In This Together

Jon M. Phillips

All Saints' Day Community Worship - November 2, 2011

McCormick Theological Seminary

Photo Credit: Szagi, flickr.com

Let us pray:

Guide us, O God,
By your Word and Spirit,
that in your light we may see light,
in your truth find freedom
and in your will discover your peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

This is the time of year that many Christian traditions remember those who have gone before us who make up the great cloud of witnesses known as the saints. Some of us celebrated Reformation Sunday last weekend, where we remember those saints who sparked a reformation by questioning, prodding, and expecting more. Many of us celebrated Halloween on Monday, or All Hallows Eve as it is traditionally known, commemorating the night before All Saints Day (or for some of us, our costume making and candy eating abilities). Some of us yesterday celebrated All Saints Day, where especially in the Roman Catholic tradition, those who have died and are now, as our text from Revelation states, part of that great crowd before the throne of God, are remembered. In the west, this tradition goes back to around the sixth and seventh centuries as a celebration of the martyrs. Today in the Roman Catholic tradition it is All Souls Day, where the faithful departed who are still undergoing purification are remembered. Yesterday and today also mark Dia de los Muertos for many in Mexico and around Latin America, a time when the life and memory of the dead are celebrated and honored. In this annual time of transition from summer to fall, harvest to scarcity, and light to the dark of winter, many of us throughout time have gathered together to remember those in our communities who are no longer with us, and also to remember those who have inspired our journeys of faith – the great cloud of witnesses whose lives are a testimony to God’s work in the world, and who are participants with the inbreaking of God’s great kindom. 

In our text from Revelation today, we see a vision of this eschatological future: the innumerable saints, from all nations and cultures, races and ethnicities, and who speak every language gathered in white robes with palm branches in hand worshipping and celebrating God’s victory. The promises of God told to us by Isaiah in chapter 49, verse 10 that “they won’t hunger or thirst; the burning heat and sun won’t strike them, because the one who has compassion for them will lead them and guide them by springs of water” have been universally fulfilled. God, Godself will wipe away every tear in this fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles described in Deuteronomy 16. This scene can be seen as a witness against the beast, against the powers and principalities that take life. We see the saints. All of them. Celebrating victory through worshipping God. The struggle is over. The eschaton has come. Included in that great crowd are all those who have inspired us; our friends, our families, our mentors, and our heroes. The person sitting to your left, the person sitting to your right, and even you and I. We are all, eventually, part of the great crowd witnessed by John. 

The saints we traditionally remember on this day are those who have died in our communities in the past year. We think of those we hold dear to our hearts, those who have been inspirations and beacons of God’s light. As we prepare to publically remember those close to us who have passed away in the last year, I invite you also to think of those saints who are rarely remembered: the homeless, victims of violence around the world, the poor and hungry, children whose lives have ended far too soon, those without hope, those who have been persecuted, and all of God’s children who are easily forgotten.  

Let us know remember and honor those saints dear to us, as we read their names and light a candle for them.

Naming the Saints 

Photo Credit: Uteart, flickr.com

The lights before us represent some of those saints loved by us who have passed away in the last year. We remember them and many others with a multitude of emotions and thoughts, yet we can find comfort in the words of Jesus in the Matthew text for today, from the Sermon on the Mount: “Happy are people who grieve, because they will be made glad” in verse 4. We see in this verse what we see throughout the Beatitudes – the now and the future. The now – “happy are,” and the future - “they will be.” The now is predicated on the future hope for God’s complete overturning of current conditions. Salvation – from hopelessness, grief, hunger and thirst, harassment, and for the humble, those who show mercy, those who have pure hearts, and those who make peace – is assured through the hope expressed in the now. We who experience these things are happy now, precisely because of the eschatological future expressed in each statement – because the kingdom of heaven is ours; we will be made glad; we will inherit the earth; we will be fed until we are full; we will receive mercy; we will see God; we will be called God’s children. Jesus promises that which we see fulfilled in the text from Revelation.  Matthew’s two major themes of the ethics of righteousness and the indwelling kingdom of God are expressed in these promises.  

When I look at these passages that explicitly point to “God’s agenda of eschatological transformation or justice,” as Warren Carter put it, I see a now predicated not only on the future action of God but also on the future action of the saints – of us. In remembering those who have died, I remember those whose lives were unequivocal in their witnessing the truth of God’s inbreaking kindom. I remember those who paid attention to the poor and suffering who Jesus named and promised justice to; those whose attention led to transformative action. I remember those who, with Jesus by their side, also stood up to imperial power, destructive relationships, disease, environmental destruction, sexual violence, and oppression based on race and culture, sex and gender, orientation, class, and education. Not only do I remember these saints who stood as beacons of God’s light in a dark world, but also I look around and I see the need for so many more. I see a world that needs all of us to be in this together – to struggle together to be part of God’s solution in a world where children go hungry not only across the globe, but down the block. I see a world where 30,000 children or so die every day simply because of a lack of fair distribution of plentiful resources like food and water and medicine. I see a city where in the past 3 years 263 children have been killed in violent acts, and yet our city’s administration is more interested in spending police resources enforcing park curfews on those who dare to cry for economic justice. I see so many terrible, ugly, destructive things. Yet, I also see so many amazing, inspirational, talented people who God can and is using to overturn such powers. Christ calls us not only to remember saints past, but to be saints – saints that overturn structures of oppression. Together, not only can we experience Jesus’ promise of eschatological fulfillment, but we can, and need to be part of getting us all there from the now, to the future. Let us not simply remember those who are dead, let us be people who will be remembered not only by future generations, but by our neighbors who need us to step up and be in this together. Amen. 

In response, I invite you as you are so moved to come forward during this song and light a candle for a saint you hold in your heart. 

Blessing and Charge

Photo Credit: *Kicki*, flickr.com

Go forth friends, and be the saints for those around you now, and for those who will come.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord be kind and gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor
and give you peace.
Amen.