November 4, 2018 – All Saints Sunday: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
I just love that phrase from our collect of the day today: “ineffable joys.” Ineffable, which means “too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.” Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel ineffable joy today, and perhaps you do too! And no, it isn’t just because the change in the hour allowed us all to sleep in…well, okay, maybe it is that for some of us (not to mention that doing just the one service today meant I got more than 2 hours extra sleep – thanks be to God!). No, our collective joy as a community is that today we celebrate All Saints – a high Holy Day in which we remember those who passed on into the Saints Triumphant and are still present with us in our hearts and in the communion of Saints, and we celebrate the baptism of Kyle Logan Toledo-Drislane (our 20thbaptism in less than five years!), and we celebrate all the wonderous blessings of the parish at our Annual Meeting following today’s Mass.
If that doesn’t bring ineffable joy, then perhaps we need to dig a bit into the gospel, because there we will find that we have much more to celebrate – enough that our hearts should be full, as our lives are given renewed meaning and purpose. Because in the gospel, we hear an Easter story…and there is nothing more wonderful, more joyous, more love filled, than resurrection – for the saints who went before us…and for the living saints we are!
It is the story of the one that Jesus loved – Lazarus. Now, we all know it, especially if we were kids and were asked to memorize a verse from the bible, right? The shortest verse is in this story: “Jesus wept” – definitely the go-to verse for kids in Sunday School. But let’s look at the story itself.
Jesus arrives after the death of his beloved Lazarus (that relationship is a story that begs to be told… a sermon for another day), and he is greeted by one of the sisters of Lazarus, Mary. He is taken to the tomb. He tells them to roll away the stone, to which Martha, Lazarus’s other sister tells him that “There’s gonna be a stench, I mean Jesus, he’s been in there for days!” (okay, so I am paraphrasing here, but it is a classic line, right?). He has them roll away the stone, calls out to Lazarus to come out. And here is the best part – out of the tomb walks this guy, covered in clothe, or as a recent meme on Facebook would say – a CVS receipt. I mean really, have you ever gotten one of those? Another Facebook meme posited that the distance from earth to the sun is just 8 CVS receipts long! Really? Is that necessary?
So, Lazarus comes out all mummy-like. What a great reading to have on All Saints, right? – the eve of which we call “All Holy Eve” or “All Hallows Eve,” otherwise known as…Halloween (All Saints Day actually being November 1st). So totally awesome reading for this day, right? Anyway, he comes out, and then Jesus does something we need to pay attention to…he gets others involved. He sends the crowd to unbind Lazarus.
First he has them roll away the stone, and then he has them unbind Lazarus – release him from the bondage of death in which they themselves enshrouded him. And through that miracle, new life is given to many who were there, as they followed Him. This is a message for us all on All Saints, on the day in which we baptize another child into the household of God, on the day in which we consider where we have been, where we are, and what is possible for us as a faith community. Because this gospel story, amidst all that is happening here, amidst all that is happening in the world today – this gospel truly is good news for us all.
Because there are still tombs in which the dead, or nearly dead, have been pushed. There are still people bound by our neglect, by our indifference, by poverty, homelessness, addiction, depression, and oppression. There is still a stench of bigotry, hate, and violence that permeates everywhere. Jesus is weeping to be sure.
So where is the good news in that?
The good news is that Jesus moved through his grief to DO something about what he saw, what he heard, what he experienced. And the good news is that he invited those who follow him to join him in removing the stones of death, in freeing the captive, in experiencing resurrection. And he is inviting us to do this now, and we need to hear him call to us – now more than ever.
This is an Easter story – which is itself a baptism story.
For in baptism, we die with Christ, to be raised with him in new life. And that life is as the body of Christ alive in the world today. This is the life of the saints – those who came before us, and those of us here now. And Lordy, we have work to do, don’t we?
We live in a turbulent time where our government is led by those who rule by fear, who spew racist, sexist, and homophobic rhetoric, who incite violence. One of the worst results of all of that is that some feel there is no hope, that there is nothing they can do, and so they retreat into darkness with their grief, into the safety of their personal tomb.
But, Jesus is calling us out of our tombs, where we have been hiding, where we have tried to comfort ourselves, where we have been curled up in a ball, covering ourselves over, and praying for a better day. Jesus is telling us that WE must move through our grief to make that better day, that we are NOT dead, but alive in him, that we must come out of that tomb and live, that others might live. In today’s language – that means you get to church, you get out in the streets and fight for justice, and dang it – you get your souls to the polls and vote this Tuesday!
Vote – Because there are people who are suffering from spiritual or emotional death, or whose bodies are fighting physical death without a way to get the care they need.
Vote – Because there are people being marginalized, abused, threatened, and denied their rightful dignity.
Vote – Because all of creation, God’s handiwork, is groaning with the pain of our abuse and neglect.
Never before has a people been called forward from their tombs of comfort to vote their values – the values of justice, peace, and good will to all.
If that were all there is to the good news of Jesus in this gospel, that would be enough, but there is more to this too – to this gospel we hear today – and it is this. That Jesus, by inviting those who follow him into the miracle of resurrection, is giving us all an opportunity to participate with him in bringing life to others. And as a faith community it begs us to ask – what miracle is Jesus calling us to now – here in our faith community, out in the streets of our neighborhoods, in our nation, and in the world? What will that look like for us?
There’s a story about Gracie Allen that I want to share with you. I have mentioned what she said before, but here is the full story. “Gracie Allen [the wife and comic partner of comedian George Burns], who was a brilliant and perceptive woman. She left a message in her papers to be discovered by her husband after her death that has become the motto for the United Church of Christ: “Never put a period where God has placed a comma.”
Gracie was encouraging George to remember that life had many chapters. George was 68 when Gracie died. Rather than place a period on [his life when she died], Burns went on to star in a number of movies, including playing God, twice…He died at age 100, having lived the life of the comma.”[1]
Here’s the thing…Jesus didn’t stop his work there at that tomb in Bethany – he continued on. The cross didn’t stop him either – he continued on. God is still working everywhere now too. The question is – are we listening? Do we hear Jesus’ call? Because the holy work of God is yet undone – the Spirit just placed a comma – we must continue on as he did, as he does still, writing the next chapter. And as a faith community, celebrating nearly five years together as priest and parish, celebrating our 20thbaptism, what does that next chapter look like for us? What stone is Jesus calling us to roll away? What people are we to call out from darkness? What people are we to unbind into new life?
The answer lies in our ability to hear Jesus when he calls to us, to follow the Holy Spirit wherever She lead us, to be open to God who is at work all around us. And to do that, we must first see the Jesus standing before us – every day!
Now, as we do in our stewardship season, each of you will be given a gift, blessed at the altar, and in this case, blessed prior to the service too with the usual prayer and holy water that is prescribed for this particular type of gift. You will be given the medal of St. Benedict. It is one of the oldest and most beloved of the medals depicting saints. On the one side of this medal is the saint, holding a cross in one hand, and in his other hand a copy of his rule, the Rule of St. Benedict, used by many monasteries and convents. On the other side are initials that can be summed up in these words “May the holy cross be my light!” and “Begone Satan!” There are other symbols on both sides that a good google search will illuminate for you, but suffice it to say, it is a medal for our times.
Because if we want to know what Jesus is calling us to do today, we need to start by seeing and hearing the Jesus standing in front of us. That is why I want you to have this medal – as a reminder of St. Benedict’s rule on hospitality, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Let this medal be a reminder that all who you encounter are Christ.
Imagine a world where we saw Jesus in every person? Imagine what that might do to us, to them, to the world? Would we not listen more fervently to their pain? Would we not look to unbind him from his oppression? Would we not love him as God loves us?
Oh what a world that would be, my friends, what a world!
And so today, as you receive the Eucharist, as you receive Jesus in it, be reminded of St. Benedict and his call to welcome all as Jesus. But not only of that saint, but of all the saints who around the table stand united with us. Ahh, that’s right – they are there. Remember the words I pray just before the Sanctus “…therefore, joining with Angels and Archangels, and all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn…” Or, the creed in which we all proclaim that we believe “…in the communion of saints.”
We are the saints militant – the ones walking as Jesus with the Spirit on the earth today. Those who have left this plane are the saints triumphant – that great cloud of witnesses who walk with God in eternal light and life. Together, we are the communion of saints.
As we sang this morning, “Oh blest communion fellowship divine, we feebly struggle, they in glory shine, yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.”
Together, we are a mighty force.
Together, we can work miracles.
Together, we can bring forth a wave of resurrection to a weary world.
These are the ineffable joys we celebrate today – that no matter how difficult the road we walk, no matter how dead we may feel, no matter how dark our tomb – Jesus will always come for us. He will always raise us to new life – look for us to join him in his work – and call us to unbind the broken and lifeless in our midst. We are never dead to him – but alive! And, we are always surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses who walked before us.
Our community here at Christ Church knows this resurrection story well. Back in 2014, we were supposed to be in the tomb within a year – dead – the stone rolled over the opening – our church closed. But Jesus called us to work together as priest and parish, and along with him, roll away the stone from the tomb, to come out of the darkness into his light. And we have been living that resurrected life of Christ ever since – renovating our space to offer more families affordable nursery school for their children, raising money for disaster relief, providing food for the hungry and supplies for the animals in need, collecting coats for the homeless, giving our blood that others may live, and so much more. And in this place we have been nourished in our work by our relationship with one another, as part of this great communion of saints, and in the body and blood of our savior, Jesus Christ. All of this while growing in leaps and bounds. These are, I believe, part of the reason we feel ineffable joy today – joy too great and extreme for words.
And so today at our Annual Meeting we will celebrate all that God has given to us, all that Jesus called us to be, all the ways the Spirit has moved in this place. And we will ask ourselves – what does the future look like for our parish?
Will we continue to follow Jesus into the next five years?
Are we willing to hear His call that we might come to celebrate continued new life and new ineffable joys?
That’s a story that is yet to be written, for we are left now with a comma.
The choice on how the next chapter goes depends on you and on God.
God will do Her part.
The question is…will you?
Amen.
For the audio from the 10:30am service, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here:
[1]Larry Reimer, “An update on the comma,” The United Church of Gainesville Web Site, May 7, 2006, ucgainesville.org.
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
November 4, 2018
Pentecost Last – All Saints Year B
Baptism & Annual Meeting
1st Reading – Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9
Psalm 24
2nd Reading – Revelation 21:1-6a
Gospel – John 11:32-44
