(The sermon for All Saints’ Sunday takes the form of a dialogue. At least two voices are required and more can certainly be employed.)
Introduction:
The festivals of the church year - occasions to contemplate and celebrate the divine mysteries. Both ingredients are essential. Churchly celebration without contemplation can be form without substance, a liturgical extravaganza for who-knows-what reason. By the same token, contemplation without celebration can leave us sitting cadaverous in the stone-cold tomb, reluctant to come out and partake of the resurrection feast!
This is particularly true of All Saints’ Day, a festival which has, since the Reformation at least, suffered from something like a lack of focus. Is it a day to remember and give thanks for the saints in light, those who have finished their course in faith? Or is it a day to commemorate and give thanks for those of conspicuous sanctity, the heroes of the faith, the stars of the church, God’s familiars? Or yet again might it be "Part II" of the Reformation festival begun last week, an opportunity to celebrate the evangelical doctrine of simul justus et peccator - the teaching that every baptized believer is at once both a saint and a sinner?
I believe that each of those three is a legitimate part of the church’s contemplation and celebration of All Saints’ Day. And instead of concentrating only on one or collapsing all three into an artificially unified presentation, this day we will celebrate each in turn, hoping thereby to transform an unfocused festival into a trifocal festival!
The First Focus - "The Saints In Light"
I. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)
II. He that goes forth weeping shall come home with shouts of joy. (Psalm 126:6)
I. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they enjoy rest from their labors. (Revelation 14:13)
II. Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. 0 dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! (Isaiah 26:19)
I. My mother died suddenly and unexpectedly a little over a year ago. I miss her terribly, and part of me is surprised that the wound is yet so fresh, the tears so ready after these many months. Having ministered to more than a few in acute grief, I now have a new understanding of the chronic aspect of mourning: not so much the pain as the sorrow; not so much the shock as the sadness; not so much the anger as the emptiness. A dull and empty ache, an absence where there should be a presence or at least an availability. But she is gone, and when I say "I miss her" this is what I mean: I miss the unique person she was; I miss our relationship, so late in becoming satisfactory to us both; I miss my children’s grandmother, my grandmother’s daughter, my wife’s mother-in-law and especially my father’s wife and companion. I miss the solicitousness, the thoughtfulness, the sensitivity and the care not to meddle. All of which is to say I miss precisely and irreplaceably her.
By chance - or perhaps by providence (I can never tell them apart) - I picked up a copy of Henri Nouwen’s little book, A Letter of Consolation. It is a letter from son to father written six months after the death of the author’s mother. With poignance and simple eloquence Nouwen spoke the gospel to my need. At one point he writes:
II. "The Lord who died, died for us - for you, for me, for mother, and for all people. He died not because of any death or darkness in him, but only to free us from the death and darkness in us. If the God who revealed life to us, and whose only desire is to bring us to life, loved us so much that he wanted to experience with us the total absurdity of death, then - yes, then there must be hope; then there must be something more than death; then there must be a promise that is not fulfilled in our short existence in this world; then leaving behind the ones you love, the flowers and trees, the mountains, and the oceans, the beauty of art and music, and all the exuberant gifts of life cannot be just the destruction and cruel end of all things; then indeed we have to wait for the third day."1
I. Vague talk about the immortality of the soul is hardly what I need and - thanks be to God - hardly what the gospel affords. For the sake of God’s crucified Son, our dead brothers and sisters in Christ are kept in God’s steadfastness - that is the gospel promise and by the grace of God I believe it with all my heart and cling to it with all my being. For just and only so is it true that I and every believer who mourns shall be comforted. God is God both of the living and of the dead. The unity of God’s church, the communion of saints, is a unity that transcends death, a "mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won." This unity is not sentimental; it is sacramental, for through the eucharistic meal, we commune both with God and with all others of the family of faith, living and dead. Here is comfort. Here is promise. Here is hope. And here is cause for giving thanks not as an end to our mourning but precisely in the midst of it. Here, then, is the reason those who mourn may truly be called blessed:
II. "If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so, then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." (Romans 14:8-9)
I. With gratitude for the lives of the saints in light and the grace of their God and ours, let us give thanks for those members of our congregation who died this last year.
II. Each petition ends with the words, "let us bless the Lord" to which the congregation responds "Thanks be to God!"
I & II (alternating): For (name) let us bless the Lord.
Hymn: The final verse ("Yet she on earth hath union ...") of "The Church’s One Foundation" is sung by a soloist, by a choir or by all.
The Second Focus - "The Stars of the Church"
I. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
II. Then Peter came up to him and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." (Matthew 18:21-22)
I: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
II: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart ... (Psalm 24:3-4)
I: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:9)
II: Too long have I had dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war! (Psalm 120:6-7)
I: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10)
II: Even if you do suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear, nor be troubled. (I Peter 3:14)
I: The merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers, and the persecuted: the saints of God!
II: Frederick Buechner writes this delightfully serendipitous definition of the word "saint": "In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints."2
I: Such a whimsical understanding allows us to see the saints in a new light: not the stodgy, circumspect, stained glass, haloed, religious types, but God’s winsome courtiers sent to do his task of wooing and winning the hand of his beloved.
II: In this sense, saints are interpretations of the servant Christ,
I: Exemplars of goodness and grace,
II: Those of conspicuous sanctity,
I: The stars of the church,
II: The heroes of the faith,
I: God’s familiars
II: God’s handkerchiefs
I: So great a cloud of witnesses, and so diverse:
II: Some old, like Polycarp;
I: And some quite young, like the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem;
II: Some activists like Bonhoeffer;
I: And some contemplatives, like Benedict;
II: Some learned, like Augustine & Aquinas;
I. And some quite simple, like Francis of Assisi;
II: Asians, like Toyohiko Kagawa;
I: Africans, like Onesimos;
II: Blacks, like Martin Luther King;
I: Women, like Monica and Perpetua;
II: Native American Indians, like Seattle;
I: Biblical saints, like Mary and Peter;
II: Twentieth Century saints, like John XXIII and Albert Schweitzer.
I: Much has been said and written about saints. Forthwith, a sampling.
II: From the Augsburg Confession: "It is also taught among us that saints should be kept in remembrance so that our faith may be strengthened when we see what grace they received and how they were sustained by faith. Moreover, their good works are to be an example for us, each of us in his own calling" (Article XXI).
I: From Phyllis McGinley: "(T)he wonderful thing about saints is that they were human. They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still they went on doggedly blundering toward heaven."3
II: From Philip Pfatteicher: "The existence of saints is discomforting, for they are a constant reminder that we must never be content with this world but must press on toward the kingdom. They are a living judgment upon our small and satisfied lives. And because they are not after all so different from us, they urge us to follow their path."4
I: From Carl Braaten: "We need saints, not as illustrations of how far a single Christian can go in getting to heaven by climbing a ladder of Personal Spirituality, but as interpretations of Christ stooping to serve in the fellowship of human sin and suffering."5
II: The stars of the church, the heroes of the faith: those in whom the new life in Christ is manifested clearly and compellingly, inviting us, drawing us, attracting us to the God so obviously active in their lives.
I: Their witness a cause for thanksgiving to such a God. To that end, let us now pray.
(A prayer of thanksgiving for the saints is said. See, for example, the Lutheran Book of Worship, pages 36 and 46, and the Book of Common Prayer, pages 838 and 504.)
Hymn: "For All Your Saints, O Lord" is sung by all.
The Third Focus - "All Saints and All Sinners"
II: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
I: A man’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. (Proverbs 29:23)
II: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
I: The meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity. (Psalm 37:11)
II: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)
I: For he satisfies him who is thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things. (Psalm 107:9)
II: An unlikely collection on whom to hang the handle "saints".
I: The merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers and the persecuted, definitely!
II: The blessed dead and those who mourn, plausibly.
I: But the spiritually poor, the meek and those famished for righteousness? Hardly!
II: And yet by evangelical insight, this is precisely why All Saints’ Day is a day for us to celebrate. For while it is a day to commemorate and celebrate the saints in light, and the stars of the church, it is also and at the same time, your day and my day on the calendar of festivals.
I: To be a saint means simply to be holy.
II: Saint, sanctity, sanctify; they come all from the same Latin word, sanctus, meaning holy.
I: And for Christ’s sake, that’s exactly what you and I are: holy. Not by virtue of our assets and accomplishments, but by the sanctifying grace of our Father God who makes us holy.
II: In baptism, we are clothed with the robes of Christ’s righteousness. We are not saved from sinning; we are saved in our sinning.6 And that tension of being at once a saint and a sinner, obedient and rebellious, alive and dead, faithful and faithless, continues throughout this life.
I: Nor is this a morbid, maudlin, depressing doctrine meant to moderate the joy of being a child of God.
II: It is a truthful teaching bearing honest witness to the paradox and ambiguity of the Christian life: we know ourselves to be broken and sinful; at the same time, we hear and cling to the gospel’s promise of forgiveness for Christ’s sake. We know we do not deserve the title "saints"; yet we know that is indeed our God-given identity and vocation.
I: As one theologian has put it, "If the grace of God is only coming along to skim off the rich cream of humanity, if it is only a blessing to those who enter the hall of fame on their heroic deeds, then there is not much hope for us."7
II: But there is hope for us; that is precisely the point of this festival. God is not finished with us yet. He has already declared us holy and drawn us into the communion of saints. He is even now at work in our lives, meddling in our affairs. And he will at last bring us to the fulness of his Kingdom. To trust that it is and shall be so is to be numbered with the saints, our meekness, our lack of moral progress and our spiritual poverty notwithstanding!
I: For so great a gift, that we are numbered among God’s saintly sinners and sinful saints, let us give hearty thanks. Let us pray. (a brief silence)
II: For Abraham, who trusted your promise but hedged his bet by fathering Ishmael by Hagar;
I: For Jacob, father of the tribes of Israel blessed by God, and deceiver of his own father and brother;
II: For Moses, murderer and refugee from justice, who led your people out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
I. For Miriam, who sang God’s victory at the sea and plotted against her brother Moses’ life;
II: For David, God’s annointed and Israel’s beloved king, Bathsheba’s adulterous lover and Uriah’s scheming murderer;
I: For Peter who boldly acknowledged Jesus as the Christ and then thrice denied him;
II: For the Twelve who followed their Lord but fled at the first sign of danger;
I: For those of every time and every place who have known the paradox of sin and grace, the tension between what is and what will be, the conflict between the Old Adam and Eve and the New Being in Christ;
II: For this day, a festival for all your saints, sinful though we be,
Both: We give you thanks, O God!
Conclusion
I: Blessed are the saints in light and those who mourn their passing!
II: Blessed are the stars of the Church, the heroes of the faith, God’s familiars!
I:Blessed are all who hear God’s promises and place their trust in him, those who are at once both sinners and saints!
II: Blessed are you, dear child of God, poor in spirit, meek and hungry for righteousness,
I: For this is your day:
II: The Feast of ALL God’s Saints!
Hymn: "For All the Saints" is sung, the verses being sung alternately by all, men, women, choir(s), etc. Let it be a festive end to the sermon and a fitting transition to the eucharist, where the Communion of Saints will be experienced sacramentally.
1. Henri Nouwen, A Letter of Consolation, Harper and Row, San Franciso, 1982, p. 78.
2. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, Harper & Row, New York, 1973, P. 83.
3. Saint-Watching, Viking, New York, 1969, pp. 5-6.
4. Festivals and Commemorations, Augsburg, Minneapolis, 1980, p. 17.
5. The Whole Counsel of God, Fortress, Philadelphia, 1974, p. 128.
6. Braaten, p. 126
7. Braaten, p. 126