Matthew 5: 1-12;
Revelation 7: 9-17
The unending hymn of that
multitude beyond number, from every nation, all tribes and people and tongues,
before the Throne and before the Lamb, and the hymn of our hearts and voices. Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.
Good morning and always such a beautiful day and a meaningful day here
at St. Andrew’s. With special thanks to
our Choir and Orchestra, Pete Luley, Tom Octave—and Tom, so very nice to have
you with us this year to lead our Music Memorial. The music welling up in our hearts and
overflowing. And a word of thanks as
well to all who have contributed to our congregational offering of memorial flowers
this morning. Remembering the saints and
heroes of ages past, and in our memories and our hearts as well the names and
faces of those we have loved but see no longer in this life. On the calendar of the Episcopal Church this
“Sunday after All Saints Day” brings together the two traditional observances,
All Saints Day on November 1st, and All Faithful Departed, All
Souls, on November 2nd. A
high moment of worship. For remembrance
and reflection, for inspiration, and we might also say of motivation. To hear in the remembrance of all the saints
and holy people of God an invitation to a closer walk with Christ, lifting our
sights higher, encouraging us to renewed joyful commitment, the common life of
the whole company of faithful people.
We speak of the “two states” of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church. The Church Militant, and the
Church Triumphant. The two sides of the
stream, yet continuing one Body, a Cloud of Witness, All who in the gracious
mercy of God are redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, who are
justified and brought into relationship to God the Father through faith, who
are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, to walk in newness of life, ransomed,
healed, restored, forgiven. Apostles and
evangelists, martyrs, faithful witnesses in every generation. And remembering in our own day the
heartbreaking faithful witness of martyrs in places from Egypt to Iraq and
Syria, Kenya and Nigeria—it seems almost daily stories of oppression,
persecution, and execution for those who will identify themselves as
Christian. Figuring out how to live
faithful lives is a challenge in any context, for sure. But when I hear these stories it does just
lead me to a time of reflection and to wondering about how I, how we, live,
about witness, courage, all those big questions. Peter and Andrew, James and John, and their
line continues. Those who stood near
Jesus on the Mountain as a preached to the crowd, who heard him with their own
ears, and all of us since. “Blessed are you when men 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 so men persecuted the prophets who were before
you.”
Saints and heroes. In the 1979
Prayer Book lectionary, before the Episcopal Church adopted the Revised Common Lectionary
a few years ago, we had for All Saints the reading from Ecclesiasticus, which perhaps
you’ll remember. “Let us now praise
famous men, and our fathers in their generations.” The introduction first of the celebrities of
the sanctoral calendar, those with calendar days and stained glass windows, bishops
and kings, martyrs and miracle workers--but then also this, that “there are
some who have no memorial, who have perished as though they had not lived; they
have become as though they had not been born, and so have their children after
them. But these were men of mercy, whose
righteous deeds have not been forgotten; their prosperity will remain with
their descendants, and their inheritance to their children’s children.” Moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas,
neighbors, friends, teachers, maybe even a preacher or two. A reflection in the memorials in our prayers
this morning. Whose faith and character
and love in Christ—tenderness, kindness, generosity, will shape our lives in so
many meaningful ways. The images in the
stained glass windows of our hearts. I
can’t help but think this morning of our dear friend Dorothy Graham, who died
last Sunday and was buried from St. Andrew’s Thursday morning. In her 91st year—she and her
husband Albert lived and raised their family in a little house down on the 700
block of North St. Clair, just a few blocks from here. Dorothy and Bert’s kids came to St. Andrew’s
Sunday School, went to Fulton School and
all the rest, Peabody High, off to college, grew up, married, moved away, had
families of their own. Six
great-grandchildren.
Dorothy for many decades a bright and delightful member of the Altar
Guild, best known probably as the one who would every year on the Saturday
before Palm Sunday show all the rest of the Guild how to fold the most
beautiful and elaborate Palm Crosses. She
always made a dozen or so especially fancy ones for me, asking me to carry them
to our shut-in or hospitalized parishioners. The best ones, really special, so that they
would know we were thinking of them. She was shut in herself pretty much for most
of the last 20 years, first in her little apartment over in Aspinwall, then
when even that was too difficult to manage, in a nursing home out in Wexford
near her daughter’s house. But always
with this great warmth and smile. No
matter what her health was at any particular moment, just a sense of being
delighted to be there with you. She
loved to brag on her kids and grandkids.
And there was a lot about them to brag about. She loved hearing the news of the church,
what special events were happening, what was going on in the neighborhood--
receiving communion, praying together, and she always prayed for St. Andrew’s
and especially for the children of the parish.
Such a pleasure and such a
privilege. Anyway, just one story. A bit of memory, reflection. I could go on all day. The Church Triumphant, and the Church
Militant too, as we would look around old St. Andrew’s this morning. Just look around. Who are these like stars appearing? For all thy saints. As the children’s hymn goes, “you can meet
them in school or in lanes or at sea, in church or in trains, or in shops, or
at tea, for the saints of God are just folk like me . . . and I mean to be one
too.” And so we sing on.
Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen
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