the All Souls’ Day service.  These are the saints we knew and loved in life who now live in the nearer presence of God.  These are people who, in life, were bound to us by bonds of love and friendship.  Those bonds are not broken by death.  We are still united, knit together by the body of Christ.

I’m reminded of a prayer I know I’ve mentioned before.  It’s not in the Prayer Book, but it is a part of our Anglican tradition and is often said at burials.

What you give, dear God, you do not take away…..  These people whom you gave to us, whom we have loved, you do not take away…..  For what is yours is ours always, if we are yours.  And life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.  Lift us up, O God, that we may see further; cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly; draw us closer to yourself that we may know ourselves nearer to our beloved who are with you.

Finally, for all of the saints to be knit together in one communion, is to have a common purpose, a common hope.  It is to share the promise of fullness of life in Christ, to seek the ineffable joys mentioned in the collect, to hope for the riches of Jesus’ glorious inheritance among the saints described by Paul in Ephesians.

All the saints, living and dead, share this common promise and hope.  And for us, today, to be knit into this holy fellowship of saints is to be supported by them in our life in Christ.  We are knit together with all the saints, the famous ones in the windows, the dear ones we remembered on All Souls’ Day, the familiar ones sitting next to us in the pews.  A mighty cloud of witnesses, living and dead, sharing a common hope, offering their presence with us to teach, guide, support and encourage us as faithful followers of Christ.

We are knit into the communion of saints.  Thanks be to God.

All Saints Sunday - November 2

God Trusts Us

We are celebrating All Saints Day today. All Saints Day is one of the seven principal feast days of the church… the most important celebrations we share in our worship life together. As many of you know, it actually fell on the calendar yesterday, November 1. All Saints Day is the only one of the seven principal feasts that we are allowed to transfer from its actual day to a Sunday so that we can celebrate our day, All Saints Day, together as the saints of the church.

All Saints is also one of the days on which we focus on baptism. For reasons that I hope are obvious, it’s a great day to be baptized, to be brought into the communion of saints. And today we will baptize Sarah and welcome her into the Body of Christ, the household of God, the communion of saints.

When we talk about baptism, we often talk about covenant—the baptismal covenant. We will all review and renew our baptismal covenant within the context of the baptism service. Covenant is one of those words we really only use in the church. Basically, it just means contract. A contract between two parties. In this case the two parties are God and each of us. The baptismal covenant is a contract between anyone who is baptized and God.

I was at a service yesterday at the local synagogue and one of the rabbis who spoke sort of indirectly helped illuminate for me one aspect of covenant. And that is trust. Our baptismal covenant with God is sealed and bound by trust. It is not enforced by the threat of penalties as most civil contracts are. Trust—only and profoundly—trust seals and sustains our covenant with God.

We are often called upon to put our trust in God. And in the baptismal covenant we do. We place our trust in God’s abiding love and care for us, as expressed by Jesus at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. “I will be with you always to the end of the ages.” We express our trust that God will keep God’s promise to us, the promise of eternal life with God. We trust God’s will for us, as best we are able to discern that will. Our trust in God binds us to God in covenant.

But have you ever thought about the other side of it? How wondrous and momentous it is that God trusts us?!

Our baptismal covenant is also sustained and sealed by God’s trust of us.

God trusts us. And God trusts us with a lot.

God trusts us to be faithful. God trusts that we will be faithful.

And, especially within the context of the baptismal covenant, being faithful means living as the Body of Christ. God trusts us to be the Body of Christ. How to do that is described in the words of the baptismal covenant. We are to gather together, as a body, for prayer, study and fellowship. We are to be the voice of the Body of Christ, proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ to the world. We are to be the hands and feet of the Body of Christ, working for justice and peace for all human beings. God trusts us with the work of the Body of Christ. God trusts us to be the Body of Christ.

Our covenant with God is bound and sustained, not only by our trust in God, but by God’s trust in us.

God trusts us to be saints!

All Saints' Sunday - November 3

People the Lights Shine Through

We are celebrating All Saints’ Day today. Of the seven Principal Feasts in our calendar, it is the only one that the Prayer Book allows us to transfer from its appointed day—November 1—to the following Sunday.

Reading from Holy Women, Holy Men, our book for the calendar of saints: The Church is “the communion of saints”, that is, a people made holy through their mutual participation in the mystery of Christ. This communion exists through history, continues in the present, and endures beyond the grave and gate of death into heaven, for God is not a God of the dead but of the living, and those still on their earthly pilgrimage continue to have fellowship with those whose work is done. The pilgrim Church and the Church at rest join in watching and praying for that great day when Christ shall come again to change and make perfect our common humanity in the image of Christ’s risen glory.

The Church, us, is the communion of saints. We are saints. Made holy, by God, through our mutual participation in the mystery of Christ. All the way back to the Old Testament, although sainthood would have been described a bit differently, the faithful, the saints were all those who are in relationship with God. God makes God’s people saints.

For another different, but complementary definition of sainthood, I want to share a story. This story has circulated around the church for a while. You’ve either heard a hundred times or maybe none. In any case, it bears repeating.

It takes place in a church like ours, where we are surrounded every time we gather for worship by saints depicted in stained glass windows. The Rector calls children forward to talk about saints and she asks them: Who are the saints? She probably hopes they will say: “We are!” or, “All of us in the church are the saints.” Those are good answers. But one child says: “Saints are people the light shines through.” Saints are people the light… shines… through… Saints are people God’s light shines through.

Last night at the All Souls’ Day service I talked about the faithful departed being part of the glorious company of the saints in light. Today I’m talking about the faithful living. The faithful alive are part of the glorious company of saints whom “the light shines through.”

We are saints by virtue of our baptism and our participation in the fellowship and communion of the church. But to live more saintly… If we want to live better as saints, it seems to me it’s not about developing more heroic spirituality or faith; it’s about letting the light, God’s light shine through. It’s not about how we can become stronger or more heroic; it’s about how we can become better at letting God’s light shine through.

So to carry this metaphor a bit further, it seems to me we need to do two basic things if we are to live as saints, as people who let God’s light shine through us into the world, into the lives of others. If we are to be people who transmit and share God’s light with other people, two things need to happen.

First, we need to stand in the light. For the light to shine through us, it needs to shine on us. We need to stand near the light. And second, we need to be transparent.

So there are all sorts of ways to stand in the light of God.

• We can study and learn from these saints around us in our windows. They shine God’s light on us. We can learn from and seek inspiration from their stories and their example.
  
• Or you can stand next to, spend time with other living saints in your lives. You know who they are. Maybe some are here in this church today. Stand next to the people who shine with God’s light for you.
  
• Participate in the Body of Christ. Christ’s light shines here. In the fellowship and sacraments of the church.
  
• Read the Bible. The light of God shines brightly from the words of Scripture.
  
• Stay close to God and close to God’s people. Stand near the light of God. 

And how do we be transparent, so that the light of God that shines on us may shine through us to bring God’s light to others?

• Sin is what darkens us, makes us opaque. Confession and reconciliation are the antidote to sin, the process by which the dark, opaque places within us become transparent windows through which God’s light may shine. Confess your sins and seek reconciliation.
  
• And pray. Prayer in general, I think, creates transparency. Maybe this is the best reason to pray. All sorts of prayer—intercession, thanksgiving, adoration. Whenever we pray, we open ourselves to God. We open up patches of transparency where God can get into us and shine through us. When we pray, we become transparent 

Saints are people the light shines through. So stay near the light and be transparent, so that God’s light may shine through you and into the world.

All Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day) - November 2

The Glorious Company of the Saints in Light

All sorts of cultural traditions, liturgical traditions and superstitions are associated with this day, November 2, known as All Souls’ Day. In our calendar it is called All Faithful Departed. I have resisted celebrating it in the parish in part because I don’t like to differentiate between saints. Why should the famous saints get their own day, All Saints’ Day, and the rest of us are shunted off like a postscript to the next day? We are ALL saints, so ALL SAINTS’ DAY should be enough.

A number of things led me to reconsider that position. As I have said, I’ve come to think that All Souls’ Day presents an opportunity to do powerful pastoral liturgy.

As a liturgical celebration, it’s new to me, so I’ve been reading up. Any commemoration of this day was abolished at the time of the Reformation because it was associated with Roman Catholic abuses of masses for the dead. But it has found its way back into our calendar. It seems to meet a need. Guidelines for liturgical rituals for this day vary. Some stress this service as a Requiem. Others emphasize its association with All Saints’ Day. It is both.

And it seems to me that may be the most important message of this day. This day, this commemoration, is both requiem for the dead and celebration of the communion of all saints. And it reminds us that every Requiem service is a Saints’ day service. A service commemorating the saint who has died. We talk a lot about burial services as Easter services, and of course they are primarily services of the resurrection. But every burial service is also a saints’ day service. We remind ourselves of that today. You know we celebrate the famous saints on their death days… the day they entered into the “glorious company of the saints in light.”

The glorious company of the saints in light. That phrase is from the commendation that we say at every burial service. “Into your hands we commend your servant: Receive her in the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and in to the glorious company of the saints in light.”

All the faithful departed are now among the saints in light. And tonight we surround our memories of them with light to help us remember that they are among the glorious company of the saints in light. Saints and light go together.

Light is powerful. Literally and metaphorically. Light brings hope, casting out darkness. Even the tiniest candle cannot be defeated by the dark. Light is unconquerable. Light illuminates, making the truth of God’s love clear and radiant. Light guides, showing the path that is steady and safe. Light warms and enfolds. And I’m not sure why, but light celebrates. Light’s shimmering brightness enkindles rejoicing.

Today we remember that all of the faithful departed are the glorious company of the saints in light.

All Saints Sunday

The Communion of Saints

In our worship together today we are celebrating All Saints’ Day. Officially, of course, All Saints’ Day falls on November 1. But the Prayer Book allows, even encourages, us to celebrate it on the Sunday following.

There are several ways to look at what we celebrate when we celebrate All Saints’ Day. This year I really want to focus on the communion of saints. What we celebrate in worship on All Saints’ Day is the communion of saints.

A book called Holy Women, Holy Men describes the calendar of named saints who we have the option of remembering in the Episcopal Church. It replaces and expands upon earlier books that were titled Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Holy Women, Holy Men reminds us that for centuries Christians have acknowledged and celebrated the “intercommunion of the living and the dead in the Body of Christ.” There’s that word “communion” or “intercommunion.” All Saints’ Day is about the intercommunion in Christ of the living and the dead.

Holy Women, Holy Men also reminds us that church is defined as “the communion of saints, that is, a people made holy through their mutual participation in the mystery of Christ.” We, all of us, are the communion of saints. Or part of the communion of saints.

On All Saints’ Day we do not so much celebrate the saints themselves. They are individual historical figures worthy of remembrance (not, in our tradition, worthy of worship). As individuals they have stories to tell and lessons to teach us. But what we celebrate today is the communion of saints. We celebrate that there is a communion of saints. We celebrate the wonderful mystery of God’s gift of connection, communion, intercommunion. We celebrate the bonds that form the communion of saints.

Focus for a moment on the word community, rather than communion. A community is more than a group, more than a collection. Community is more than a gathering, even a gathering of people with a common interest. Community is formed by shared experience. Community is forged by mutual participation in a common experience. Experience is key. Think about how we use the word “commune.” To commune with nature is more than observing or even appreciating; to commune with nature is to experience nature. It’s all about experience. And community is all about shared experience. The experience that is shared by the communion of saints is the presence of God. We experience the presence of God, because God chooses to commune with us.

Communion, beyond our understanding of community, speaks of the reality of shared experience even across the chasm of death. A shared experience of God’s presence and therefore even a shared experience of one another within the communion of saints. Even across the apparent boundary of death.

This connection among the communion of saints is begun at baptism and cannot be broken by any force on earth. It is strengthened and enriched by participation in the life of the community. Today we baptize Ruby into the communion of saints, into the church. Part of what that means is that she will soon be connected to the experiences of Saint Richard Hooker, of Saint Anskar, and Saint Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky. Their faith, their own experiences of God will become hers as well. Saint Ruby will also come into communion with each of us and we with her. Her joy, her blessing will become our joy and blessing, too.

It is the shared experience of God that unites us and, in fact, makes us holy. I’ve been trying to think of metaphors for the communion of saints. It’s a bit like a power grid you can always plug into. Unlike our physical power grids, this one never goes down. Anywhere, anytime you can plug into the communion of saints and experience the presence of God. Or it’s like an aquifer always flowing with living water. Whenever we participate in the communion of saints, we tap into that living water. Or it’s probably like cloud computing—if I understand cloud computing. Access to God is not limited to any particular time or place or just one unique access device. Just being with one (or more) other members of the Body of Christ creates a communion, linked by the living presence of God.

It is about access. God certainly can and does appear to isolated individuals. But as participants in the communion of all saints, we have guaranteed, universal access to the experience of God’s presence. That’s something to celebrate.