The Pastor's Sermon for All Saints Sunday -- 4 November, 2012

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals.'

• Have you ever placed yourself in the Scriptures? By that, I mean reading a passage and seeing yourself as part of what was there. This is a method involved in one well-known way of meditating on the Scriptures. You use your imagination and put yourself in the story as a character or a bystander. Once you've done that, you listen to where the story takes you and what it says to you personally. It would all become very personal that way. And if the Scriptures are written for us, why not?
• If this is the case, where might we find ourselves in today's readings from Scripture?
• Isaiah speaks of the mountain and the feast for all people. If that seems an odd place for a picnic, we might remember that in the Old Testament, mountains are the places where God is encountered. Moses went up the mountain to receive the Commandments. The prophets often went to the mountains to hear the Word of God. Elijah heard God in a still, small sound while hiding in a mountain cave. As far as feasts and banquets go, important moments in the lives of individuals, families, and nations would be celebrated with great feasts. Our pot-luck lunches are great, but what we're discussing here are feasts that last days! The food mentioned is rich and not dried out. The wine is aged and strained clear of any sediment or impurities. If we remember the marriage feast of Cana in John's Gospel, we see another example of how the Kingdom of God is reflected in the best of wines. To top it all off, death, “the shroud that is cast over all peoples” will be destroyed once and for all.
• In the Book of Revelation, John the Revelator has the mysterious Voice from the Throne telling the people of the end of death and suffering and pain. This comes from the last chapters of the Book of Revelation and is a vision of hope and joy after all the weird and troubling images of death and destruction thrown before the reader in the rest of this apocalyptic book. (By the way, “Apocalypse” as it's used in the Bible, means “seeing” or “uncovering”, not “catastrophe” as is often used in general speech and writing. The title “Revelation” might be the best way to translate it.)
• Lastly, in the Gospel, John the Evangelist narrates the powerful story of Lazarus. It is a story full of emotion, faith, and finally new life.
• Could we find ourselves in each of these readings? Could we find ourselves in any of those?
• If the Scriptures are the revelation of the Word of God to God's people, then they were written for each of us, even though they might not be directly addressed to us. As we listen to or read any passage of the Bible, eventually we will know that what is written is written for our life.
• To hear of a feast set for all nations on God's own mountain means we are invited to that banquet. When we hear the Voice from the Throne speaking of the end of death and sorrow and the renewal of all that exists, we can come to realize that the Voice is speaking to us... as much as if we were there.
• The raising of Lazarus is the greatest sign of Jesus' power until the final, definitive sign seen in the crucifixion and resurrection in John's Gospel. The new life found in Jesus is illustrated powerfully in this passage. Since it is a story with so many elements that speak to us, we might see ourselves as one of the disciples, as a bystander, or even as Lazarus himself.
• The point of all this is to remind us that the story of salvation, the thread that runs through all of the books of the Bible, is not just the story of the past, but the story of the present – our story. It is the story of the saints of history, and what are saints but those people who live or have lived in grace.
• As Christians, we hold that Jesus is the final revelation of God and God's plan for God's creation. This revelation remains a living revelation, which means that the meaning of who Jesus is for all of us is unfolding in each of us. This revelation is understood and held in grace, the grace given to all of us.
• So these passages from the Scriptures were chosen to highlight the meaning of the festival for us and about us as well.
• This is All Saints Sunday, Today we remember those who have preceded us in the history of salvation, whether ancient or recent. Today we celebrate the mysterious workings of grace in the lives of those who have been touched by the grace of God, some of whom are well know to the entire church, many more of whom are not as universally known, but are known to us.
• What we celebrate is the grace of God found and embodied in real lives, even our own lives. These lives are called forth in grace and renewed like Lazarus was. The lives we remember and celebrate lead us to hope and to wait for the time of healing and the wiping away of every tear. These lives cause us to remember and await the feast that is to come, the feast that we have a foretaste of in our Holy Communion.
• To be honest, we celebrate the grace of God daily. Today, we recall further examples of how God's grace works in the lives of real people. It is real people we remember and it is God's real grace that we celebrate.