Sermon Blog
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Sermon Blog
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Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, Virginia
All Saints, Year A November 1, 2020 Today is a great church day: All Saints Day. It is a day when we remember and celebrate that we are members incorporate in the communion of saints. We are part of a great cloud of witnesses to the love that goes back centuries and centuries and stretches forward into eternity. Today is a celebration day, a remembering day, and a perspective gathering day. With so much cluttering our short-term spheres of concern, it is good to take a long view and remind ourselves of the power of God outlasting and overcoming whatever chances and changes vex our souls. We even use the term ineffable joys to describe the horizon of our hope. Ineffable means indescribable and unutterable, but still we ought to talk about it. Today, I want us to talk about saints and sainthood. To get there, I invite you to engage in a simple exercise: First, as you consider all of Holy Scripture and all of the passages and verses that impact our life of faith, which stand out as most important or impactful. This is not a moment to bible shame if you did not do the whole memory verse competition in Vacation Bible School as a kid. But what are the ones you remember. What are the ones that guide you, comfort you, and challenge you to live into what we believe? Is there a biblical greatest hits list in your mind? Got that? Ok, let’s move on. Second, as you consider all of the great music and hymnody of the Church, can you come up with the most impactful of all the songs we sing in worship and praise? All Saints has some great ones: I sing a song of the saints of God, For all the Saints from whom their labors rest, Ye watchers and ye holy ones. It is really rough not to be able to sing together. We will again, and by will we appreciate what we have missed. There are, however, no rules against humming loudly behind our masks. Think of all the tunes and word that come to mind. Can you list the top five? Got that? Ok, let’s move on. Third, could you name the top five sermons that you remember having a lasting impact on your life of faith and formation? Ok, that one is fraught with danger as sermons can be like a good joke. You may remember that you liked it, but cannot retell it exactly. It does not hurt my feelings if you have a hard time with this one. We all do. Got that? Well, neither do I. Finally, as you consider your life of faith and your own personal formation, can you identify those individuals who have had the greatest impact? These can be people you know or people who have achieved some notoriety. In your mind, can you make that list of the mentors, friends, and people of greatest influence in your life? Now, which of these lists were the easiest to formulate? Which of these lists got you really thinking and connecting to who and how you have become who you are: what you believe, how you behave, and what you hope to become? Most people say that list of people was the easiest to assemble, the most evocative of goodness, righteousness, and, even, holiness. I have my own list: family friends, teachers, some clergy, and even, a particular Sunday school teacher. In my life of working is parishes and schools, I have been blessed to encounter God in soaring sacred worship, profound celebrations of song, moving and eloquent preaching and proclamation, solemn liturgies, and seasonal blow outs, but the glue connected my faith into a relatively coherent and meaningful enterprise has come through the people of God. In God’s continuing love affair with the world, God’s people have kept the faith, and kept us faithful, more than anything we can read, study, sing, or proclaim. These people are saints. We tend to think of saints as long dead giants of the faith. Some of them were persecuted or martyred. There is even a process for commending saints. The Episcopal Church has complied books of remembrance and mini biographies. It is a fair exercise, but a bit much as there are so many to recognize that the we have run out of days in the year. And if you ask me, the ones I know have had more impact on me than one who converted folks to Christianity at Antioch in the 8th century. Today is a great church day because we get beyond all of the officialdom of churchiness, throw it all up in the air, and consider the great gift of those who have shown God to us. Despite all of the hype we give to the term saint, saints are not perfect people. No person is pure, holy, righteous, and blameless all of the time. Saints come with faults, foibles, and failings too. But the great power of God is to shine through the cracks of human brokenness and reveal great love. So, hold up the saints of your life in the light today. Give thanks for them. Think on their witness. But there is one more thing. Know that it is not only possible, but likely, that you are a saint for someone else. Yes, you and I have the power to reveal God to others. We call our parish Emmanuel because that means God with us. Sure, God is revealed in the Bible, God is honored in the prayers, God is praised in songs and anthems, but God really becomes real as God’s love busts into now in the love we have and share together. Today is a great church day because it is our day too. It is the feast of ALL SAINTS. That great cloud of witnesses stands beside us, behind us, and before us, helping us to be saints too. Amen. Comments are closed.
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AuthorThe Rev. John Thomas is Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood Archives
October 2024
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