For the fellowship of the saints and for the light of Christ that shined in their lives, we give you thanks, O God ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the things that I most enjoy about the Principal Feasts of the Church year, is that these holy days draw our attention to the things in our faith that matter most. In tonight’s reading from Revelation, we heard the one who is seated on the throne say, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” What could be more important than that? The beginning, the source, the origin of all things all the way to the conclusion, the consummation, and the fulfillment of all things; from potential to actualization; from uncertainty to finality.
What comes between Alpha and Omega is what we know as existence. Everything from the Big Bang to the final whatever happens at the end is what comes between Alpha and Omega. We might say that all of space and time fill the pages, but God, as Alpha and Omega is the cover and binding that holds it all together. God both precedes what we understand as the beginning and God will endure beyond what will appear to be the end of all things. And because the one on the throne says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” we can say certain things about the binding that holds all things together. That one is none other than Jesus Christ, which tells us that love was there before it all began and love will endure forever. The love that we saw in Jesus that healed the sick, the love that forgave sinners, the love that went all the way to the Cross, the love that burst forth from the tomb, the love that now sits on the throne above all things – that love is what created all things and what shall redeem all things.
As powerful as love is, love is also a difficult thing. Jesus tells us that we are to love one another, that love is the mark of true faith. Love is not some squishy emotion, rather love is most fully seen on the Cross. This is why Revelation often portrays Jesus as the lamb of God – the one on the throne is the one who out of great love endured pain and suffering. This is why I am so confident that all shall be well. On the throne is not a capricious, exacting, or angry deity, but rather the gracious and loving God who came to us in great humility and who died to make all things new.
And this newness is what the Omega, the end of all things, is all about. The vision that we see in Revelation is about newness – a new heaven and new earth, with a new Jerusalem at the center of all things. What’s so often overlooked in this vision though is the direction of things. It is not the faithful who are brough up, or raptured up, to heaven. No, instead, God comes down. God always comes to us. We saw that when God came to us in Jesus, and this is also the destination of all things – the consummation of the Incarnation when God will again come to dwell with his people. This beloved community with God is the destination of all of Creation.
Even now, we catch glimpses of this beloved community, and it is in the lives of the saints that we see this light shine. In Advent, we often hear from the prophet Isaiah – “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.” The saints are those who have been paving the way. It is the saints who spread their cloaks on the ground for the king of glory to enter in.
When it comes to the “beatific vision,” that is, a vision of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, our language will always fail us. Even the most poetic of words cannot express the grandeur of this reign of mercy, peace, and love. Our imaginations can’t even take us there, as our intellects remain limited. The best way that we have to taste and see this good love of God is in the lives of the saints because it is through their witness that this beatific glory shines.
Towards the end of the reading from Revelation, we heard King Jesus say, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” We have to be told what is true, because so much of our world and society is structured around not paying attention to what is real. We pacify ourselves with screens. We distract ourselves with news that isn’t really newsworthy. We dull our sensations with indulgences and chemicals. We argue over second-order issues in order to avoid the depths of first-order concerns. But the saints are those who gave their lives in service to that which is ultimately good, and true, and beautiful – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
At the conclusion of his Narnia series, CS Lewis depicts a vision of heaven in which he describes it as going “further up and further in.” That is, in heaven things get more real, not less. We tend to think of it in the opposite way. We think this world is what is most tangible and real, and that heaven is something more spiritual and amorphous. It’s just the opposite. Life in God is more real than anything we can imagine. What we think of as existence is a mere shadow compared to the glory that is to come. Again, it is the saints who let us see more than just shadows as they reflect the light of Christ.
In the bravery of Stephen, Alban, Perpetua, Thomas Cranmer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Oscar Romero, we see a witness to truths so compelling that they were willing to die as martyrs. In the generosity and selflessness of Joseph of Arimathea, Francis, and Clare, we see what is worth giving our lives to. In the compassion of Julian of Norwich, Constance, and Teresa, we see the sort of love that can move mountains. In the creativity and intellect of Augustine, Aquinas, Hilda, and CS Lewis, we see the power of God to inspire and make all things new. In the prophecy of Moses and Martin Luther King, we see the dream of God coming into being.
And this is why we are so blessed in the Church to have the Communion of the saints. In their lives, we are given glimpses into those things that are most trustworthy and true. Through their experiences, they have seen something of the truths of God and paved the way for us. In their examples of faithfulness, we are given holy work to do in preparing the way of the Lord. Instead of just puttering around and going through the motions of life, the saints have showed us what a life full of purpose and meaning looks like, they are lives spent striving for beloved community, lives testifying to the truth of God’s love, lives made different in the blessed difference that Christ makes.
The saints lived their lives in the Alpha of God’s love and anticipated of the Omega of the perfection of that love in all things. In this in-between time, the saints encourage and inspire us to keep our focus on what matters most – the all-surpassing love of God. On All Saints, we sing a song of the saints of God, who were patient, brave, and true. And it is our prayer, that by God’s grace, we will be one too.
