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.