[Propertalk] All Saints Sunday

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

Here's a rough draft of what I have so far for this Sunday when we use 
the All Saints Day propers.

Bob



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY 
THE SUNDAY AFTER ALL SAINTS’ DAY - A
REVELATION 7:9-17	 	           		          	                               			 
6th NOVEMBER, 2011
1 JOHN 3:1-3				                                                        			 
PSALM 34:1-10, 22
MATTHEW 5:1-12						

	Some of you were talking, shortly after the St Francis Day pet blessing 
about whether or not dogs will be in heaven. Strange that no one asked 
about cats – or any other animals, for that matter!

	Here’s one that’s more difficult for some – what about Buddhists, or 
Muslims, or that tree-hugger down the street?

	“You might want to think twice, if you cherish your notions of reality, 
before accepting a ride from Brian Greene.

	“Step into a taxi, a Jeep, a space shuttle or even onto an escalator 
with this boyish Columbia University physicist and best-selling author, 
and you may soon find your watch acting weirdly, the landscape outside 
turning into a funhouse mirror or the uniqueness of your own identity 
called into question.” 1

This past Wednesday, a four-part tour of the universe began on “Nova” on 
PBS, hosted by Dr. Brian Greene

	“‘Let’s take a ride,’ Dr. Greene likes to say. And what a ride it is.”

	Last Wednesday’s New York Times reporter said that Greene “takes 
obvious delight in trying to mediate at least a glancing acquaintance 
with ideas that would give most of us nightmares if we were to encounter 
them alone in a dark alley of the consciousness. The haunting notion, 
for example, that the past and future exist independently of our 
perception of them, as if individual moments were like cards in a deck 
we haven’t been dealt yet.

	“Standing in front of a diagram of the history of the universe, Dr. 
Greene says that just as we think of all of space being out there, ‘we 
should think of all of time as being out there.’”

And this may be a great lead in to think about our Scripture readings 
this morning, and about the Feast of All Saints, which we continue to 
celebrate today. We’re asked to do nothing less than re-evaluate our 
entire lives – who is it that’s most important to us; and why? What sort 
of thing can have the greatest impact on our lives; and why? What gives 
us a sense of meaning for our lives; and why? Because I’d guess that the 
person and the event that has such an impact on us does so because of 
relationships – either nourishing and building up, or dividing and 
breaking down. Blessed, said Jesus, are those things which help us 
realise how much God wants to build up you and me.

	“Convened in Assisi in 1986 by Pope John Paul II, the Day of Prayer for 
Peace was an event without precedent, and both Christians and members of 
other religions are still engaged with the process of reflecting on it, 
appraising its significance and taking forward what happened there. …

“So what is the spirit of Assisi? …. Fr Christian Salenson highlighted 
six convictions that he said were constitutive of the spirit of Assisi. 
They’re printed in your bulletin this morning. He listed them as 
follows: that all people are related in some way to Christ; that the 
religions (NOTE THE PLURAL!!) (that the religions) contain the ‘seeds of 
the Word’; that religions play a specific role in human history; that 
inter-religious encounter is a contribution to the coming of the 
Kingdom; that prayer, as an expression of openness to God, has a central 
place in this dialogue; and that there is an urgent need for 
interreligious dialogue.” 2

	What we’re continuing to celebrate right now is the Feast of All 
Saints, and this talks basically about two things. First Christian life 
– ALL life, actually – is about community, about the power we’ve been 
given, the responsibility we have to live in and to nurture community.

	It can be really hard to admit that we’re all related. However, maybe 
you’ve heard of the so-called six degrees of separation. Briefly, this 
theory suggests that you have to take only six steps before you discover 
someone to whom you’re related. This is a great concept on to which to 
hold. It means, for instance, that we’re related to, and should share 
the call to witness to Jesus, with the folk in the Church across the 
street; and in the other one further down Hill; and probably even the 
ones across in North Albany.

	More than that, though. This concept brings home to us how what we do 
is all tied together. None of us is in competition with the other. We 
may operate differently; we may seem to stress different things; we may 
even use different hymn books! But we are a community of God’s people 
who’re drawn together from all sorts of different backgrounds.
Whether we know it or not, the most disparate people imaginable are 
linked together – how? Somehow, we’re all drawn together through and in 
Jesus.

	Jesus tried to teach the crowd what were the important issues that 
determined what sort of outcome our lives produced. And He turned 
everything on its head. He drew everyone into the group and gave them 
all hope.

	It’s interesting to note, though, that not everyone was promised the 
same thing. The only thing of which there was – and remains – any 
certainty is that we are being drawn to recognise that all of life 
originates in God, as the famous phrase from the collect puts it: 
“Almighty God, in whom we live, and move and have our being.”

	One of the things that the Beatitudes teach us is that we can let go of 
the worry and pressure to chase after the same goodies. There should be 
a relief when, at baptism, we hear that we’re “marked as Christ’s own 
forever”. There should be a relief also when we start to appreciate what 
it means not to have to do everything ourselves. However, there is 
always the expectation that we accept what God has given us, whatever 
gift and whatever urge to use it, and to work our hardest to help 
demonstrate that God’s reign IS in our midst, despite whatever gloomy 
news we may have heard yesterday or today.

	Mother Teresa seemed to sum up God’s expectation of us in the thought: 
“Holiness consists in doing God’s will joyfully.” 3

	I have to admit that this CAN sound like a tremendous challenge. No 
matter how many times we listen to the Gospel, no matter how many times 
we think about the followers of the prophets and the life of the early 
Christian communities, it’s quite possible we feel overwhelmed by 
whatever we may be being asked to do with our lives.

	To counter this Marianne Williamson, who writes on spirituality and 
relationships, among other things, wrote in encouragement:

	“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is 
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness 
that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, 
gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a 
child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's 
nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel 
insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were 
born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just 
in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we 
unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're 
liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates 
others.” 4

	THAT’S what living in community is supposed to be about. Not to become 
clones of one another, but to develop confidence in ourselves and to 
live for and with one another because God has confidence in us first. We 
ALL, every last one of us, is called to be blessed in this way.

	Which brings us to the second feature of our belief in, and celebration 
of, the Communion of Saints.
	Christian life is about the fact that we’re all called to be saints – 
God’s people, already made holy through Jesus’ sacrificial love and our 
baptism. Here’s Mother Teresa again. First she said, “Holiness consists 
in doing God’s will joyfully.” Then she said, “Faithfulness makes 
saints.”

	Sometimes it may seem challenging to admit that we can be saints. 
That’s where the renewal of our baptismal vows can offer encouragement. 
We’re reminded that we’re already saints. All we need to do is to claim 
what God has offered us already through Baptism, and to try to keep our 
baptismal vows, AND to admit when we fail and to ask for help.

	Living as a saint means recognizing that in one way or another we’ve 
all encountered God, Now our task is to help others to encounter God 
too. And this is something we can all do.

	Today we celebrate the lives of all God’s saints. We give thanks for 
and remember by name all those relatives, and friends, and 
acquaintances, even people whom we may not know, yet who have influenced 
others who have influenced us, and brought us to this place where we’re 
reminded just how blessed we are.

	Our faith calls us to be willing to go on some of the wildest rides 
imaginable; to be willing to think about things we can’t fully 
understand; to be willing to draw others to see the possibilities of 
blessing within them. But we should never forget that our faith calls us 
to celebrate who we are – paid-up saints, already blessed by God, and 
members of a vast community whose pilgrimages have led them by different 
paths, to discover the one God of Love and Blessing, to whom be praise 
for ever!.

NOTES:

1 	TELEVISION REVIEW: “Empty Times Square Is Fantasy; The Stranger Stuff 
Is Science” By DENNIS OVERBYE Published: November 1, 2011
 
http://tv.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/arts/television/the-fabric-of-the-cosmos-on-pbss-nova-review.html?nl=nyregion&emc=urb2

2	“Power of prayer – Ecumenism and the spirit of Assisi” by Kevin 
McDonald –  22 October 2011 http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/161880

3	Mother Teresa, from “The Love of Christ” via Sojourners

4	“A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of ‘A Course in 
Miracles’” by Marianne Williamson. © Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 
7, Section 3   http://www.marianne.com/



Robert P Morrison
Interim Vicar
The Episcopal Church of St Alban
PO Box 1556
Albany OR  97321   541-921-1076 (cell)