Today is Family Reunion Day in the Church. It s the day when we remember that we are

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1 Texts: Revelation 7:9-17, Matthew 5:1-12 Title: Even Here, Even Now Celebration of Life PC 11/2/2014, All Saints Sunday Today is Family Reunion Day in the Church. It s the day when we remember that we are connected to the real giants of our faith, those who followed Jesus no matter what it cost them. The Apostle Paul and the gentle Bishop Iranaeus, the Desert Fathers and Mothers who were the ancestors of today s monks and nuns, Theresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich, Saint Francis and Saint Joan of Arc, Martin Luther and John Calvin, and all those who set sail for the New World in search of the freedom to worship as they felt led to. We remember the saints of our own times: Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela. And we remember our very own Presbyterian saints: Rosemarie Wallace and Lois McFadden and Dale Strong and Ann Upchurch and so many others we have loved and lost. On this day we also remember that we will always have a connection to those who were once part of our family but who have left us to serve Christ in other places: the Loyers, Dan Abbott and Pat Spade, Carol and Sheldon Wion, Gayle Park and Kent and Joe, Stacey and Brendon, Owen and Audrey and so many others over the past 40 years. The quintessential movie to watch this time of year is Places in the Heart, with Sally Field and Danny Glover. For those of you who haven t seen it, I won t tell the whole story, but I heartily recommend watching it. Those of you who have seen it will remember that wonderful scene at the end of the movie when the people of the local church gather to celebrate the Lord s Supper and the pews are suddenly filled with all the townspeople as well as those who have moved away and those

2 2 who have died. It s the most wonderful visual example of what we call The Communion of the Saints. Once you ve seen it you don t forget it. So I ll ask you to imagine for a moment that ending scene as it would play out here in our sanctuary. Who do you see gathered around this table? Who are the saints you imagine joining us here? In a few minutes we will read the names of those who have left us in order to sit at God s great banquet table in heaven. And it doesn t matter how many times we read their names, the pain of losing each of them comes back as clearly as they day they left us. One of my friends used to remind me, There s a trade-off for everything. And the trade-off for being part of such an intimate community is the joy we feel over each new friendship and the pain we feel with each loss. That is why we also read the list of some of those who were baptized here to help us remember that our baptism makes us saints and to help us remember the joy we feel on welcoming a new brother or sister into our family. This day is a day set aside to help us remember that to celebrate the joys of loving each other and to recognize and acknowledge the pain of losing each other as well. The passage from the book of Revelation was written for people who knew all about loss the loss of family relationships that happened when they chose to follow Jesus, the loss of identity that their communities faced under Roman persecution, the loss of freedom and even the loss of life. The letter was written to give them some encouragement and some hope as they struggled through difficult times. It contains this beautiful vision that picture of all the saints dressed in their gleaming white robes gathered around God s throne. It s a comforting vision too to know that the Good

3 3 Shepherd will lead them through green pastures and to springs of life-giving water and that God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Passages like this one give us hope that the ones we have lost live now in a place of exquisite beauty and peace, nearer to the presence of God, that whatever pain or hardships or struggles they knew in this life are behind them now, and that someday we will join them in that place where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes as well. Today is a day set aside for us to remember that we too have been given that promise. We approach the passage from Matthew s gospel in the same way wanting to understand what it meant to the first people who heard Jesus words, but also wishing to find there a word addressed to us. These verses are always one of the readings for All Saints Sunday and they help to remind us what it means to be a saint. Too often we read these particular words as though they were a job description and we figure it s a job we know we would never be qualified for. So it s best to not even apply, we tell ourselves. But notice that there are no thou shalt s or thou shalt not s in the whole list. It s not a list of things we should strive for. It s a description of blessings that are already there for us. These Beatitudes are written in the language of grace, not in the language of the law. Jesus was blessing those who were not often recognized let alone blessed in that society the hopeless, the grieving, the humble, the merciful. And he wasn t saying, Just hang in there and one day down the road you will be blessed. He was offering words of blessing and promise, right here, right now, even here, even now. Blessing, writes David Lose, isn t like the flu shot. Blessing doesn t

4 4 immunize you from pain or loss, and it s not a guarantee of safe passage through this life unscathed. Rather, it s a sense of fullness, of contentment, of joy that is like, but also transcends, ordinary happiness. (Lose, All Saints Sunday:The Sermon I Need to Hear, in the meantime blogpost for 10/27/2014, as accessed on textweek.com) As you read over the list of those whom Jesus called blessed, there may be qualities you identify with and others you have not yet experienced. It helps to remember that being a saint isn t about being extraordinarily good or holy. All God s saints have had their shortcomings. Belonging to God is all it takes to be a saint and whether we know it or not, whether we recognize it or not we all belong to God. All that remains to be seen is what we will do with that blessing. So who do you see seated around this table? Can you see yourself seated there, next to the saints of yesterday and today and tomorrow? As Barbara Brown Taylor writes, to be a saint you do not have to be famous, or perfect, or dead. You just have to be you the one-of-a-kind, never-to-berepeated human being whom God created you to be to love as you are loved, to throw your arms around the world, to shine like the sun. (Taylor, God s Handkerchiefs, Home by Another Way, p. 212) Nor do you have to walk that path toward becoming the person God created you to be, all by yourself or all alone. You are already part of a great company of saints those who are sitting right next to you this morning and those you can only see with the eyes of imagination Francis and Joan,

5 5 and Julian, and Martin, Abraham and Nelson, and Desmond and Rosemarie, Lois and Ann, Helen and Leo and Maggie. Whether you know it or not, whether you can imagine them or not, they are there, a part of the great host of heaven, singing praises to their creator but also praying for you and whispering words of encouragement. And every time we gather around this table we can imagine that they are all there right alongside us, sharing in our prayers and our singing, sharing in the bread of life and the cup of joy, joining with us to celebrate the gift of hope that is ours because we are all blessed, blessed children of a generous God. Let us pray Rev. Shelly Moe