[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for All Saints' Sunday

[Joe Parrish]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Nov 3, 2012 11:08 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for All Saints' Sunday


This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “All Saints” or “Does the Son Shine
through You?” and deals with Gospel (Matthew 5: 1-12).  Here it is:

Happy All Saints’ Day!  We know about ChristMass and Easter and even
Pentecost- but what in the world is All Saints’ Sunday?  Would you
believe that All Saints is as ancient a Christian holiday as
ChristMass?  Both were started in the 300’s (about 300 years after
Jesus was born).  All Saints began as a holiday to remember those
Christian martyrs who were murdered for following Jesus.  Some 300
years later, people began honoring just plain, ordinary folk along
with those special people who were killed for their faith.  This is
fitting, because you know that the word “martyr” means witness; and
many of those fine ordinary people were wonderful witnesses to our
Lord.  You know the connection between All Saints’ Day and Halloween?
Christian holidays start the night before at sundown.  (This is why we
celebrate the ChristMass after sundown on December 24th instead of
waiting until ChristMass day, December 25th.)  Well- people used to be
more superstitious than we are now, so they thought those who were
being honored (in other words- dead people) wandered around that night
as ghosts.  Some people dressed up to scare them and others dressed up
as ghostly beings to scare other people.  It didn’t take long for
business owners to figure out they could make a LOT of money by adding
“trick or treat!”  In our time, All Saints is a day in which we make
new saints by baptizing them; we review our own lives to see if we are
acting like saints; and we remember our loved ones who have already
made their transition to the church triumphant (i.e. heaven).

So, what is a saint?  Do you have to be dead to be one?  If you want
to be one of those “capital ‘S’ saints” the Roman Catholic Church
beatifies, the answer is yes.  But there are a lot of common ordinary
saints- “small ‘s’ saints”- some alive, some already in heaven with
Jesus, who have truly made a wonderful difference in this world.  So
what is a saint?  A mother once asked her little boy this same
question.  He said, “Look mother; I’ll show you.”  He took his mother
by the hand and led her to one of those stained glass windows with
people wearing halos.  “You can always tell the saints,” he said,
“because they’re the people whom the sun shines through.”  “Small ‘s’
saints” are us- those of us who have been baptized and accept Jesus as
our Lord and Savior.  Our calling, just as the little child said, is
to let the sun (God’s Son) shine through our lives.

So- saints- how are you doing?  Are you letting Jesus, the Son, shine
through your life?  The best way to tell is to check your life, not in
the easy times but in the hard times.  Did you notice the thought for
the week: “People are like tea bags- you have to put them in hot water
before you know how strong they are” (anonymous).  Please look at
Ecclesiasticus 2:1, “Students, if you decide to worship and obey the
Lord, be ready to face problems.”  All the “capital ‘S’ saints” faced
huge problems in life; in fact- every human being faces huge problems
in life.  It’s how you face these problems, it’s how I face these
problems- doing it my way or God’s way, that determines if we are
going to have a truly blessed life.  A good test can be found in the
Beatitudes from today’s gospel (Matthew 5:3-10).  Please note- doing
these things will NOT get you into heaven.  Only the blood of Jesus,
the Christ, will do that.  These will test how you’re doing in letting
the Son shine through your life to others.  Are you living God’s way?
Let’s check: God blesses those people who.....
	Depend only on him.  Our culture teaches us to depend on our money
or power or smarts to get us through tough times.  Our bottom line is
GOD!  Only God is in charge.
	Grieve- why?  Grieving the loss of someone else is proof that you’ve
lived your life loving other people- or at least loving one other
person.  If you don’t ever love anyone, how can you grieve for them
when they’re gone?  Our culture’s way is to be independent- depend on
no one, and be stingy about giving away your heart.
	Are humble.  As you know, this word means something different in our
common language.  When the Bible uses the word “humble,” it means
“reality oriented- knowing what we know and don’t know; knowing our
strengths and weaknesses.”  Humble people don’t say, “I am the
greatest!”  Why?  Because only God is great.
	Want to obey God more than to eat or drink?  Our culture teaches us
to say, “I’ll do it my way.”  That doesn’t even work for two-year-
olds, and it surely doesn’t work for us.  It’s God’s way that works!
It’s like the directions on the back of the cake mix box.  Go ahead
and put mustard, catsup, and sardines in the batter if you choose; but
if you want a good cake- you’d better make it the way the creator of
that cake mix says.  The same with people.  Who made us?  We’d better
follow our Creator God’s directions.
	Are merciful.  Our culture teaches us to take revenge, but I’m here
to tell you that revenge doesn’t work- it just feels good for a
while.  Jesus pointed out that even limited revenge (an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth) doesn’t work, because what goes around comes
around; and pretty soon everyone who lives by revenge would be blind
and toothless.
	Have pure hearts: not hypocrites- talking holy and not behaving like
a Christian.
	Make peace.  Our culture teaches us to start things and then step
back and enjoy the fireworks.  If we all lived this way, life would be
hell.
	Are treated badly for doing right.  Why?  Because it means you have
backbone!  It means you have integrity!  Peer pressure is the coward’s
way.  We weren’t called to be cowards!  We were called to be God’s
children.  Our values aren’t shaped by our friends.  We choose to have
our values shaped by God.

May God bless us as we allow the light of Jesus, the Son of God, to
shine through our lives so we may be counted among the saints when he
comes for us.  At that time, may we- along with St. Mary and St. Paul
and Martin Luther King. Jr. and all the saints hear, “Well done good
and faithful servant.  Enter into the joys of your Lord.” (Matthew
25:23b).  Amen.

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American
wisdom statements either is or will be posted on our parish web site.
The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.com .

Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan

 
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