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Sermon - Rev Hap Arnold
Church of the Faithful Centurion -
Descanso, California
Today’s sermon tied the
Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and talked, as is oft the case, of the
need for action, not simply diction.
Before we discuss the propers, I would
like to talk a bit about today, All Saints’ Day. First notice the word is plural, a great number of saints,
all in fact, are remembered today.
In other traditions, All Saints' Day
is known as All Hallows, Day of All the Saints, Solemnity of All Saints, or
Feast of All Saints. It is a fixed
day, celebrated on 1 November every year, except not surprisingly by our
Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brethren who celebrate the even on the
first Sunday after Pentecost.
Roman Catholics and our Eastern
Orthodox friends are talking about people who have attained the beatific vision
in Heaven[1]. In the Reformed Church and
Anglican Orthodox Church in particular, we regard all true Christian believers
as saints[2]
and observe All Saints Day to remember all Christians both past and present.
So let us consider these words from
the Collect:
… knit together thine elect in
one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord;
Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly
living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for
those who unfeignedly love thee…
We acknowledge God has brought
us together as one in Him through His Son Jesus Christ, who if we are together
is indeed our Lord. We ask God to
give us His Help to follow those who have gone before us in following His Will
in the manner in which we live our lives, that we might in the end benefit from
His Grace and come to heavenly happiness in eternity with them in His
Love.
This seem like a tall order
that we might follow a very hard steep and winding trail for a reward we don’t
get until we die. But, that is
really the whole point of gaining eternal life; it starts as soon as you accept
it. You don’t wait until you die,
you get it now. So, if you are
going to be eternal, you need to start living eternally. That does not mean you are bullet
proof, it means you are evil proof and, equally important – you are accountable
for your actions for all eternity. Like Christ in the Wilderness, if you
understand what the Devil is offering, you find it far easier to reject his
temptations. Why? Because you realize what he offers is
of no real value.
Then, we think about real
meaning of coming together in one
fellowship and communion. This is
a point often misunderstood by those whose Scriptural knowledge is a bit short
and whose priorities are out of sync with Scripture and the Word of God. God calls us to rally around His
Colors, His Standard, not ours. We
are not to join others, but to join Him.
Thus, if we join Him, we will be with others who have also joined
Him. We cannot be in fellowship
and communion with those who are not following His Colors.
Again, the Collect calls for us
to live (that is an action) in a virtuous and godly manner, not to talk about
living thusly, but to actually do so, to act in the manner which God wants.
This brings us right into the
reading serving as today’s Epistle, the Seventh Chapter of the Revelation of
Saint John the Divine. When all
have passed through this veil of tears that need come, the world will be rolled
up and discarded. Precisely how is
not our concern, precisely when is not for us to know. For 285,000 people today is the end of
their earth. But, the earth will
stay until all have passed through.
Of the tribe of Israel, 144,000.
Is this a real number or a figure?
It really matters not. It
is a big number, who will be in it?
Then, it may be a small number; still, who will be amongst them? Yet there are more, enough that no man could number, before God of all
nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues standing before the Lamb of
God, our Lord and Savior. Each of
these is clothed in white robes having been made white in the blood of the
Lamb. These shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; … the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living
fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Heaven is a pretty nice place!
While this may or may not be a
literal picture of heaven, the only guarantee is you won’t be
disappointed.
More than that, our sadness
will be gone, our memory of the pain from this veil of tears will be gone. Our bodies will be perfected. All will be well with our souls.
That brings us to Matthew’s
description of Jesus’ words to his disciples. Put the important things first. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world and if we are truly of
Him, then neither is ours. Truly nothing here matters except doing your duty,
do what you are supposed to do and all will be well with your soul. If all is well with your soul, all is
truly well.
Heaven is at the end of an
uphill trail. The easy downhill
trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
The time to act is NOW. Will you act? For whom will you act?
Will you count the cost before you act?
Action, not diction, is what counts. It is by your actions you are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
[1]
In Roman and Orthodox
theology, the beatific vision (Latin: visio beatifica) is the ultimate direct
self communication of God to the individual person. A person possessing the
beatific vision reaches, as a member of redeemed humanity in the communion of saints,
perfect salvation in its entirety, i.e. heaven. The notion of vision stresses
the intellectual component of salvation, though it encompasses the whole of
human experience of joy, happiness coming
from seeing God finally face to face and not imperfectly through faith. (1
Cor 13:11–12) – This last little part in italics is the only portion of the
concept that is actually in Scripture.
It is related to the Catholic and Eastern
Orthodox belief in theosis, and is seen as the reward for Christians in the afterlife. All concepts not found in Scripture.
[2]
This is the Scriptural
meaning of saints.
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