Almighty God, we give you thanks for the grace and
virtue shown in the multitude of your saints. Give us the courage to follow in
their footsteps of loving service in your most holy name, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God,
throughout all generations. Amen.
“Unbind
him, and let him go.” I’ve always found those words by Jesus to be among his
most powerful and important. As John narrates the Gospel, this incident with
Lazarus is the tipping point in the story. When word of this event reaches the
chief priests and Pharisees, John records that “From that day on they planned
to put him to death.” Jesus’ parables and other miracles made people uneasy
because they upset the power dynamics of the day, but this one crossed the line.
Lazarus died and when Jesus arrives, he commands that Lazarus get up, and he
does. They worry that if word spreads that Jesus has this power, that Rome will
come and crush them. And so they decided that it would be better for one man to
die than for an entire nation to be destroyed. Jesus knows all of this, and so
that makes his statement even more compelling: “unbind him, and let him go.”
Today,
we celebrate one of the major feast days of the Church – All Saints’ Day.
Depending who you ask, you may get different interpretations of what this day
is all about. Some will point out that there is a difference between All
Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, suggesting that on All Saints’ we remember only
those with the term “saint” before their name, like St. Luke, St. Augustine, or
St. Teresa. Then on All Souls’, we remember all those who have died in Christ.
But others will point out the fact that in the New Testament, all those who are
followers of Jesus are referred to as saints, so they say that we should
celebrate all of us on this day.
I’m
in that second category: All Saints’ is a day to give thanks for the full
family God, for the community of all the believers through Baptism, and to be
inspired by the Christian witness of the saints for whom we have names and those
who history will forget. All Saints’ is the day on which we celebrate the
Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery of Christ’s Body. We thank God that
we have a part in it, and we pray that we might serve faithfully.
In
my career, I’ve been blessed to serve two parishes with buildings built in the
early 1800s. I love historic churches such as ours because the Communion of all
the saints is ever before us. The stained glass windows portray the saints
throughout the generations. There are plaques everywhere with the names of the
faithful on them. The pews are worn from generations of the faithful worshiping
in them. All Saints’ reminds us of just how awesome it is to be a part of the
Church, that we are part of Christ’s Body that transcends space and time. And
All Saints’ also helps us to not take ourselves too seriously, because there
will come a day when St. Luke’s is full of people yet unborn, and we are just names
on a plaque.
And
so, embedded within the celebration of All Saints’ is a sense of stewardship.
We are here because of our fathers and mothers in faith. None of us walked with
Jesus along the Sea of Galilee, but those who did told that story and followed
in his footsteps. None of us founded St. Luke’s, but those who built this church
did so to the glory of God. None of us Baptized ourselves, we were all brought
into the faith by someone else. We are here today because we are the recipients
of a wonderful legacy of faithfulness. Generations before us have laid the
foundation upon which we do ministry. So let us give thanks for those faithful disciples
who have taught us about Jesus and who have built this congregation. Spend some
time today reflecting on who these people are in your life. Who taught you
about Jesus: a parent, a grandparent, a friend, a Sunday school teacher, a
youth group leader, a priest? Give thanks for that person.
When
we consider the legacy that has been given to us, we are reminded of all those
whom we love, but see no longer. For some, All Saints’ can be a day of grief.
Our gospel text today notes that “Jesus wept.” To grieve at the loss of a loved
one is a normal and healthy thing. Grief is the debt that we pay for loving
deeply. We all know that tears are healing; they literally and figuratively
wash away irritants. The musician at the church that I served in DC died
recently, and the Rector there said in a homily about him that “Tears compose
the river of compassion, with the headwaters in the heart, and the rapids in
the eye.” It’s a beautiful metaphor for grief. We only grieve someone’s absence
when there has been a profound presence. The saints who have come before us
have had a profound presence in our lives, and so to grieve at their absence is
a healthy thing, and honors their impact on our lives.
What
All Saints’ proclaims though is that death does not have the final say. Death
does not separate us from saints past and saints yet to come; all of the saints
are in Christ. Lazarus died, but that was not the end of his story, and it is
not the end of ours. And so Jesus says about Lazarus, “unbind him, and let him
go.” Because of the power of the Resurrection, we are united in the mystical
fellowship of all the saints. We have the gift of a heritage of faith, but in
this time and in this place, it is our time and our turn. To this generation,
the call has gone out – we are unbound, and it is time for us to get going.
We
are stewards of this segment of history. Others have led us here, and others
will continue our work in the future, but the present is time in which our
legacy is built. Sometimes people wonder why it’s important for us to have
churches. Some ask “Why should we give money to the church when there is so
much need in our world?” Other might ask, “Why are we spending so much money on
a new organ when there are homeless people in Salisbury?” Those are good
questions.
Being
stewards of the Church means that we are but one chapter in the great story of
ministry in Jesus’ name through the power of the Holy Spirit. We do ministry
because someone taught us about Jesus. We are united to Christ and all
believers because we were Baptized into the Communion of all the saints. Doing
the work of ministry, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting
those in prison, is very important. But the difference between the ministry
that we do and the work of a non-profit organization is our rootedness in
faith. It’s important to maintain and build the Church so that ministry in
Jesus’ name continues. Christianity is not a social improvement plan, it is a pathway
to the transformation of our souls as well as the world.
The
Church is one of the few places in our world where you can come and ask
questions, where you can sit and cry and no one thinks that is odd, where you
can find rest. In my work as a priest, I run into this all the time – when
people are at transition points in life, they seek the power of Sacraments.
When grandchildren are born, family wants a Baptism; when a couple wants to
make a commitment, they come for a wedding; when someone needs to move on from
the past, they come for Confession; when someone needs food for their soul,
they come for Eucharist; when someone dies, their family comes for the comfort
and closure of a funeral. We have received this wonderful legacy at St. Luke’s
of a community of faith, of a church that feeds people, of a place of rest and
refuge. As stewards, it is our task to make sure that this place is here for
future generations, to make sure that the Sacraments which show God’s grace and
love are celebrated for current future generations.
And
when we do those things well, ministry happens. It’s not supporting a church
budget versus helping the needy; these are not competing agendas. The work of
the Church is praising God, and praise is done not only with our songs and our
words, but also our hands and feet. We unite in Jesus’ name and are empowered
to go out in the world in peace to love and serve the Lord. It is such an
amazing legacy that the saints of generation before have left us, and the task
of ensuring that this legacy is there for future generations is crucial, so we
really do need you to be a part of it through our stewardship efforts.
In
the context of All Saints’, stewardship becomes not just giving to a cause, but
investing in the ministry of Jesus Christ across time and space. And this
distinction between giving and investing is important. Gifts are fairly easy to
make. We see a cause that we care about and we give. And those gifts are
certainly appreciated, but gifts rarely change us. Participation in the Communion of all the saints though
is different, that is an investment of our entire selves. There is no magic
number that equates to an investment, for some $500 is a rather large
investment, for others, $50,000 might be a small gift. Amounts don’t matter
when it comes to stewardship, but intentionality does.
As
you consider your pledge, consider whether you are giving to St. Luke’s, or
investing in St. Luke’s. Gifts generally don’t make us think about our budgets,
investments do. An investment represents a significant amount of money that accords
with the place faith has in your life. And investments aren’t only about money,
because when you give as an investment, you become invested in the vitality of
the organization. So along with your pledge comes a commitment to being here
for worship as often as possible and a commitment of your time and talent to
make sure that St. Luke’s is the best that we can be. I want to be clear, all
gifts are appreciated; investments though are the currency of the saints of God.
Of
course, anytime we make an investment, we want to know “what’s the return on
this investment?” What sort of return do you hope to get for your investment at
St. Luke’s? What are your dreams for St. Luke’s? Whatever that answer is, put
your investment there. Give financially so that God's dream might be realized, give
your time so that need or program might succeed. Be unbound and get to the work
of the Gospel. Invest in the Kingdom of God. That’s what All Saints’ Day is all
about, gratitude for the fact that God is invested in us and celebrating the
way that the faithful throughout the generations have invested in God’s mission
of reconciliation and love.
Let
us pray: Almighty God, we give you thanks for this time and place in which we
find ourselves. With Jesus Christ as our foundation, your faithful saints
throughout the generations have paved the way for us, and for that we are
grateful. As we find ourselves as stewards of your Church, help us to invest in
your mission, as it is now our time and our turn to be your vessels of grace and
virtue. We are unbound by the power of Jesus’ Resurrection, free to spread the
Good News in our own generation, so in the words of a great hymn: grant us
wisdom and grant us courage for the for the living of these days. Amen.
