Presentation

Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today we celebrate a feast that bears a variety of titles: The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin, aka Candlemas - or in Spanish, Candelaria, and also known as The Meeting, as in the meeting of Simeon and Anna with Jesus.

All these titles have meaning, all converge on this day, the feast at the beginning of February, forty days after the Nativity. And on this day, both the day of the parish annual meeting, and of considerable turmoil in our society, there is much to learn from each title.

The Purification:

As Leviticus 12 provides, a mother giving birth is ritually impure and “shall not touch any holy thing or come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed” - in the case of a male child, forty days after she bears her son. Then she shall make an offering at the Temple, including a lamb, or, “If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a purification offering, and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf, and she shall be clean.” 

[“A person in a state of impurity is not allowed to touch holy objects, enter the Temple precincts, partake of sacred foods, or (in the case of a menstruating woman, a woman after childbirth, or a woman with a flux of blood) have marital contact.” ODJR 350] 

In accordance with the law, Mary makes a sacrifice so that she is cleansed from the state of ritual impurity that comes as a result of childbirth. Now she will again be able to participate in the full ceremonial life of her community.

None of this implies sin, just ritual impurity. The point is that she, and Joseph, are completing the fulfillment of the law, as in this as in all things, they are faithful people. Throughout his life, this child, Jesus, fulfills the law, and fulfills the expectation of humanity and the promise of God.

The Presentation:

In presenting her firstborn son to the Lord, Joseph and Mary fulfill the law as laid out in the book of Exodus. 

“Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.” (13:2)

“The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.” (22:29b)

Again the gospel makes the point that in all things Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. 

He is also the fulfillment of promise, and the promise of future fulfillment. 

Anna the prophet “began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem,” – looking for a Savior, the Messiah, to free them from the oppression of sin and the fear of death.

The Meeting: 

And Simeon, “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel,” saw in this child what he had been looking for, even living for. And he took the child into his arms and said a prayer of praise and blessing. 

Anna and Simeon welcomed the child and offered God their blessings and praise. But in their prophetic words was not only hope but a warning. 

A savior for all is not welcomed by some. Having sung his Nunc dimittis, his song of blessing and farewell, Simeon goes on to say to Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” 

It will become personal. It may touch you directly. And that is a warning we ourselves may take to heart as well. 

Candlemas/Candelaria:

Over the centuries of the Church, a tradition has formed, to enter the sanctuary in procession on this festival day carrying candles newly blessed, and singing a song - the Nunc dimittis. We bless the candles in worship this Candlemas, this Candelaria, for use throughout the year. These little lights of thine and mine sing out the glory of the Lord, the light of Christ. 

In him appeared life and this life was the light of humankind. The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out. (John 1:3-5)

As we bear forth this light into the world we bring with us the good news of the redemption of the world through Christ. And we carry with us the joy and the warning of the prophets. 

[“The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight-- indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire …”]

We may be called upon to bear uncomfortable witness. In our calling to bear his light into the world, we may ourselves encounter darkness, despair, and fear. But we are not alone, and we are not the first. We follow our Savior’s footsteps.

When Simeon gave his blessing to the Holy Family, I wonder what he said to them. The words most appropriate might well have been these, which the child grown to adulthood said to his own chosen family, his disciples:  

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you that mourn, for you shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for you shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are you that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you shall receive fullness.

“Blessed are the merciful, for you shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for you shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." 

• Matthew 5:1-12

• Malachi 3:1-4
• Hebrews 2:14-18
• Luke 2:22-40
• Psalm 84
• or Psalm 24:7-10

el Día de los Muertos

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. 

Around Halloween, in downtown Tucson or west in the barrio neighborhoods across the river, there is a procession and a celebration, the latter of which somewhat reminds me of Burning Man. It does that because part of the ceremony is lighting a large temporary structure but this one is a brazier basket that holds tokens in memory of loved ones deceased. I have not gone that far, therapeutic though it might be. 

What I have done is stood along the parade route, noting people in wild or remarkable costumes, and especially noticing a group marching in memory of people lost in the desert. There were among that group founders of early efforts to reach migrants, including members of Derechos Humanos, Humane Borders, Tucson Samaritans, and No More Deaths, and one of the original Casa Alitas / Casa Mariposa hosts. 

We have a lot to mourn in the desert, on behalf of lost loved ones, even anonymous as many of them remain. This festival, and this presence of witnesses, reminds us that these people who have been lost have had lives to be remembered. We can celebrate them even as we deplore their fate. The desert is harsh and unforgiving. We need not be.

https://www.visittucson.org/events/festivals-and-annual-events/all-souls-procession/

Revelation 7:9-17

Psalm 34:1-10, 22

1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

https://hymnary.org/text/for_all_the_saints_who_from_their_labors

1. For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy Name, O Jesus, be for ever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

2. Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might:
thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
thou, in the darkness drear, the one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

3. O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win, with them, the victor's crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

4. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

5. And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

6. The golden evening brightens in the west;
soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
sweet is the calm of paradise the blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

7. But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
the saints triumphant rise in bright array;
the King of glory passes on his way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

8. From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!


The Hymnal 1982: according to the use of the Episcopal Church #287

On this mountain

Some years ago a group of New Testament scholars began to meet, to inventory, sift through, and assess all the words and deeds attributed to Jesus in the Scriptures, as well as the narrative material that tied it all together. 

They would gather twice a year around a conference table, confer, and at the end of a couple of days, reach some conclusions, and, incidentally, have a banquet.

First, they did a book reporting out the results of their findings of what Jesus really said, what sounded very much like he would’ve said it, what could be giving a sense of what he might’ve meant, and some stuff he probably just didn’t say at all. 

And then they published a second book similarly asking did he really do this? – and they came to some astonishing conclusions: 

“There are certain pieces of narrative information that probably reflect historical actuality and among them are the following: 

“Jesus was an itinerant teacher in Galilee. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God. Jesus cured some sick people. Jesus drove out what were thought to be demons. Jesus enjoyed a certain amount of popularity in Galilee and surrounding regions. 

These observations are almost certainly historical.”

“Historical? Outrageous! – that this is an actual person instead of a comforting myth, or more to the point, it was comforting if it were a myth, but if it’s true, historically true, then you have to take this person seriously.

What he did and what he said matters deeply, and Jesus can change your life. Jesus can change your life, personally, and as a church, and as a society and as a world. And you know what? He already has. And he is doing it now. We get to choose to follow him.

In the workings of that scholars’ group they expressed various levels of confidence in the authenticity of the words of the Bible as they have come down to us. Some words, some language, they were pretty sure came down to us direct, others carried the gist, some the general idea, and some - not so much. Among the words that sound a lot like Jesus, in which they had much confidence as conveying Jesus’ message, were these: 

3. Congratulations to the poor in spirit! 

Heaven’s domain belongs to them.

4. Congratulations to those who grieve!

They will be consoled.

6. Congratulations to those who hunger and thirst for justice!

They will have a feast.

I am reminded of the words of the prophet Isaiah (25:6-9), depicting the gathering at the end of time.

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,

   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.

And he will destroy on this mountain

   the shroud that is cast over all peoples,

   the sheet that is spread over all nations;

he will swallow up death for ever.

Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,

   and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,

   for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day,

   Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

   This is the Lord for whom we have waited;

   let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

They will have a feast. Not because of what you might expect. What they experienced, what they felt, including grief and disconsolation, is a common human condition, part of life as we know it, alongside other happier feelings and experiences. These are not things we seek but they are things we know.

And somehow even that has a blessing in it. 

Some of the sayings that pretty much get the point across are these: 

10. Congratulations to those who have suffered persecution for the sake of justice! Heaven’s domain belongs to them.

11. Congratulations to you when they denounce you and persecute you and spread malicious gossip about you because of me. 12. Rejoice and be glad! Your compensation is great in heaven. Recall that this is how they persecuted the prophets who preceded you.

Congratulations?! Is this what it means to follow Jesus? Did we sign up to be prophets? Did we sign up for this burden? Or like grace, does it just come? Having taken on the good news and the joy of Jesus, have we also found in the packages under the Christmas tree something a little more formidable, the joy that is found in the midst of suffering for the sake of the gospel? 

As we follow Jesus, we are under the wings of the Holy. These things will come. But with them will come the kingdom of God. And this is a promise.

Not long ago I saw a play about a small group of people in an isolated community who shared a common, if strictly limited faith, and therefore a common, if strictly limited, attitude toward life.

Into their community comes a free spirit, a refugee from another life, someone who brings a different sense of the joy of life and of the possibilities of life to them despite her own long-standing grief …

The name of the  story is “Babette’s Feast", and as a result of the sumptuous Feast that Babette prepares for the people of the small community, they begin to embrace Joy and Grace a little more warmly than they have before. 

As they gather and share the meal they talk and reconcile; old grudges drop away as love emerges. 

They begin to embrace joy, and grace, a little more warmly than they have before – in fact, a lot more warmly, so that it is as if for an hour, they’ve had a glimpse of heaven. 

   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,

   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.

In the midst of this story, which I watched as a play recently, I recalled the reflection “church is church,“ as I was watching the members of the close little community bicker with each other, and then at the end, when they embraced each other, and reached a moment of grace together, I said to myself again “church is church”.  

That is, both the good and the bad, the happiness and the bickering, and the possibility of the release of mercy based on God‘s own infinite mercy— are church.

Actually, that’s the explicit point made by one of the characters: we are surrounded by God’s infinite mercy. Let’s open our hearts to it. The feast helped.

The phrase “church is church“ I heard in a group of ministers in a class in about 2010 where a black church musician and pastor name Royce Shorter was listening to people from very different faith backgrounds to his own talk about what was going on in their congregations and how they were feeling about it and he said somewhat to his surprise “church is church.” 

We all have these experiences, as pastors, as church members, as people of God.

We have a lot of the same ways of being with each other, the ways we behave, in the way we treat each other and feel about each other, in the congregation, regardless of denomination. In fact, I remember “Church is Church” when I have spoken with Sufi leaders and Sikh leaders, as well as Christians of my own and other denominations.

Church is church, and we embrace the grace as well as the grit of life together. 

Living into the kingdom - a phrase you may have heard - means living as if Jesus is real, as if what he said is true, and compelling, and may re-order the whole of life. In fact, that is what we want to happen. And that is why we are here today.

We Arizona clergy just had our annual retreat - mostly about “how are you guys coping with pandemic stress?” - and the congregations I'm involved in, here and in Tucson, are having annual meetings this weekend. Some can say 'steady as she goes' while others need to have real come-to-Jesus conversations. There are substantial issues to discuss. It’s worth sticking around.

And while we are doing that we can keep in mind last week’s closing question: What does it mean to follow Jesus? We got some answers in the Gospel this morning, and in the reading from the prophet Micah. Indeed, one Tucson congregation has adopted as its slogan for today “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.”

What will that mean for us going forward? This congregation, this church, each of us? Let’s pray about it, let’s talk about it, let’s let the Spirit lead us. Keep the faith. In joy.

  

Robert S. Jones: Exodus, Moses, Law. Requirements.  ||  Mt5  Beatitudes, New Law: Blessings. 

Steve Springer: Hymn 560. The Hymnal 1982. New York: Church Publishing. 

Robert W. Funk and the Jesus Seminar. The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus. A Polebridge Press Book. New York: HarperCollins.1998.170.

Robert W. Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar. The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. A Polebridge Press Book. New York: Macmillan. 1993. 138-139.

• Micah 6:1-8
• 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
• Matthew 5:1-12
• Psalm 15

http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Epiphany/AEpi4_RCL.html

http://edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany4a.html

“Blessed are” (Joan Baez) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etLe3UcptCk

Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish scholar of the New Testament, names ways Jesus’ life and actions echoed those of prophets familiar to her from her religious upbringing:

Jesus fusses at priests, just like Amos. Jesus tells parables, just like the prophet Nathan and a number of rabbis whose stories appear in postbiblical Jewish sources. Jesus heals and raises the dead; so too Elijah and Elisha. Jesus survives when children around him are slaughtered, just like Moses. I didn’t have to read Matthew 2–7 to know that the rescued baby would take a trip to Egypt, cross water in a life-changing experience, face temptation in the wilderness, ascend a mountain, and deliver comments on the Law—the pattern was already established in Shemot, the book of Exodus.

In spite of many similarities between Jesus and the Jewish prophets, Levine stresses that the Gospel writers view Jesus as more than a prophet:

Although Jesus himself may be perceived as heir to the legacy of Amos and Jeremiah, the Gospels present him as more than a prophet. He is, according to the Evangelists, the Son of God, who adds something new to the prophetic concern for justice. He goes well beyond the role of Isaiah and Micah, who seek what is called in Hebrew t’shuvah, return and repentance. Jesus of the Gospels seeks something new, specifically, following him. He is important not only because of what he says, but also because of who he is.

References:

Amy-Jill Levine, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 3, 110. https://cac.org/daily.../jesus-prophetic-lineage-2023-01-27/

Sarah Hale

Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788 - April 30, 1879)
Editor and Prophetic Witness

With the possible exception of the Lady anchoress at the church of St Julian in Norwich is there an Editor in the calendar of saints (here, in the 2008 revised edition of Lesser Feasts and Fasts)?

In the case of Sarah Hale probably it is her championing of women in ministry, building toward the modern (relatively) deaconess movement, that got her a place in modern saints calendaring. What makes her story more compelling to me is the editorial quality of her sanctity.

Editor of Ladies' Magazine. 1828-1836; Godey's Lady's Book, 1837-1877.

Who knew? Who knew that an editor could be a saint? Well I've met plenty, and yes, though mostly I express gratitude for their work and their personal demeanor rather than putting the two together. Perhaps I should. Perhaps I should. 

N.B. She is also noted for a 17 year campaign to establish a new national holiday, at length persuading Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to support the effort, for which we owe her Thanksgiving.

https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/19349

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/sara_hale.htm

Psalm 96
Jeremiah 30:17-19, 22
Philippians 1:27–2:2
Matthew 5:1-12

 

All Saints Sunday 2011

When I think nowadays of what I am thankful for it turns into a list of saints – living ones included. Saints include people around us who draw us deeper into holiness ourselves, even as they themselves appear as a kind of sign or symbol of God’s presence in the world. Saints – believers – are sanctified people – people set apart for a holy purpose.

Some of them would gladly tell you that they do not deserve the label of “holy person.”

They might say, “Oh, yes! Make me a saint – but not yet.”

Or they might say, “I just don’t deserve this” – meaning they don’t deserve to be put through the training program they figure sainthood would imply. It is too hard, they would say, for human beings to bear.

Nevertheless I find myself making a list of unknowing saints. These are people in whom God is at work for visible or invisible holiness to take place.

As Jesus began to teach on the mountain, he enumerated for his disciples some of the kinds of people whom God makes saints – whom God blesses. They are people like the Psalmist knew – the humble and meek, who are called to rejoice; the afflicted – who will be heard and are vindicated; the hungry or thirsty or poor – who will receive fullness.

The Lord is their Shepherd; they shall lack nothing.

Those who trust in him – those who believe in him with their whole hearts – will not be punished, but saved.

To whom does salvation belong? From whom does it come?

Salvation, the multitude cries, belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb, to the One who judge, the One who redeems.

Those who have suffered hunger or thirst, sunstroke or heatstroke, they will be guided by the good shepherd to a place of wellbeing and comfort.

So saints are those whom God redeems. Sanctity is not a reward for meritorious service. God saves: the saints are justified by faith not by works. There is no boasting save in the Cross of Christ, the paradoxical victory that looks so like defeat – that pulls us beyond the end of the world, beyond death itself, onto new and holy ground. Holy ground – where we already stand, if we only knew…

We are God’s children, now – already – and we have hope in him, the One who will be revealed to all as God’s son and our Lord.

This is the vision of Revelation.

Sometimes seekers of holiness have their own great cloud of witnesses about them – assembled as friends of the heart or companions on the way.

When I would go visit a professor of mine in college, Donald Nicholl, I could see that in his office he had assembled around his desk photographs and portraits of “friends” – as he called them – people whom he wanted around him as witnesses or encouragers. And decades later his widow Dorothy showed me the room where he spent his last days, still surrounded by a cloud of witnesses as he laid on his daybed and composed himself for eternity. Dorothy kept her own cloud of witnesses about her into her final years.

The “saints” on their walls might be different from yours or mine. Some were familiar faces, some were notable people they introduced me to, and some were unknown. All bore witness to the reality of God and of our presence in God, and God’s presence in us.

They became as windows or lights, letting some of the eternal brightness shine into our lives, and our worlds. They do not have to be famous or extraordinary to give us a vision of effulgence – the brilliant radiance of the people of God. In fact it may help some time if they are not, if they are just regular people.

One day in 1959 a monk was waiting for a ride home to the monastery. He had been to the dentist. He was standing on a downtown corner in Louisville, Kentucky.

And this is what he wrote, in his book, "Conjectures of A Guilty Bystander":

In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream ...

This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. And I suppose my happiness could have taken form in the words: “Thank God, thank God that I am like other men, that I am only a man among others.”

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God Himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race! To think that such a commonplace realization should suddenly seem like news that one holds the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake.

I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed… I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other. But this cannot be seen, only believed and “understood” by a peculiar gift.


The monk, Thomas Merton, was seeing his fellow human beings “in aspiration” as Donald Nicholl would put it – he was seeing them “in the Spirit” as they were made to be, as they were called to become – as people who could blossom into the fullness of life as God intended them to experience it.

Robert Ellsberg makes this point in his essay on the feast of All Saints, in his book of the same name:


Since the early centuries of the church the liturgical calendar has reserved one day to honor, collectively, all the saints, both those officially recognized and those known only to God. Thus we are reminded that the true company of saints is far more numerous than the list of those who have been formally canonized. There are many anonymous saints who nevertheless form part of the great “cloud of witnesses,” surrounding us with their faith and courage and so participating in the communion between the living and the dead.

This collective feast, All Saints, is also an occasion to acknowledge the varieties of holiness. Though they share a certain family resemblance, the saints are not formed in any particular mold. Some are renowned for contemplation and others for action; some played a public role while others spent their lives in quiet obscurity. Some demonstrated the vitality of ancient traditions while others were pioneers, charting new possibilities in the spiritual life. Some received recognition and honor within their lifetimes, while others were scorned or even persecuted.

The feast of All Saints does not honor a company of “immortals,” far removed from the realm of ordinary human existence. The saints were not “super” human beings but those who realized the vocation for which all human beings were created and to which we are ultimately called. No one is called to be another St. Francis or St. Teresa. But there is a path to holiness that lies within our individual circumstances, that engages our own talents and temperaments, that contends with our own strengths and weaknesses, that responds to the needs of our own neighbors and our particular moment in history. The feast of All Saints strengthens and encourages us to create that path by walking it.



We are called – all of us – into the fullness of the joy of being God’s children, of being set apart for a holy purpose: to become what we are called to be, to become saints. And so,

“There is only one sorrow – not to be a saint.”—Léon Bloy

And in the end there is one joy, to be shared by all: to greet one another, in the Spirit, as the people God has created and called us to be, as his own beloved children, as Saints.


Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


-- -- -- --

Ellsberg, Robert, "All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time," New York: Crossroad, 1997, 475-476.

Merton, Thomas, "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander" (1966).

From the Shorter OED:

fullness: 1. The condition of containing something in abundance. b. In biblical language, all that is contained in the world. [J Wesley: The Earth and all her Fullness owns Jehovah for her sovereign Lord!] c. Abundance, plenty. 2. Completeness, perfection. [G. Priestland: Christianity … hasn’t yet been tried … What right have we to expect its fullness in our time?]

in the fullness of time – at the destined time; eventually.

+

Jesus, dwell in our hearts - forever!

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

God loves you
God LOVES you
GOD loves you
God loves YOU

Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: grant us your servants so to follow you that we may always find you and rejoice in you as the source of life, here and everlasting. Amen.

Jesus went up the mountain – like Moses. What he encountered there – who he encountered there – was not a distant, clockmaker, vengeful deity but the love at the source of all being, who gave him not judgment to render but good news to preach.

And Jesus preached. At the synagogue in Nazareth he took up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and found his place – and began to read:

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. (Isaiah 61:1-2a)

John the Baptizer sent word to him from prison. Are you the Messiah we’ve been looking for? Should we be looking for somebody else? What are you doing, cousin J?

And Jesus sent word back, by way of John’s own disciples: You go and tell John what you have seen and you have heard. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead rise, prisoners hear glad news of freedom and lepers are cleansed. What was he expecting?

What John might have been hoping for was a savior of the military kind – a champion who would grab up the jawbone of an ass, or a sling and five small stones, or just grow out his hair and get busy, like one of the heroes of old – and knock Herod off his throne and send the Roman legions packing. Someone who would declare the day of vengeance of our God – as they say in the movies:

And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. (Ezekiel 25:17)

But that is not what he got.

Let this be written above my throne:

My mercy always prevails over my anger.

For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may linger for the night; but joy comes in the morning.

We know that weeping – and we know that compassion.

For in Christ God has become incarnate – has taken on flesh and dwelt among us, as a human being among human beings. He suffered as we have, loved as we have, wept as we have, and – finally – when they thought it was all over, rejoiced as we have.

Darkness is conquered by light; the night passes into everlasting dawning.

Jesus gave his life for us – not just his death; his whole life, a witness to the truth, truth of God’s mercy and love, compassion and justice. Jesus gave his life – but that is not the end of the story. By his death he defeated death. And he arose.

He arose to new life – and victory. He calls us into new life – but not to wait. Not to wait – to take on that new life of Christ, to take on his legacy, now – and begin to live it out.

Begin to be the people who bring the good news of Christ to the world.

Proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind. Bind up the broken-hearted.

Yearn for justice, and be blessed with peace.

Act with compassion, and delight in his mercy.

Work for peace, and let God gather you to him as his own children.

Be pure in heart – cast away the gloom and darkness – and become children of the day.

Live the truth of God’s love – and rejoice: for this is God’s day, and it is meant for joy.

We know that our Redeemer lives – and that we will receive mercy through him.

We know that death is swallowed up in the Victory of the Cross – and we exult in peace.

We know that with Chuck and all the saints, we will be welcomed in the heavenly home.

We know that heaven is doing all right – but there is work to be done on earth.

We know that we are called to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

Let’s let that light shine – let’s not hide it; let’s be a city on a hill, a sanctuary and a light.

Let our hearts be places of God’s abiding. Abide in us, Jesus, that we, following in your footsteps, may bring the joy and good news of the reign of God into the world. Amen.

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"I'm just tryin' to be a good Christian."--Johnny Cash

God of holiness,
your glory is proclaimed in every age:
as we rejoice in the faith of your saints,
inspire us to follow their example
with boldness and joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We will sing a song of the saints of God. We remember them, we anticipate them, and we join with them in the praise of God. And with God’s help, we will join with them in obedience to his will and blessedness in his abundant love.

Through the Revelation of St John we receive a picture of a multitude gathered before the throne of God, worshipping him and living under the wings of his mercy. These are the ones who came through the great persecutions of the early church as if they were being made more perfect in a refiner’s fire. Through their ordeal there was always a presence with them, an Other – they were not alone. These are the martyrs of the church – and they are among the saints.

There are others too: saints are believers, made holy through their faith in God who alone is holy of himself; and the saints are people you see every day.

To prepare you for a song, and for singing it along with the little saints who will sing it with us, let’s remember that everything from great to small is in God’s hands. However tiny and improbable a moment of time may seem, a moment of a turning point, a kindness, a perseverance in faith, it is out of the simple moments of life that a faith and a soul-habit of godly love are forged.

This is the weekend when we remember all saints, every saint, and all souls, all the faithful departed. And we may be thrown back on remembering our own mortality – and our inability to see it all through on our own.

There is a promise for us – if we are weak, he is strong; if we have been cursed, we will be blessed in him; if we are poor, or lacking in any need or faculty, we will be made whole and well and happy. And if we mourn, we will receive the comfort of the Lord. He weeps with those who weep, and laughs with those who laugh. He will always be by your side.

There are as many kinds of saints as there are of people. Through the ages the church has recognized many kinds of people as living exemplary Christian lives.

In the early years of the church, there were the martyrs; soon there were the monks of the desert and the faraway isles, denying themselves and taking up their crosses and following Christ in their own day; there were the organizers of monasteries and convents, like Benedict of Nursia and Hildegard of Bingen and Teresa of Avila.

There were the apostles and first converts who carried the witness across the continents, in Persia, India, the Sudan and Ethiopia. There were the preachers of the gospel to new peoples: Francis of Assisi, Dominic; the missionaries to Africa and Asia and the Americas, Francis Xavier, Father Kino.

There are the modern martyrs, like Janani Luwum and Jonathan Daniels, who stood with the oppressed at the cost of their own lives.

There are you and me, brothers and sisters.

For we carry the gospel and the witness and the mission of the saints with us. And we are all part of Christ’s body, his hands and his voice and his love in the world. Each of us has a gift, and we rejoice in our diversity and our unity.

In his letter to the Romans (12:4-8) the apostle Paul explains:
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

It is through the diversity of gifts that we balance each other, giving to the whole body our own unique and vital contributions. For each of us, for each of the saints, there is a question to be asked: What gives you joy? What is it that in the doing of it, the giving of it, you experience the fullness of grace?

(I do not mean giddy happiness or a temporary feeling of satisfaction at a good deed done, but a deeper calm in your life at the knowledge you are God’s child and that you are on the right road. It is not a feeling that comes and goes: remember that Mother Theresa of Calcutta, in her private meditations, acknowledged the burden of her work and the desert of sadness she endured.)

When I was a kid I had heroes: I’ll tell you about two of them.

There was Willie Mays – when our Cub Scout Pack went to a Giants’ game, I expected him to hit a home run… and he did, on his third at-bat.

And there was Johnny Cash, whom I think my brothers and I mostly enjoyed imitating – at the beginning of his television show he’d introduce himself, turning to the camera and saying, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” in his deep voice, then playing a chord on his guitar. Picture little boys lined up in front of the TV following his every move. Voices a little higher pitched. Later on he became a more real hero to me, as I learned about his life and his faith. One phrase really stuck with me for years after I read it, and it is relevant today, this week, because it was his response to a request for a political statement:

“I’m just tryin’ to be a good Christian.” (Penthouse interview, 1975)

In a way that is what any saint is trying to do – to be a good Christian, a faithful soul, sanctified not by his, or her, own efforts or deeds or lifestyle, but by trust in God. And to live by that faith – and follow God’s calling.

We move, as we become the people who trust God, from being outsiders, seekers, lost in the world and the world’s devices, to becoming members of the body of Christ, and living stones in the building that is the living Church.

In the letter to the Ephesians (2:19-22) Paul explained:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God.
And it is in the people of God, as they follow God, in obedience to Christ, that the Spirit is working, and working through us to bring the joy of salvation, of God’s good news, to the world. Each of us has a gift to receive and to give: each of us, following joy where it leads, has a joy to give to the world, the joy (uniquely filtered through the prism of our souls) of the love of God in Christ.

God of holiness, your glory is proclaimed in every age:
as we rejoice in the faith of your saints,
inspire us to follow their example with boldness and joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.


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