The Annunciator Newsletter of the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Anglican Patrimony within the Catholic Communion Canadian Deanery of St John the Baptist Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter 289 Spencer Street Ottawa ON K1Y 2R1 613-722-9139 www.annunciationofthebvm.org Vol. 21 No. 012 – NOVEMBER 2019 ********************************************************************** AN HOMILY FOR ALL SOULS DAY November 2nd, 2019 Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be an affliction, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace… In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, and will run like sparks through the stubble. Wisdom 3:1-3, 7-8 If we have been united with [Christ] in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. Rom. 6:5 Quite a number of years ago, in days of my Anglican ministry, a parishioner remarked to me that he had never heard a sermon about heaven that made him want to go there. Now it was not that he didn’t want to go, but most of the descriptions—sprouting little angel wings, floating on clouds, strumming harps, or some other kind of detached spiritualized existence—inspired very little in him. Such a life seemed to be far less than he had known here, and he could not believe that God had not stored up something more substantial for them that love Him. Charlie was a strong evangelical, who loved to sing and share the Gospel, whenever and wherever he could, so he was well known amongst the other churches in our area—some six different denominations within a pretty small, residential community. He himself was not really an Anglican—his wife continued to frequent the local Methodist fellowship—yet he once said to me that he found there to be more substance to the Anglican services, so he worshipped with us. Sadly, he was just sixty-seven when he died. He had contracted some form of cancer, and at the diagnosis, simply gave up. I couldn’t believe it, because he had always been so robust and upbeat, and I was convinced that he would turn a corner and get back up and at-‘em; but he didn’t. I discovered after his death that there was some history there, that when he had fallen on hard times some years earlier, he had sunk into quite a deep depression. When he died, because of his wide Christian connections, his wife asked me if I might involve all the other local clergy in his funeral, so I did my best to oblige; however, I reserved to myself the right to preach. I wanted to undertake to preach that sermon which he had longed to hear. As I prepared, I was drawn back to words which had been passed on to me years earlier by an Episcopal clergyman (another Charles), spoken to him by the late Agnes Sanford. She had had a very powerful healing ministry, particularly through the middle of the twentieth century. He related that she had told him, “Charles, after I have died, if anyone claims that I have come back to haunt him, don’t you believe it!” He said that he thought she was going to tell him that that’s all bunk and he should simply avoid the same. Instead, she continued to say, “I’ll be way too busy to be haunting anybody!” She explained that she figured that there were all kinds of things which the Lord would finally be able to do through her life, once the barriers of her sin were taken away, and she was transformed into all that she was meant to be! So it ought to be. Surely heaven is not simply the place to lie down and go to sleep, but rather where we might become fully awake. Yes, as we age, we find that we tire more easily and may come to long for a chance to rest, really rest; but what if we could be refreshed and granted new vitality and liveliness? The Church Fathers spoke of growing old through sin, whereas our new life and freedom in Christ is full of renewed vigor and youth— more than we have ever had! C.S.Lewis, echoing something of the epistle to the …continued on page 2 Hebrews, spoke of our life in this world as the be the full plant life, stretching up into eternal Shadowlands; what is to come is really real. Imagine all fruitfulness. the brilliance of the autumn colours in the leaves; then I have often described my vision of this, which is that try to imagine that spectrum of colour expanded and two seeds fall to the ground—are planted—Christ and magnified ten-fold; even an hundred-fold if you are able. you/me/the faithful departed, but only one plant grows That’s a start on the way to imagining the glory of up: our new life in Christ (Christ is the Vine, we are the heaven—what God has in store for them that love Him. branches John 15:5). Look back, if you will at Wisdom 3. Yes, it begins with For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son the souls of the righteous finding rest in God’s hands, but and believes in Him should have eternal life; and I will raise him then suddenly we read of the Day of their visitation, up at the last day.” I have spoken recently about the when they will run like sparks through the stubble. importance of understanding belief in Jesus as more Wow! Just picture that: the flame igniting and zipping, than simply intellectual assent to certain things about skipping outward, flying in a stream of radiant Him. Again, the Greek ω pisteuō, “I believe” is the brilliance; active, lively, inspirational! verb form of ς pistis, “faith”, and I think that it often can be Look also at Romans 6, and another one of my favourite more helpful to think in terms of putting one’s faith in someone or bits of Scripture regarding our life in Christ. We were something—entrusting our lives to God in Christ. Of course, if buried with Him in His death, so we are confident that you have the context of John 6 in mind, you know that we will be raised with Him into His resurrection life. If Jesus has been speaking of the need to eat His Flesh and we have been united with [Christ] in a death like His, we shall drink His Blood, in order to be incorporated into Him: certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. planted in good soil. Those who are have the full hope of being raised into Resurrection life in Him, which is what Some of you have heard me, probably more than once, we hope for those who have gone before us in the Faith— reflecting on this verse, and suggesting that it is the and whom we remember in a very special way on this King James Version which best captures the sense of the day—as well as for us, who follow them in the Lord. Greek used by St. Paul: For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His Once more, I would remind us all that Christian hope is resurrection. The word translated, “planted together”— not what the world so often means by that word. People “united with” in the RSV2CE—is Συ μφυτος sumphutos. hope for things in a wistful, tentative fashion: it would be That is a composite of sūm/sūn, which means with or nice if whatever should happen—perhaps very unlikely together—we find it in English words like synthesis—and or even impractical that it should, but I hope that it phuō, which is to blow up or puff into something; so with works out. Not so with the Christian hope; we hope in a seed, you can think of germination as life being blown the promises of God, and what He has promised, He will into it. It actually runs a lovely parallel with Genesis 2:7 accomplish. In fact, St. Paul writes frequently about the in the LXX (Septuagint: the Greek translation of the Old pledge, earnest, or down payment which He has given Testament), where we read of God forming the first Man, us—even firstfruits of His very Holy Spirit! We hope, Adam, of the dust, then breathing life into him. The verb because we are not yet there, not because there is any employed there is ε μφυσα ω emphusao ; another compound, uncertainty, neither doubt. God’s Word is trustworthy this time of em/en, meaning “in/into” and phusaō, the root of and true; those planted together with Jesus will have which is phuō. (It also reminds me of a story from one of new life in Him. the Apocryphal Infancy Gospels, where we encounter stories of the boy Jesus, some more fanciful than others. Heaven is not about passing from this weary world into In the one which comes to mind, the little Lord is eternal sleep, nor sprouting angel wings and being depicted fashioning birds out of clay, then breathing life issued a harp to pluck as we drift aimlessly amongst the into them, and releasing them as they fly away—not clouds, nor is it some kind of ethereal, disembodied state likely a true tale, but lovely yet, in its own way).