November 6 - Proper 27, Year A (RCL)
It’s that time of the year again. The leaves have changed color,
the clocks are turned back, there’s frost on the ground and gloves on our hands.
And here at church,
we’re talking about stewardship.
Now, before you all say, “Here we go again” and check out
for the duration of the sermon,
let me say one thing.
Stewardship
is not just about the church
asking you for money.
Stewardship
is, fundamentally, a celebration
of all that God has given us,
and an invitation
to share those gifts
with God
and one another.
And this month, in our sermons, we’re going to explore four different aspects of that stewardship, four different aspects
of our sharing:
sharing our call,
sharing our gifts,
sharing our thanks, and
sharing our commitment.
And it seems appropriate that we begin with this celebration of All Saints.
Today
we celebrate
the feast of All Saints.
It’s one of the most important days in the church’s year, coming after Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, and while those three celebrate God,
this day
celebrates people,
people who have put their trust in Christ
these last
two thousand
years.
Some of them
are well known, acclaimed for their great piety, wisdom, and miraculous works,
famous saints like St Peter and St Mary and St George, and lesser ones like St Edith of Wilton, Moses the Black, Edburga of Winchester, and Absalom Jones, who appeared at our All Saints potluck on Tuesday.
But if you look at the way the word saints is used in the bible,
it doesn’t just apply to the famous ones.
earlier in the fall we read the letter to the Philippians. Remember how it begins?
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
to the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.”
The letter is written
to all the Christians
in Philippi.
And the letter Romans, which we read over summer, it begins this way,
“To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints.”
When the bible talks about saints,
it doesn’t just mean
the extra special holy ones, the famous ones,
it means each and every person
who hears the call of Jesus Christ
and decides to follow him.
And that means
each and every one of us.
Each and every one of us
has heard that call;
each and every one of us
has responded;
each and every one of us
is numbered among
the saints of God.
That’s all well and good,
but sometimes I suspect
that although we’re comfortable using church language like call,
we’re not always entirely sure
what that means.
So what is this call that we share?
One place to look
is in our prayer book.
The people who got together to write our Book of Common Prayer
drew on a centuries old tradition of prayer and worship,
and then tried to work out what that would look like
given the language and issues of today.
And one of the things they paid a lot of attention to
was what do we mean
when we are baptized?
How is it
that we follow Jesus Christ?
How do we live out our call?
And they answered it in two ways:
first, what do we believe?
And second, how do we live?
First, what do we believe?
And for the answer, they turned to the ancient formulations of the church, to the Apostle’s Creed.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.
We acknowledge our faith in God, the creator
of all things.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in Jesus, who we know as both a human being like us, with a mother Mary,
but was God incarnate, God made flesh, through the Holy Spirit.
We don’t now how that worked, but we affirm, as Christians throughout the centuries have,
that Jesus Christ was both human and divine.
We believe he suffered on the cross, and died,
and his body placed in a tomb.
And we believe that he rose again, came back to life
by the amazing power of God.
and then he ascended, and now is with God,
waiting for the end of time
when he will judge all things
with grace and mercy.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic Church
the communion of saints
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting.
We believe that God comes among us still
through the spirit of Christ, the spirit of God,
God comes among us to strengthen and empower and comfort us.
We believe that the church is the body of Christ,
and even across our many denominations and languages
we still do Christ's work in the world.
We believe that the saints, all those who have believed in Christ
continue to join us in prayer and worship.
We believe that there is nothing
that cannot be forgive,
and that God is always ready
with a second...and a third and a tenth and a hundredth
chance for us.
And we believe
that not only Christ was resurrected, but we will be too,
and enjoy life with God after we die.
So that’s what we believe as Christians.
So how do we live?
And that’s what the second part of the baptismal covenant tries to answer. The five questions
lay out what the call of Christ is to us,
the call
that we all share.
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
When the church was first established, the early Christians got together whenever they could, and if possible every day, to pray and learn and simply spend time together. At least in the beginning, they continued to go synagogue on the Sabbath, but before long, the leaders there threw them out, and so Christians decided that in addition to their daily prayer, they would gather to worship on Sundays, the day of the resurrection!
Coming together to worship God on Sundays has been one of the central practices of the Christian faith for the last two thousand years. Here we are reminded of the word of God and what it means for us today, we pray together, we share in the Eucharist, and we spend time together as the people of God. Here we find support and encouragement and laughter and, if we pay attention, the very presence of God.
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
We all know what it is to make a mistake, to fail. One of things Jesus did most often, one that got the authorities really angry at him, was to forgive sins. And he taught us to pray for forgiveness in the words of the Lord’s Prayer, and to be confident in God’s forgiveness.
But it’s not just about apologizing to God when we mess up. Part of our call is to resist evil before we get involved in it, whether it’s declining to gossip or holding our temper or choosing to say nice things rather than nasty ones.
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
When Jesus met with his apostles, his closest friends,
his last day on earth, right before he ascended to heaven, he asked them to do something. He asked them
to go and make disciples, to go, tell other people about Jesus
and invite them to follow him.
That job didn’t end with the apostles - it has been passed on from one Christian to another through the centuries. There are so many people in our world
who have no idea of the good news of Jesus.
Christ calls us, each and every one of us, to share that good news
in what we say, and in what we do.
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Have you ever thought how amazing people are
who go overseas
and serve people in times of crisis and great need? It’s a wonderful gift
that they give of themselves.
But sometimes
I have a sneaking suspicion
that what they do
is in one way easier
than staying behind.
You see, it’s fairly easy to love and serve someone
who you don’t know.
There are no strings attached; you just do it.
But when it comes to serving someone you do know,
well that can be a lot harder.
Because when you know someone
you know the best about them, but you also know the worst.
You know when they’ve failed you, when they haven’t managed
to live up to your expectations.
Of course you know the good stuff too...but it’s always the bad stuff that sticks in our minds.
Christ’s call to us is to love and serve our neighbors - that is, the people right here beside us, our families, our friends, the people who live next door - even when they’re at their most
unlovable.
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
But Christ's call isn’t limited to the people right beside us. It also applies to all people. Part of our job as disciples of Christ
is to do things that contribute towards justice and peace for all people.
And you know, that sometimes means doing things that might cost us. Supporting policies of our government
that provide assistance to people on the other side of the world.
Shouldering, sharing the burdens of those in our own country who are struggling.
And perhaps of all, respecting the dignity of every human being - not joining in misrepresenting people, or labeling them inferior because they are different
Christ has called us,
Christ has called us to know him and love him and follow him.
And so I now invite you
to follow in the faith of the saints
as we respond to the call of Christ on page 304 of the Book of Common Prayer.
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2010