(This sermon is rather short this week. On All Saints Sunday, St.John's remembers those who have passed away since last All Saints Sunday with the lighting of candles, the naming of the names, and the tolling of the bell - which broke during the tolling! We also had a Baptism this Sunday - an appropriate contrast of the passing into new life through water and the Word and the passing from this life to the next in the life of Jesus in all of us.)
We stand here today on the edge of the cliff with life on one side and death on the other. The month of November and the season of Autumn is like that. Since it is All Saints Sunday, we follow our tradition of remembering those who have passed away in the past year. We also celebrate today the Baptism of our new Christian, Grace. There is no secret here and there is a connection.
The connection is as simple as our child's name and as deep as all the mysteries of God. The connection is grace.
Today we celebrate grace for that is what being a saint is all about. Grace is the gift of God's own life, the life that leads to salvation and eternal life for us. It is not something we can earn. Nor is it something we can deserve, for we cannot come close to God by our own power or desire, by our own work or decision. It is gift and only gift.
When we remember those who have passed on – whether in this past year or in any year - with the lighting of candles, the naming of names, and the ringing of the church bell, we are celebrating God's grace in the lives of all these people and we also remember the grace of God shown and given to us where their lives touched ours.
When we look on this newest Christian, we are reminded that grace (as God's gift, and not just her personal name) is present as well. The Baptism of infants reminds us that our salvation is in the hands of God and God alone. Again, we see that salvation is a unmerited gift. We also see that our God's grace is given without regard to age.
Again, All Saints Sunday, as we celebrate it and especially as we celebrate it today -with both remembrance and baptism- lets us remember that saints are not simply those who have been inducted into a sort of “Hall of Fame” for the church, people whose lives are so unlike our own that they would never understand what we go through. The so-called “saints” were -and ARE- people like us, troubled, joyful, followed by success and failure as we are. The common factor again is grace, the life and love of God.
Everyone wants to see a saint, to see a person blessed by God, a person who reflects the light of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. So look in your heart and hold on to the memory of those who have passed over to the Lord. Read and learn about those people in history who reflected God's light and grace to the people of their time. Look on this little one we've baptized here today. Finally, look to your left and to your right and see the graced person, the saint next to you, behind you, in front of you... within you.
Grace is for everybody here, not just people in halos with church buildings named after them. Not just for Grace who rests here in innocence. Grace is for everybody! God be with us all.
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