Sermon: November 6, 2011 All Saints’ Sunday The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 22; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12
(From St. John’s first letter), “Beloved, we are God’s children now ; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is one of the great festivals of the Church year: All Saints’ Sunday; a day that recognizes all the saints who have gone before us and those who dwell among us still today. Most people have heard of saints. There are Sts. Peter and Paul, Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, St. Mary, the mother of God, and St Joseph her spouse, St. Elizabeth, St. Benedict, St. Francis, and for a while there was a fellow known as St. Christopher. We might consider Billy Graham, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, or the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be modern day saints just as there are no doubt other saints living today even in this community. Saints are typically recognized as persons of exemplary self-sacrifice, witness, virtue or accomplishment.
I have spent considerable time reading the life histories of various saints. I find that most often, they were very imperfect people and each one very different from another. But this one thing they held in common and perhaps it is what matters the most: each of them was a child of God; Jesus Christ dwelled within them just as Christ dwells in us. You see, St. Paul tells us that all who believe in Jesus Christ are saints. In Colossians, Ephesians, I Corinthians, Romans, and Philippians,[1] Paul says that all members of the Christian Church are saints: all who have been washed, sanctified, and justified in “the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God”[2] share in the life of Christ and, therefore, are children of God and saints of the Church. Being called a saint is not about perfection, but rather, it is dependent upon how you share in the life of Christ. What Paul means by “sharing in the life of Christ” is how Christ lives in you, transforms you, and how Christ lives through you.
In all our admiration for the saints, we need to remember that while we would do well to emulate their example of Christly living, they are known as saints not because of what they were able to do of themselves, but rather, because the transforming work of
Christ in them enabled and empowered them to live differently in this world. The saints offer us a glimpse of what God’s kingdom will be like when all people acknowledge, when every knee bends and every tongue proclaims, that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Readings: Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 22; I John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12
(From St. John’s first letter), “Beloved, we are God’s children now ; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” I speak to you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today is one of the great festivals of the Church year: All Saints’ Sunday; a day that recognizes all the saints who have gone before us and those who dwell among us still today. Most people have heard of saints. There are Sts. Peter and Paul, Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, St. Mary, the mother of God, and St Joseph her spouse, St. Elizabeth, St. Benedict, St. Francis, and for a while there was a fellow known as St. Christopher. We might consider Billy Graham, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, or the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be modern day saints just as there are no doubt other saints living today even in this community. Saints are typically recognized as persons of exemplary self-sacrifice, witness, virtue or accomplishment.
I have spent considerable time reading the life histories of various saints. I find that most often, they were very imperfect people and each one very different from another. But this one thing they held in common and perhaps it is what matters the most: each of them was a child of God; Jesus Christ dwelled within them just as Christ dwells in us. You see, St. Paul tells us that all who believe in Jesus Christ are saints. In Colossians, Ephesians, I Corinthians, Romans, and Philippians,[1] Paul says that all members of the Christian Church are saints: all who have been washed, sanctified, and justified in “the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God”[2] share in the life of Christ and, therefore, are children of God and saints of the Church. Being called a saint is not about perfection, but rather, it is dependent upon how you share in the life of Christ. What Paul means by “sharing in the life of Christ” is how Christ lives in you, transforms you, and how Christ lives through you.
In all our admiration for the saints, we need to remember that while we would do well to emulate their example of Christly living, they are known as saints not because of what they were able to do of themselves, but rather, because the transforming work of
Christ in them enabled and empowered them to live differently in this world. The saints offer us a glimpse of what God’s kingdom will be like when all people acknowledge, when every knee bends and every tongue proclaims, that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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