All the Saints at St. Paul's: All Saints', Year C

Readings for the Day:
Sermon:


Today is an important celebration for us. As I’ve said before, we at St. Paul’s get the importance and example we receive from the Communion of Saints. We recognize our own members of that great body of saints throughout this church. In fact, our altar cross, given in memory of Harriet Stickney Morgan, was presented on All Saint’s Day in 1888. Our altar even has the words “Gather all my saints together unto me” etched in the wood.

We too are part of the great communion of saints, spread throughout time and space. And to live more fully into that body, it helps to know what it means for us to be members of the communion of the saints of God.

In our psalm today, we hear the words “sing to the Lord a new song.” Those words are spoken by the Israelites during their Babylonian captivity. It is sung in the hope and faith that their present state will be reversed. That one day the poor will be adorned with victory. That one day the faithful will rejoice. And it is also sung with the hope that those who have caused God’s people misfortune will one day have their own fortunes reversed.

In the psalm, we are looking for something new. A reverse of how things have been in the past. A hope that things will be as they should be in the future.

And we see this same reversal of fortune in the Gospel reading this morning. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who morn, those who are hated and excluded, reviled, and defamed. For one day their fortunes will be reversed. There is hope for them, even in their hopelessness.

Sing to the Lord a new song. Because the suffering we experience in this life will not last forever. Our fortunes will be restored. We will have hope because all things will be reversed. All will be made new.

And there is great hope because the poor, the needy, the weak, the helpless, the mourner will be rewarded greatly, as Jesus tells us. Because in being restored to God, they will receive exactly what the prophets of old receive. They will be with those who were faithful followers of God. They will be with those who faithful carried out the will of God.

And then Jesus continues to flip things around. He says woe to those who are rich, whose bellies are full, for those who laugh and do not mourn, and for those who are admired and not excluded, reviled, or defamed. Because their fortunes will be reversed. But not for the reasons you may think.

God does not pronounce judgement on these people simply because they are rich or full or happy. He pronounces judgement on them for the reason they have so much. He condemns them because they have not stood by Him, or those who He has sent to do His will. God condemns them because they have stood with the wrong side. They have stood by the world, not by Him.

Those who have sided with this world now, with those who would be selfish and refuse to look on others with any sort of care or concern- they have received fulfillment for their wants and desires now in this life. But in singing to the Lord a new song, we will find those fortunes reversed and those who have loved God will have what they lack. They will have their fortunes restored. They will be made new.

None of this is an excuse to mistreat those who do well, just because they seem to be following the ways of this world. Jesus says quite differently. We are not called upon to condemn. We are instead called to show the same love Jesus showed for us. The love of one who would die for the world, even for those who would reject and deny him, like our own patron saint, Paul. Because with love, even a persecutor like Paul can be restored to once again be a full member of the communion of saints. The body of those who follow God’s will.

Because the reversal of fortune isn’t some sort of cosmic judgement inflicted on those who are either deserving or undeserving. It’s the chance to make things right for all again. It’s the chance for us to live in unity with one another. It’s the chance for us to love our neighbor as ourself. To do unto others as we would have done to us.

Because Jesus, as He Himself says, didn’t come to judge the world, but to save it. He came, out of love, to bring us out of our own death and destruction. And in his rising from death, He opened for us the way to be restored, fixed, made new.

As saints of God, we are called to sing a new song. Because Christ Jesus has come into the world and made all things new. He has come to restore us in our relationship with God. He has come to make sure that though we may be poor, albeit merely in spirit, we can be given strength and glory. Though we may hunger, we will be given what it is we truly need. And though we may be hated by others for following God’s will, we will one day be loved by the one whose love truly maters.

All things are being restored. All things are being made as they should be. All things are being made whole.

And so in singing a new song, we must continue to strive forward. To not be caught up by the ways of the world that seek to go against God. We are called to do God’s will, not our own.

We at St. Paul’s are getting ready this week, to once again sing a new song in our own life together. And as we move forward in the life of the church, walking with our fellow saints, those who have gone before us, those who go with us, and those who will join us along the way, walking with those who follow in the footsteps of our Lord and our God, we are called to stop and reflect. We are called to make sure that we continue to sing the new song of Jesus and not the old song of the fallen ways of this world. We are called to reflect on how we can better sing that new song to the Lord. And we are called, as Jesus tells us, to love all, even our enemies, just as Jesus loves us. And to do unto others as we would have them do to us.