The Rev. Robert Lundquist Sunday after All Saints 11/6/05 St Paul’s, Ft Collins

Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10, 13-14 - Online Text -

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17 - Online Text -

Today is the Sunday after All Saints Day, observed on November 1. All Saints Day is one of the 7 principal feasts of the Episcopal Church, and the only one that may be moved to the following Sunday. Much more importantly, it is the feast of all saints. Not just the famous men, but the unheralded men and women who have gone before us. The fact is, we are all saints, every one of us, according to St Paul (- Online Text -)

We speak of a communion of saints, the cloud of white-robed witnesses gathered in God’s timeless presence. Past, present and future saints, all at the heavenly banquet table, of which our own altar is a small representation. This Communion of Saints is more than rhetoric – I know it’s real. I had a vivid experience of it in the Spring of 1989. I was serving at Trinity Episcopal Church in Manassas, Virginia, at the time. Like many of the clergy in town, I was a volunteer chaplain at the Prince William County Hospital. One Saturday afternoon in Lent I was called to the Emergency Room. A 24-year old African-American man playing basketball with friends had jumped for a lay-up, and was dead of an undetected heart defect before he hit the ground.

I arrived at the hospital before his wife. They had a young son, probably about 3 or 4. In consoling them I learned that they had no church home, and I offered to hold the service for him. Since he was a Marine veteran, his ceremony was held at the Quantico military cemetery, about 20 miles away.

During the service, at the appropriate time, I asked the color guard to raise the flag from the casket so that I might cast soil upon it. “…ashes to ashes, dust to dust…” I said, and in an instant I was transported to that moment just weeks earlier, Ash Wednesday, when I had made the cross on the foreheads of worshippers, friends and family with the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I felt myself in the midst of a great multitude, and just as suddenly I was back at the cemetery. I have no doubt, absolutely none, that we all stand in the mist of that communion of all saints – past, present, and yet to come.

“No one is an island, entire of itself; every one is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were…”, wrote poet John Done. No one is an island, no saint stands alone and apart from the Body of Christ. Each time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist here, the officiant invites you, just before the breaking of the bread, to “Behold what you are. Become what you see.” We behold in the host the Body of Christ, broken and shared. And we know that we are that Body, the hands and feet of Christ in the world. We are, in God’s grace, becoming what we already are – the Body of Christ. We are constantly beholding and becoming, in communion with all the saints.

In today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew, we hear the familiar beatitudes from Jesus, sometimes called the job description for a saint, for a Christian. Hearing it in a fresh way might open the ears of our hearts and minds in a new way. I like the contemporary translation by Eugene Peterson, as found in The Message:

Matthew 5

When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down ²and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

³"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

⁵"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are--no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

⁶"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

⁷"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being "carefull,' you find yourselves cared for.

⁸"You're blessed when you get your inside world--your mind and heart--put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

⁹"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

¹⁰"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

¹¹"Not only that--count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. ¹²You can be glad when that happens--give a cheer, even!-for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Having heard again what is expected of a saint, would you believe me if I were to tell you a story of “The Miserly Christian?” I hope not, because our community has always been characterized by generosity. Today is Abundance Sunday in the life of Saint Paul’s, the day when we gather the pledges we make to God’s work in the world from the abundance God has given to each of us. In moments we will dedicate upon the altar the gifts and commitments made by God’s people. These are the results of your prayerfulness, and we lift them up in thanksgiving and blessing. All the saints are blessed by God in ways we cannot fully imagine

Please return your pledge card today at the offering. I am highly aware that your financial support is a gift of your substance – your time, your expertise, your skill, your talent. And ultimately, the gift is you. Your sacrifice is representative of who you are, but never lose sight of the reality that the gift is you. Because we all need each other.

There was once a family man, a father and husband. And while his wife and children were faithful in the church attendance, the man was not. One day the pastor came to see him, and they settled beside the fire in the hearth to visit. The man said, “I know why you’re here, pastor. You’d like me to attend services with my family, and I respect that. I support them in their church participation. But as for me, I don’t get that much out of it. Besides, I find God in nature, in the great outdoors. And I believe I can be a believer without going to church…” As he was speaking the pastor, without saying a word, had taken the tongs and pulled a glowing ember from the center of the fireplace. He placed it on the hearth and put the tongs aside. The man grew quiet, and they both watched as the ember went from vivid orange, to bright red, to a dull glow, and finally to ashen gray. After a few moments, the man said, “Ill be there Sunday.”

All us saints need each other. The world needs the Body of Christ. Fort Collins needs a vital St Paul’s. And St Paul’s needs you. Because St Paul’s is us. And all of heaven applauds when we live as the Body of Christ. Thanks be to God! AMEN.

A Parish For All People!