TEXT: ‘Who are these clothed in white robes and whence have they come?’ ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation.’ (Revelation 7: 13)
‘What is a saint?’ Not a bad question to asking on our Festival Weekend, entitled, ‘’For all the Saints, past, present and future.”
And the reply:
‘A saint is someone who lived a long time ago, who’s never been adequately re-searched.’
The implication – admittedly a somewhat cynical implication behind that reply, is of course, that with a little bit of ‘re-search’ by our friends from the media, it wouldn’t be long before you would discover that those who we acclaim as saints – after all – had feet of clay, just like the rest of us; that they were not all they were made out to be and furthermore, that – like the heroes or celebrities of our own day, in this culture of celebrities – once you really begin to research their lives in depth, it won’t be long before you’ll see right through them and that he or she weren’t quite all they were cracked up to be!
Well, that may be true of our plastic heroes and the celebrities of history, but real saints never set themselves up as heroes with perfect lives : saints don’t need to set themselves up, precisely because they have been raised up by the God who has raised Jesus up from death to that new and abundant life which is eternal. Furthermore, if a saint is really a proper, authentic saint, you should in fact, actually, be able to see right through them! That’s why, on the whole, we do better to put them in stained glass windows rather than, set in stone as statues on plinths. Yes – saints are there to be seen right through!
Now what do I mean by that? You see, in the Western Church saints are those who, generally speaking, have been so hollowed out – generally by suffering – so that God can work at least three miracles right through them. They are channels of God’s love and grace – not at all full of themselves, otherwise God couldn’t get a foot in the door. They’re not concerned to be fulfilled, precisely because they long to be filled full of the life of God – filled with his grace to overflowing – like the Virgin Mary: ‘Hail Mary, full of grace.’
So St. Paul was the first to brag that ‘we have this treasure of God’s grace and the glory of the gospel of Christ – we have this treasure, he says, ‘in earthen vessels’ – POTS – cracked pots at that – not hoarding the great treasure of the gospel for ourselves but pouring it out – pouring God’s strength out through our weakness. And so you see that’s precisely why you’re supposed to be able to see right through a saintly man or woman. And what do you see? What do you see when you’ve researched them – these saints – and seen through them? I’ll tell you! Beyond the cynicism of our contemporary culture, as contemplatives, or as God’s Spies, to use Shakespeare’s terminology, you’ll see the glory of God in the face of Jesus, the light of the world, shining right through the lives of holy men and women – in a word, the incredible generosity of God’s Amazing Grace.
So you see, perhaps the less we know about any particular saint, the more we know about Christ, to whom they point us and who shines right through them. Yes, sometimes the less we know about a saint, the better the chances are that they can show us more of the light, the life and the love, and above all the generosity of Christ shining right through them, as Christ says, ‘’pressed down and running over.’’
So of course the church celebrates, as we do today, and gives thanks to God ‘’for all the saints’’ and martyrs throughout the ages, (past, present and those in the making) because they are the best advertisements, or bill-boards and arguments for the existence of God. If you like, they reassure us that the resurrection is true and that it really does work, – raising us from sin and death to share in the fullness of the life of the Blessed Trinity. Of course there’ll always be a place for argument, discussion and for apologetics when we are responding to the claims of agnostics, atheists or seekers. But arguments and discussion alone at best can only clarify misunderstandings and clear the pitch so to speak for the real encounter: these alone will not win the day or the hearts of seekers and those who are looking for a deeper meaning to life, let alone for a life worth living.
So do you remember the promise of Jesus? ‘I if I be lifted up will draw’ – attract – men and women ‘to myself.’ That’s the nature of true evangelism, discipleship and its fruits in stewardship- not banging people over the head with the bible or even with the parish accounts, – being on this or that side of the present controversial issues in our church. ‘All for Jesus, all for Jesus, that shall be the church’s song.’
For, when Jesus is held up in and through the lives of ordinary Christians, then people are attracted to this God who has shown us his glory and generosity in the face of Jesus – his irresistible glory. Do you remember those Greek enquirers and seekers who came to the disciples of Jesus and said: ‘Sirs, we would see Jesus.’ Or better still in the NEB translation: ‘Sirs, its Jesus we want to see.’ Yes, Jesus – and that’s what many people in our country are saying still to this day to the church, whether Anglican, Roman, Methodist or whatever. ‘Friends, it’s Jesus we want to see; not General Convention; not all that infighting on various issues.’
So I believe that’s the question All Saints’ Day puts to us as a church: and that’s the question and the challenge to the Christian faith today in a multi-cultural and multi-faith society.
Are you – am I – by my words and deeds and everyday life, sufficiently embodying the Spirit of the Risen Christ, so that men and women will be able to see something of the glory and generosity of God in the face of Jesus, THROUGH the lives of this congregation, as well as congregations everywhere? As Robert Warren said: ‘The only universal language for communicating the gospel of Christ is a congregation of men and women who believe it and are trying to live it.’
Because believe me, the harvest is plentiful today in an age when so many of the false idols of the recent past have fallen off their pedestals and plinths and broken the hearts of their disciples. So many of the ‘isms’ and idols of the last century have toppled to the ground and been shattered: communism; apartheid; the Berlin Wall; consumerism is looking pretty shaky and even possibly capitalism itself.
So shine Jesus, shine through the lives of your faithful people everywhere, for amidst all the debris of cynical disillusionment, YOU STILL STAND and reign in the hearts of your Saints – and our task is to hold you up to the world as you shine in and through our lives; not only on Sunday mornings, ‘but seven whole days, not one in seven.’
For it’s Jesus who shows us a very different God to the gods of all other religions: the God who is ‘Jesus shaped’’ is a God who has poured his love and life out from his heart, broken on the Cross for love of you and me; a generous God who doesn’t nickel and dime, but who went out of his way, as the Way, all the way from heaven to earth and hell and back again for love of you and me.
The Saints reflect that same generosity, precisely because generosity begets generosity with, what I like to call ‘an attitude of gratitude’, which becomes a whole new way of life. For the Eucharist is not only a service we attend, – it’s a whole new way of life, we live – meaning, as it does of course, simply ‘’THANK YOU’’ – or as we say in English, that little word ‘TA’ – a little word which opens doors to big hearts, overflowing with gratitude for all that God has done and given to us.
This season of the Saints in our Church is also the season of stewardship and renewal, recalling us to that debt of gratitude we owe for the unrestricted funds of God’s amazing Grace, which delivered us from sin and death to that new, abundant and eternal life together with God and all his Saints forever and forever: AMEN. ALLELUIA.
Sermon preached by the Rt. Rev. Michael Marshall
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
All Souls’ Day
2 November 2014