All Saints Sunday B – 2021- All Saints Hope – St. Mark’s Charleston
A social media friend, Zach Lambert shared a glimpse-of-life at their house this past week LINK.. it has to do with their three year old son… He wrote…
We just walked in on my 3-year-old drawing on my wife’s library book…
Wife: Why did you color on my book?
Son: I didn’t.
Wife: Yes you did. I saw you. Why did you do that?
Son: It was an accident.
Wife: No it wasn’t. Why did you do it?
Son: Ummmmmm… because of COVID.
That made me laugh….and I wonder how many stitches dropped, things done or left undone will we attribute to Covid in the years to come?
Case in point…All Saints Day – this past Monday… Nov. 1.. Our prayer book marks it as one of the seven principal - meaning major- feasts of the Church – right up there on par with Easter and Christmas. It's also one of the days especially recommended for Holy Baptism.
However, this past Monday was pretty much just a regular day at our house..and later, when I realized that it had passed without much notice, I felt sad…because there is so much that can sustain us in keeping All Saints Day.
There are two parts to the sermon this morning.. the first is a little teaching about All Saints and the second – is to look at our gospel reading from John and, then, to let the connections between these things speak to our hearts..
First to All Saints…
It must have been a shock to the earliest disciples of Jesus when the cost of following him truly dawned on them. I wonder if they had hoped his death would have been enough to satisfy the powers that be. But, then, Stephen- the very first deacon -was stoned to death and, followed shortly by the death of James of Zebedee – one of the twelve, one of the very first to follow Jesus. He was arrested by Herod Antipas and then executed with a sword. These deaths must have stunned and grieved them profoundly.. and they were followed by so many. It became the custom in the early church to remember and give thanks to God for the martyrs. – Peter and Paul, James the first Bishop of Jerusalem, Polycarp, Perpetua and her friends… ……and then, countless others as the years rolled on.
Normally, Church commemorations of particular saints occur on the anniversaries of their deaths – their birthday into heaven. However, for all of those whose death-dates were unknown, a commemoration for "all the martyrs" was established somewhere around 350 AD. By the 6th century , the feast began to include non-martyrs as well and became an opportunity for Church families to celebrate all of its saints –and to today - for us to include those known to us- our own beloved, faithful departed. I think too about the saints of St. Mark’s – those who labored and sacrificed to form this faith community and to build this church.
And so, on All Saints, we are called to remember them and to give thanks for their lives and their faithfulness in passing along the hope of the gospel to the next generation…
and make no mistake, it is still costly to follow Jesus… –this year, 2021, the total registered number of Christians who have died for their faith is 4,761 … North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Nigeria among the leaders in putting to death the saints. LINK. I wondered if you knew that.
This treasure, this hope we have - through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and new life in him – the restored relationship with God- is so very costly – something we don’t always realize or remember.
So, remember, remember, remember, give thanks not only for those long ago brothers and sisters, but also for our own saints – those we love who have entered into the larger life.. and pray for those who today come to a time of trial and are called to confess their hope and faith at the risk of their lives ..
So, All Saints – truly a Principal feast of the Church.
Now I want to segue to the second part of the sermon.
I have wondered, and perhaps you have too, what made it and continues to make it possible for our brothers and sisters in the past to so willingly go to the sword, the stake, the killing ground, or to live so vulnerably , so openly that they exposed themselves to their enemies by living out their faith. Here, I think of Dr. King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Edith Stein, and Oscar Romero- and closer to home - the Emmanuel Nine.… How could they do that?
I want to suggest to you that one possible response to that question lies at the heart of our readings today…
I am not going to try to preach on all three – although its surely tempting – but one thing I did notice when I looked at these together… it’s an idea that keeps repeating…
Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces,(Is. 25)
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, (Rev. 21)
When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. (John 11)
So many tears…so much sorrow…
Jesus says…Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.
This is the All Saints hope
It’s the hope that shines through the tears..and even the crushing losses that break our hearts.
God sees those tears.. and holds out to us not just the promise for a future comfort but sustains us with a hope which can be a present comfort even as we grieve. Paul reminds us that the hope given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will not disappoint us.
If anyone needed hope, it must have been Mary and Martha. Their brother had died despite their plea to Jesus to come and heal him..Twice they say to Jesus – Lord, if you had been here our brother would not have died. And now, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days… past any hope of a miraculous healing from Jesus. Now, they were looking at a life without the protection of a male family member which was absolutely necessary for survival in that time, place, and culture…. Women could not inherit family property – their home would go to the closest male relative.. so they not only faced the loss of their beloved brother, they faced homelessness and poverty. They most likely were grappling with not only grief and terrible anxiety about the their future but also acute disappointment with their friend, Jesus. And, yet into their hopelessness and the darkness of death, he spoke the word of LIFE because he is light of life – LIFE itself.. and his word to all of those standing around – unbind him and let him go.
Where do you need to hear the word of LIFE today? What in you, in us, needs to be unbound and let go? Fear, grief, hopelessness – Hear Jesus’ word of LIFE to you… LIVE.
Glen Scrivener, Church of England priest, evangelist, and poet , speaks to this hope very beautifully in a brilliant short video piece he created on the background of All Hallows eve … it ends with this..
So the bible begins with this fore-resolved fight
For a moment the darkness, then let there be light
First grief in the gloom, then joy from the East
First valley of shadow, then mountain top feast
First wait for messiah, then long promised dawn
First desolate Friday, then Easter morn
The triumph is not with the forces of night
it dawned with the one who said I am the light. LINK
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world
whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life… (John 8.12)
He is light and life itself…and when we follow in his way… he will be with us, and his life will be in us and no grave can hold us, and death cannot bind us - no matter the fear, no matter the sorrow....and that is the hope which sustained the saints of the past… and that is the hope which can sustain us and that is the hope which will never disappoint…
Let us pray
Grant, O God of the living, that we would ever hold fast to the light of life, your Son Jesus Christ, and also grant that in our own time, we might join our voices with all of the Communion of the Saints in their unending hymns of joy and praise around your throne. Give courage and hope to those who grieve as well as to those who now suffer because of their faith. This we ask in the name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reign with you and the Holy Spirit. One God forever and ever. Amen.
