Welcome to this broadcast of The Episcopal Church of St. Andrew and St. Charles’ service and sermon for All Saints’ Day, November 1, 2020 Introduction Whenever I return Massachusetts for a family visit, I always go down to Plymouth Center to see the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. And frequently I walk up the hill to the town’s cemetery. Here the original Mayflower pilgrims are buried. The oldest stone grave marker is from 1681. The first grave markers were of wood and thus, deteriorated over the years and have since been replaced by stone markers. Here is buried William Bradford, William Brewster and Squanto to name a few notables. But I don’t stop at these. I walk all the way through this cemetery to see names of people whom one would be very hard pressed today to identify. Names lost forever! And more than that! People lost forever. Real people who were alive with hopes and dreams and fears and tears and laughter and anxieties. All gone except in the memory banks of God. And as for us, they might as well have never existed for as much as we know about them. And the same applies to all of us. Many of us remember our grandparents or at least we know their names and something about them even if they had died prior to our birth. A few of us can name our great-grandparents and what they were like, but as for great-great-grandparents, my guess is that hardly any of us can name them let alone what they were like or did for a living. And so it will be for us one day. But does it matter? Perhaps…..but why? Will we be more than a name etched on a gravestone? I believe we will. And you are about to hear how in today’s All Saints’ Day sermon. So, stay tuned. 1 Officiant: Lord, open our lips. People: And our mouth shall proclaim your praise. Officiant and People: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Gloria in excelsis Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. A reading from Revelation 21:1-6 Then I (John) saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I saw the 2 holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I’m making all things new.” He also said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “All is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will freely give water from the life-giving spring. The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God. Sermon All Saints’ Day November 1, 2020 All Saints’ Day provides the very unique opportunity for all of us to hear our funeral sermon before we are dead. Because after all, once it comes time for our funeral we aren’t going to be around to hear it. So, kind of like Tom Sawyer, this morning you are going to get a sneak preview. But unlike Tom Sawyer it is not going to be about you, the individual. In other words, the focus is not about what you (the deceased) did in your life as much as it is about what God has done in your death. And I think that is good for us to know now, while we are still breathing, because once we are dead……..well……we are dead. 3 Having been in the priesthood now for forty years, there is one aspect of ministry that still eludes me despite having had considerable practice at it. And that is funerals. Even though every one of us is going to die, it is only rarely (as in almost never) do we plan our funeral service. We always leave it for our mournful loved ones who struggle to know what dad, mom or grandpa wanted. And if the truth be known, I usually end up selecting the readings, hymns and designing the liturgy. So, if you don’t want Onward Christian Soldiers sung at your funeral, you better tell me now. One of the readings I generally select is from Revelation 21 not only because it talks about a new heaven and a new earth and that death, mourning, pain and crying will be no more, but it has God proclaiming that “I am the Alpha and the Omega----the beginning and the end.” Because remember this is about God not you. So, in the beginning (in principio) says John in the first chapter of his gospel which although it is a poem the author is writing, we assume that he is being more than just poetic. When the author says “in the beginning,” we assume he means no less than quite literally before anything yet had been made that was to be made. We assume “in the beginning” means in a time beyond time before creation happened, before Orion and the Pleiades were flung tumbling across the sky into their places, before the Big Bang banged. It was at a time when there was no up and no down, no life and no death, no here and no there------in the beginning there was only God------“I am the Alpha,” the voice announces. I am the Creator. I started it all. And, for the most part, we believe this to be true. But in addition, the voice also tells us that God is not only the beginning but the END. “I am the Alpha AND the Omega, the beginning AND the end.” I 4 was there in the beginning, and I will be there at the end. I took part in your birth, and I will take part----a big part----in your death. And it is here, in our deaths, that I think the Church doesn’t do such a good job at explaining. God is not only the creator of life but also the giver of eternal life. After the credits have rolled-----at the end------God. Trouble is, most people today seem to believe what they believe about “life after death” based on a belief about humanity rather than a belief about God. As an example, I told you that chances are I will be the one selecting your readings for your funeral service. Just about all families yield in this arena. But one area in which they insist on participating is the homily or more accurately the eulogy. A eulogy is a laudatory speech or written tribute especially praising someone who has died. A homily is an abbreviated sermon on a Biblical theme. The two are very different. I have had grieved widows, children and spouses with no public speaking experience volunteer to give a eulogy in front of large crowds of people on behalf of their deceased loved one. They want to read poems, tell interesting anecdotes, attempt humor and provide elaborate media presentations. All wonderful stuff! Wonderful stuff because it comes from their heart and their love for the deceased. But they miss the point. A funeral is not a tribute to the deceased; it is a tribute to God. Certainly, it is about the deceased but only as a vehicle to talk about God, the Omega. You see, funerals are opportunities for us to relate what we believe God does when each of us dies. I have tried this on several occasions only to see displeased looks on people’s faces. Funerals are opportunities to talk about resurrection and new life in God. It is not about grandpa who loved to fish, and how he is now fishing in the big lake in the sky. It is not about the 5 immortality of the individual soul, which each of us possess. It is about new eternal life in God. I am reminded of the story about Lazarus who died and who Jesus raised to life again but after four days. When Jesus asks to be taken to Lazarus’ grave, even Lazarus’ sister Mary questions the wisdom of this move. She comments that he has already been dead for four days, and therefore, he is going to stink pretty badly. This is such an important point because it gets to the very root of resurrection and each and every one of our deaths.