READING

Matthew Chapter 5 v 1 – 12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,  for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

SERMON: We are God’s Saints

There is an old story, perhaps something like this really happened at one time, I don’t really know – an old story about two brothers who lived in a particular town where they were involved in corruption, deceit and every manner of vice. It was rumoured that they were mixing with some very famous organized crime gangs as well. Whatever the case, both brothers had accumulated much wealth through their dishonest means.

There was little grief in the town when the older brother died.

But his younger brother, wanting to honour his elder brother, went all out in planning the funeral. The problem was finding a priest willing to do the service, given that neither of them had ever crossed the steps of a church. So knowing that one of the local churches was in the midst of a fund raising campaign for some much needed repairs, the younger brother called upon the priest.

“Reverend,” he said, “I know my brother and I never attended your church, as a matter of fact we never attended any church. I also know that you’ve probably heard a lot of things about my brother and I, but I’d like you to do my brother’s funeral. And if you’ll say he was a saint, I’ll write you a cheque for £50,000. That’ll go along way to fixing up the church.”

After some thought, the priest agreed to take the service. The priest, however, also had a condition. The £50,000 had to be paid in advance. And so it was.

On the day of the funeral, the church was crowded. Curiosity brought dozens of people in, who were certainly not there to honour the rich man, but to see what the priest would actually say. The remainder of the crowd was made up of gang members and women who the brothers associated with.

The service began with the usual scriptures, hymns and prayers – and then the homily began. The priest began slowly, but then step by step he launched into a catalogue of the horrible things the rich man had done, how he had been selfish, greedy, corrupt, caring about no one but himself, having affairs with women, drinking excessively, and on and on the priest went.

The younger brother, sitting up in the front pew, was getting hot under the collar about how the priest was not fulfilling his promise, but during the service there was not much he could do about it. He could only wait and hope that the priest would keep his end of the bargain. Finally, after about ten minutes of outlining the rich man’s flaws, the priest concluded his sermon in a booming crescendo proclaiming:

“Yes my friends, this man was a no-good, dirty, rotten scoundrel!
But, compared to his brother, he was a saint!”

Today as we celebrate All Saints Sunday, I wish to speak about the communion of saints. The word communion meaning ‘ a sharing of thoughts, fellowship’.

In the Apostle’s creed are found the words, ‘I believe in Holy Spirit, the Holy catholic church, the communion of saints’.

Words probably said, without perhaps thinking of what they mean, and what they imply for our day to day lives. So what is it that the words in the Apostle’s creed believe in? Who are the saints that are in communion?

It’s probably a normal understanding to use the word saint as a title of honour for those whose lives have exemplified the life of Christ, especially those who had died for the faith, not just in the faith. This was the original context of the word and the celebration of All Saints Day and the understanding that many people outside the church have today.

The Communion of Saints is also about our being part of the body of believers, past, present and future, who confess the Christian faith. All Saints Day is also known as All Hallows Day and in the Lord’s Prayer we pray ‘hallowed (or Holy) be your name. And therefore one of the key concepts that is linked with All Saints days and our being part of ‘that great crown of witnesses’ as Paul calls it in Hebrews (Heb 12 v 1), is that of being a holy people, of us being holy.

As God calls the people out of Egypt He says to them, ‘…you shall be Holy as I am holy’, and Peter in the NT explains, ‘…as He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct’

And God invites us into a relationship with Him through Jesus, He calls us be holy as He is holy. He calls us to be a special people, set apart, and blessed by Him for His work.

He doesn’t expect us to be perfect – there are lots of saints who were not perfect.

He doesn’t call us to be necessarily consumed by activity – although our Christian activity and mission is one of the ways we work out our holiness.

He doesn’t call us to be just spiritual – it’s no good being too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use.

But He does call us to be holy, living in communion with Him as a holy God, and in communion with the saints around us, those who have gone before and those who will come after us.

Being holy is something that we are, by the very nature of our relationship with God. It is He who has called us and sanctified us and it is He who makes us holy.

Being holy is also something we are called to be as God’s people as we live out that God’s calling in our lives.

Being holy is about being open to His presence around us, open to be touched and prompted by Him, guided by Him and His Holy Spirit, about our attitude to God and how He can be in communion with each one of us and about our praise and worship of Him.

It’s about being open to experience more and more of Him in our lives in our worship and in our service, it’s about something we are and something we need to grow in throughout our Christian lives.

Our experience of God is what makes being holy different from being spiritual. We are spiritual beings but as Christians we experience that spiritual dimension of our lives through a relationship with a God who is all holy. In addition to being called to be holy, being part of the Communion of Saints also calls us to be in relationships, not just with God but with all the other saints, who often seem very different to ourselves.

Being holy and growing in holiness is a difficult train of thought to grasp in some ways, and would probably be difficult enough if there were only us as individuals and God to have a relationship with – as Adam and Eve experienced.

And it can be even more difficult when we have to be in a relationship with those around us, our fellow believers, our fellow church members, never mind those beyond.

Because it’s often our relationships with others that seem to get in the way of our relationship with God. It’s the way we can feel about others, especially if we feel they have wronged us or are the cause of injustice to us that can hinder our relationship with God and hinder us in our search for holiness.

There’s a real sense of power and unity in being part of a great crowd, or cloud, of witnesses. I have been at sporting events when all the home supporters were supporting the same team and common cause. And God calls us not just to be supporters of a common cause, – because being in the Communion of Saints isn’t a spectator sport, its about participation, God calls us to be His holy people and to do that we have to be in a relationship with other believers. Letting go of the things that stand between us, letting go of the unjust criticism and unsupportive remarks.

So as we remember All Saints Day, we remember that we are called to be part of that communion of All Hallows, being in relationship with the saints through our relationship with a holy God.

Just remember that when we receive our communion we receive the elements of Christ into our lives. Through Him we are both made holy and made whole. When we receive Him, we receive the touch of a Holy God, who wants us to be holy and made whole.

God invites us to receive His holiness and His wholeness so that we too can take our part in the Communion of His Saints. Amen

PRAYERS

God of infinite grace, thank you for scattering saints all over the church; saints in heaven, saints on earth, saints in our lives and saints who never try to be anything other than themselves but to us are dipped in grace. Thank you for a world of saints, some who are revered in history and some of whom we have known ourselves and name them in our hearts.

For all the saints, we give our thanks and praise

God of deep memory, we look back in gratitude to the saints of old who trod these paths and hallowed them, setting their lives over the template of Christ. Heaven is bursting with these saints and we often wonder whether men and women are made like that anymore. But St Paul says that all Christians are called to be saints, set apart for faithful living. We pray, then, for ourselves and those sitting around us today. Humbly we pray that you that you will mould us into the likeness of Christ, the true goal of our lives.

For all the saints, we give our thanks and praise

God of huge abundance, thank you for saints whose laughter lights up a meeting, for saints whose joy makes us smile just to think of them, for saints whose sacrifice makes us humble, for saints whose lives make us search our consciences, for saints whose prayer helps sustain the world. We know that saints have been in the making all their lives as have those who have grumbled their way to the present. So make us a church that practises wisdom and honours prayer, so that all who worship may know themselves to belong to a school of sinners who are training to be saints. Thank you for a world of saints; please make more of them.

For all the saints, we give our thanks and praise

God of the nations, we pray for saints across the world living on the edge of safety but practising their faith with fierce love and deep commitment. We are humbled by their sincerity and dedication and are honoured to pray for them, especially for Christians with whom we have links with across the world. Make them strong in faith and love and protect them on every side.

For saints across the ages, and for saints of today, we give our thanks and praise.

And so we seal our prayers together in the words of a Saviour Jesus Christ who taught his disciples to pray by way of the Lords prayer saying…

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever.
Amen

Revd Kevin. Priest at St.Wilfrid and St.Thomas