For all the saints
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
For all the saints 30 October 2011 The Revd Jenny Wilkens
- Revelation 7:9-17
- 1 John 3:1-3
- Matthew 5:1-12
http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons
As we heard that wonderful description from the book of Revelation of the great multitude that noone could count, worshipping before the throne of God, I couldn't help but think back to that other crowd and victory parade this week, as 100,000 (was it?) Wellingtonians lined the streets of the city and gathered over here at Parliament to congratulate, celebrate, and (it got pretty close to) worship at times, our All Black Champions of the World!! Some of us Cathedral staff gathered up on the balcony off the flag room and had a pigeon's eye view of the proceedings over the road, while Frank did a running liaison with the bellringers as to when to ring the bells to celebrate our heroes!
It was a great event, but I can't help agreeing with one media commentator (Sean Plunket, Dominion Post, Saturday 29th October 2011, p.A25) who said, 'once Richie and the boys had dropped a quick haka and said some blokey stuff about how awesome it had been, it was kind of over and we were all left standing round wondering what to do next'!
It was great while it lasted but it does not quite compare with some of the other great crowds amassing round the world that we have seen on our news of late, the crowds of the Arab Spring, of Egypt, Libya, of celebrations of the triumph of the people over tyranny and dictatorships, often won at great human cost, with lives lost and blood shed. Of course we know that for these jubilant crowds too, this is just the beginning of the long haul to seek stable and just government, it is not and will not be easy for them, and they need our prayers.
But perhaps these crowds are closer to the picture we have in our vision from the book of Revelation, for we hear that the crowds of worshippers before the throne of God, from every nation, all tribes, peoples and languages, include those who have gone through great suffering, they have known the reality of hunger and thirst, the bitterness of tears and grief.
And yet one thing stands out starkly - their focus is no longer on what they have gone through, on their own sufferings or griefs, or even on their own victories. Rather their focus is solely on the God who has given them ultimate victory, and on the Lamb by whose blood salvation has been won at the cross, the Lamb who is also paradoxically the Good Shepherd.
God and the Lamb are the focus of worship day and night (v15) , and lest you have a secret worry in the back of your mind that all this worship might get boring, the word used actually has the broader sense of 'minister to' or 'serve', so there is plenty of scope for involvement in the life of God's kingdom in heaven as on earth!
That is what we glory in as we celebrate All Saints' Day today. It is an opportunity to broaden our vision in all directions through time and space as to the magnitude of God's kingdom, and the place for all within it. We say in the Apostles' Creed, "I believe in the communion of saints" but I think this is one of the slipperier elements of the creed to get our head around!
All Saints' Day is a good reminder that we are connected to a great company of God's people, not only throughout the world, but also through time, past and future.
Our world can be very 'me' and 'now' focussed. I enjoyed a cartoon the other day which showed a haloed saint in a stained glass window looking up at Jesus and saying, 'you mean it's not all about me?' Perhaps that's the very first step on the way to sainthood!
Of course All Saints' Day morphs into All Souls' and we will be beginning to make that transition this evening and especially as we hear the Fauré Requiem sung this Wednesday, All Souls' Day. It is a time to remember our dead with love, to think of those we miss from our own lives and families, and to give thanks for all they have meant to us. It is also a time to remember those now in God's nearer presence from this Cathedral community, and to give thanks for all that they have contributed to the tapestry of faith and worship and prayer woven deep within these walls.
I'm sure this will be especially poignant for our brothers and sisters at Christchurch Cathedral at this time, as they face deconsecration and demolition, and we hold them in our hearts and prayers.
As we gather here as All the Saints today, it is a good reminder too that all of us are saints, from our youngest "Small Saint" to our oldest "Senior Saint". Saints are not just the few holy ones in our stained glass windows, but in the New Testament understanding, we are all set apart for God. And in our society, the very fact that you make the effort to be here on a Sunday morning, shows that you are willing to be known as one who is indeed set apart for God, and one for whom worship and fellowship with all God's saints is a priority.
We have things to learn from each other at whatever age and stage we are. Richard and Rebecca's daughter Edie asked an interesting question of her father, the other day, as 4 year olds do: "Daddy, do you know where the start of the world is? I think it must be the beach. Actually no, I think the start of the world is the people. God loves people." I thought there was a lot of 4 year old wisdom there.
In the same way as our Small Saints bring us joy by their insights, so too do our Senior Saints with their wisdom and life experience, the value they place on worship, the way they carry the stories of this community of faith. We are hoping to extract some of those stories in some oral histories as we approach our 50th year here in 2014.
Part of what we rejoice in and give thanks for today is the ministry of all the saints here, of all ages. We all are called to minister in God's service from our baptism: we join the family, we share in the family meal in Eucharist, we share our gifts and talents and skills in God's service in a myriad of different ways within this Cathedral context and out in God's world.
And that's the case whether it's small children the age of Isla and Ruby who will be baptised here in a few weeks' time, or one of our young adults like Ashlee, baptised recently at Evensong, her picture on this month's Cathedral News. We are all children of God (1 John 3:1,2) through baptism, whatever age we are.
And our ministries and acts of service are all important to God and to this community, however and wherever they are worked out, whether it's more up front or behind the scenes, or unseen day by day out in your community or workplace. I often wonder in that half an hour before the service starts, which is the greater crisis - if the chalice bearers don't turn up, or if the coffee makers don't turn up??!! I'll let you decide…
Our role as clergy here is to help you discern your ministry and the way God wants you to live out your baptismal calling, and to support and resource you in that - so if we can help you more in that direction, do talk to us! We also pray for you - in our daily staff prayers, we not only pray for those mentioned on the monthly Cathedral prayer cycle which Alison produces (as we hope you do), but we also pray for you out and about at work and in your communities, carrying the light of Christ with you as you go.
All of us as we go are called to live into those 'beautiful attitudes' of the Beatitudes, our Gospel reading for today. They are attitudes for disciples and followers of Jesus to live into, not to do a pass/fail test on, and think I could never live up to those ideals. No, rather, this is something we live into together, notice they are all in the plural, blessed are those…, this is a calling for all the saints, to live into together as the community of disciples, of life-long learners, life-long followers of Jesus together. We are called to live in the present as it will be in God's future - so we haven't got it all right yet, we're not there yet, but each day we commit ourselves to follow in Jesus' footsteps again with all God's saints.
It was Friedrich Nietzsche who wrote, "The essential thing 'in heaven and earth' is...that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." One of the better things Nietzsche said, I think!
Long obedience in the same direction - this is what we are called to together, as God's saints, a long obedience in the direction of God's kingdom and of God's blessing, made known to us in Jesus Christ, made present to us in God's Spirit. Let's go there together. Amen.
