Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Normally, All Saints’ Day is a time to recall those saints of the past to remind us what it means to serve God, in this world and the next, and to give us an example of how we can serve God too.
Or, All Saints’ is a time for us to remember that we too are members and a part of that glorious body of Christ that the saints make up and compose. It is a time to remember that the saints aren’t just dead and gone but are alive and well among us even to this day.
This year is a bit different. Yes, we remember those who have died in their role as saints, especially in this year when death is so very much present with us. Yes, we remember that we, those who are alive, are saints too.
But we must also remember that the saints are those who are neither dead nor with us physically today. By that, I mean you who are watching (or reading) this at home. Because you, wherever you are, are saints too.
At this time when worship doesn’t quite look like what it once did, it is vital to remember that. Even when they are not all here, the saints of God are still out there in the world. Even when you, at home, are not here, you are still a member of the saints of God.
I hope the realization that the saints of God are everywhere in the world changes how we all look at what it means to be saints. I hope that we can maybe begin to see that the church does not start or end with these walls or these grounds. The work of God can be done anywhere and everyone. I don’t just mean outreach by that. I mean the charge we have as a church to help form people in their knowledge and love of God through teaching and preaching as well as the example of our lives and actions.
I also hope that we will never neglect those who cannot be with us in person, neither now nor in the future. I hope we will continue to utilize, and learn to use, the technology that we have as well as the technology we will have to bring us closer to one another and, by doing so, bring us all that much closer to the God we, as saints, serve.