Episcopal Church of the
Incarnation
All Saints’ Sunday
Ecclesiasticus
44.1-10; 13-14 Psalm 149
Revelation 7.2-4; 9-17 Matthew 5.1-12
May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that
I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.
Outline of a
Sermon Delivered Extemporaneously
1) All Saints’ Day is the feast
on which we commemorate the union between the Church
here on earth and the Church Triumphant in paradise.
a) As we sang in verse 4 of the
opening hymn,
O blest communion,
fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in
thee, for all are thine. Alleluia!
b) All are one in thee. In words of the eucharistic prayer, we join
“... our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven”
to sing “Hosanna in the highest,” and in the liturgy of Holy Baptism we pray:
Grant, O Lord, that all who
are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of
his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory; who lives and reigns
now and forever. Amen.
i) We join our voices with all
the company of heaven because as we have been baptized into the death of Jesus
we live in the power of His resurrection.
(1) We live in hope of the world
to come, but we live as those called to holiness now.
2) When in a few minutes Lilly
Kate and Kyleigh are baptized, after they have received this sacrament of water
and of the invocation of the holy Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit, the sign of the Cross will then be traced on each of their
foreheads, and I will pray: “... you are
sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever. Amen.”
a) Marked as Christ’s own. Each of you who confesses the name of Jesus
and has been sealed in Baptism is marked of Christ’s own.
b) Each of you has received the
indelible mark of the Holy Spirit in your soul, and as you have
participated in Jesus’ death in Baptism, so you will participate in His
resurrection at the last day.
c) But note the tenses of the
verbs: you are sealed; you have
participated; you will participate.
i) Past and present are in
there in the continuum of creation, but let’s pay attention to that present
tense verb: You are sealed.
3) Being sealed with the Holy
Spirit, being marked as Christ’s own, what does this mean?
a) What does this mean in my
life?
b) What am I supposed to do;
how am I supposed to act?
i) In Scripture we hear quite a
lot about how we are to live, how we are to conduct ourselves and live sharing
the gifts which the Spirit has given to each one of us.
(1) But today I want to focus on
one particular way we are to live, one particular thing we are to do.
(a) And that is worship.
4) As people marked as Christ’s
own we are called to holiness.
a) That sounds a little
other-worldly, but in fact the word “holy” means no more (and no less) than
“set aside for God,” “dedicated to God”.
i) We are called to dedicate
ourselves to God in worship.
ii) And here is where this
sermon is going to take a turn that some won’t like, because since we are called
to dedicate ourselves to God in worship, this means that we need to be in
church on Sunday.
5) You see, worship is not
supposed to be just one priority amongst many, despite the fact that our lives
are busy.
a) For many years I didn’t have
the habit of being in church every Sunday.
i) I was actually pretty good
about worship throughout college and law school, but once I got busy in my
career, it was easy for me decide on a Sunday that what I really needed was a
little time-off.
(1) But that “time-off” really
was just another priority.
(a) It might have been a fifty
mile bike ride, during which I could convince myself that I was communing with
God in nature.
(b) It might have been a lazy
morning with the New York Times and coffee, during which I could
rationalize that I could listen to God in my own Bible study.
(i) And the fact of the matter
is that it is possible to commune with God alone, if that is what we are
truly focused upon, rather than upon an invigorating ride, or a football
weekend, or a project that just won’t wait.
b) But while God does want our
attention as individuals, when we are really ready to give it, He reminds us at
Matthew 18.20, “... where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in
the midst of them.”
6)
Where
two or three are gathered in my name.
Faith is something that we do together.
Worship is something that we offer together.
a) We join our voices with all
the company of heaven.
b) And we support each other in
worship and in Christian living.
i) In a few minutes, we’ll
renew our Baptismal vows, but before we do, we’ll first witness those speaking
for these infants promise to “... follow and obey [Jesus Christ] as [their]
Lord,” and then we’ll all be asked:
“Will you who witness these
vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?” [To which the proper response is “We will.”]
7) We will. That means that we will do all the things
that we promise to do in our Baptismal Covenant, all the things that we each do
individually.
a) But before we reach those
individual matters of faith and conduct we first promise to “... continue in
the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, [and] in the
prayers”.
i) We promise to gather in
worship, and in so gathering to support each other in our life in Christ.
ii) We promise to share in the
communion which Jesus offers, and in so sharing to each become members of a
common Body, linked to Him and to each other.
iii) We promise to share in the
support of each other in prayer.
8) We are each, of course, busy
and often tired. We each have to juggle
competing priorities.
a) But our Lord is not one of
however many competing priorities.
i) He is the beginning and end,
and the priorities in our lives can be measured only with reference to our
relationship with Him.
9) Lilly Kate and Kyleigh,
welcome to your family in Christ. We
rejoice that you become members of this one Body. We rejoice that you join us in worship, in
offering in the words of our lesson from Revelation:
‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and
honor
and
power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’