This sermon is based on 1 John 3:1-3
An audio version of the sermon is available here.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.”
I just love that sentence from our All Saints Sunday reading today from the First Letter of John. To me, that sentence speaks to the central mystery of sainthood in the Christian understanding. And it says to me that saints are people who are blessed by God to be works in progress. Saints are God’s children: children by virtue of adoption in baptism; children by virtue of being created in the image and likeness of God; children because they have a kind of family resemblance to God, because they show forth in their lives the creativity and justice and peace and love that are defining traits of God. Saints are God’s children now. But saints are also called to become something more, something they are yet to be but has not yet been fully revealed. Children, after all, do grow up; children take the potentials and possibilities passed on to them by their parents and grow them into something new; or as someone put it to me recently, it is precisely because we are children of God we should also become adults of God. Saints are people who are becoming adults of God, growing up into God, becoming mature in faith, developing in wisdom, acting in justice, deepening and broadening and intensifying their family resemblance to God. And that's the kind of saints we are called to be. We are saints when we know that we are blessed by God, and we are loved by God, and we are God’s children now. We are also saints when we begin to reveal what we will be, when we step up to be works in progress, when we commit ourselves to growing into adults of God. We grow into our sainthood, by God's grace, when we consciously and intentionally practice the family resemblance God has given us.
And we do that, we reveal what we will be, we grow into our sainthood, we become adults of God in the practice of generosity. Gracious, generous, unconditional giving is at the heart of who God is. The whole creation springs forth from God’s generous gift of existence — if it weren’t for God’s generosity, none of us would be here in the first place — and God’s generosity sustains all the interactions, all the givings and receivings, that weave our lives. When we act out of generosity, when we give of our work and wisdom and wealth just for the sheer goodness of it, then we are acting like God, then we are showing forth that family resemblance to God that makes us God’s children; when we grow in generosity, giving ever more graciously, that is what makes us God’s adults. Today we are blessing on the altar the pledges we’ve made for the financial support of this parish in the year to come. Making the commitment to give, and fulfilling that commitment by actually giving, are concrete and tangible acts of generosity that show our family resemblance to God. Church giving, of course, isn’t the only generosity we practice — we all have more opportunities to be generous than we can count — but the continuity of church giving, the regular, disciplined, intentional giving of fulfilling a church pledge is a kind of teaching device for overall generosity, it schools us and trains us in being generous, and it empowers our collective generosity on a scale far greater than any of us could do on our own. Blessing these pledges today is an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual generosity, it is a piece of the practice by which we grow in our sainthood. It’s part of what we celebrate this All Saints Sunday.
We reveal what we will be, we grow into our sainthood, we become adults of God in the practice of prayer. And that’s not just our prayers in church, but our prayers in life, our praying every day, every hour, every moment; it’s not just the prayers we say with our voices, but the prayer of the heart, the prayer of our silence, the prayer of our spirit that goes too deep for words. At the most fundamental level, prayer is not just the words we say to God, but the practice of opening our hearts to God, the disposition of our spirits to be ready and willing and eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Prayer is our primary channel for being aware of our relationship with God — and being aware of that relationship is central to growing in that relationship — so the regular, disciplined practice of prayer is an essential part of how we grow closer to God, how we grow up into God. Someone said once that the very most basic prayer is simply saying “Yes” to God; in times of joy, in times of trouble, in times of sharing, in times of solitude, in times of deep assurance, and in times when it seems like God is a million miles away, in all times and in all places, simply saying “Yes” to God is the most basic, most important prayer. And “Amen” is an English version of a Hebrew word that essentially means Yes to God — so “Amen” may in fact be our most important prayer. Practicing prayer, with a genuine heartfelt Amen, is how we let God dwell in us more and more, making us more and more like God. It is a piece of the practice by which we grow in our sainthood. It’s part of what we celebrate this All Saints Sunday.
We reveal what we will be, we grow into our sainthood, we become adults of God in the practice of compassion. To rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep, to have a heart that is open enough to receive into yourself what someone else is going through, and by sharing it to transform it — that is the compassion that comes from God. Out of sheer compassion, God shared our human life in Jesus, shared it to the point of dying a very human death on the cross — and by sharing it transformed it into Resurrection and the promise of everlasting life. And that’s part of our Christian life, part of our life as saints, although often on a much smaller scale. Years ago I visited a widow, who was deeply grieving the death of her husband; and I listened as she told me some stories and shared some memories and told me how much she missed him and how sad she was to be without him; and I didn’t try to cheer her up, I didn’t try to take her sadness away, but I felt sad that she was sad, and we shared that sadness together, and we sat in silence for a moment; and in that moment there was a connection, in that moment there was something other than sadness, something more than sorrow, in that moment there was a gift of God’s compassion. And that compassion, even in the midst of sadness, was a moment of holy joy. Having a heart that is open enough to receive the truth of others and to be moved to respond is to share in the compassion that comes from God; and to grow in compassion is to grow into God. It is a piece of the practice by which we grow in our sainthood. It’s part of what we celebrate this All Saints Sunday.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now” — and we celebrate that gift of adoption and grace as we celebrate all the saints, including us, this All Saints Sunday. “What we will be has not yet been revealed” — so let us celebrate that hope of even greater growth as we move forward from All Saints Sunday into God’s mission in the world every day. Amen.
An audio version of the sermon is available here.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.”
I just love that sentence from our All Saints Sunday reading today from the First Letter of John. To me, that sentence speaks to the central mystery of sainthood in the Christian understanding. And it says to me that saints are people who are blessed by God to be works in progress. Saints are God’s children: children by virtue of adoption in baptism; children by virtue of being created in the image and likeness of God; children because they have a kind of family resemblance to God, because they show forth in their lives the creativity and justice and peace and love that are defining traits of God. Saints are God’s children now. But saints are also called to become something more, something they are yet to be but has not yet been fully revealed. Children, after all, do grow up; children take the potentials and possibilities passed on to them by their parents and grow them into something new; or as someone put it to me recently, it is precisely because we are children of God we should also become adults of God. Saints are people who are becoming adults of God, growing up into God, becoming mature in faith, developing in wisdom, acting in justice, deepening and broadening and intensifying their family resemblance to God. And that's the kind of saints we are called to be. We are saints when we know that we are blessed by God, and we are loved by God, and we are God’s children now. We are also saints when we begin to reveal what we will be, when we step up to be works in progress, when we commit ourselves to growing into adults of God. We grow into our sainthood, by God's grace, when we consciously and intentionally practice the family resemblance God has given us.
And we do that, we reveal what we will be, we grow into our sainthood, we become adults of God in the practice of generosity. Gracious, generous, unconditional giving is at the heart of who God is. The whole creation springs forth from God’s generous gift of existence — if it weren’t for God’s generosity, none of us would be here in the first place — and God’s generosity sustains all the interactions, all the givings and receivings, that weave our lives. When we act out of generosity, when we give of our work and wisdom and wealth just for the sheer goodness of it, then we are acting like God, then we are showing forth that family resemblance to God that makes us God’s children; when we grow in generosity, giving ever more graciously, that is what makes us God’s adults. Today we are blessing on the altar the pledges we’ve made for the financial support of this parish in the year to come. Making the commitment to give, and fulfilling that commitment by actually giving, are concrete and tangible acts of generosity that show our family resemblance to God. Church giving, of course, isn’t the only generosity we practice — we all have more opportunities to be generous than we can count — but the continuity of church giving, the regular, disciplined, intentional giving of fulfilling a church pledge is a kind of teaching device for overall generosity, it schools us and trains us in being generous, and it empowers our collective generosity on a scale far greater than any of us could do on our own. Blessing these pledges today is an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual generosity, it is a piece of the practice by which we grow in our sainthood. It’s part of what we celebrate this All Saints Sunday.
We reveal what we will be, we grow into our sainthood, we become adults of God in the practice of prayer. And that’s not just our prayers in church, but our prayers in life, our praying every day, every hour, every moment; it’s not just the prayers we say with our voices, but the prayer of the heart, the prayer of our silence, the prayer of our spirit that goes too deep for words. At the most fundamental level, prayer is not just the words we say to God, but the practice of opening our hearts to God, the disposition of our spirits to be ready and willing and eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Prayer is our primary channel for being aware of our relationship with God — and being aware of that relationship is central to growing in that relationship — so the regular, disciplined practice of prayer is an essential part of how we grow closer to God, how we grow up into God. Someone said once that the very most basic prayer is simply saying “Yes” to God; in times of joy, in times of trouble, in times of sharing, in times of solitude, in times of deep assurance, and in times when it seems like God is a million miles away, in all times and in all places, simply saying “Yes” to God is the most basic, most important prayer. And “Amen” is an English version of a Hebrew word that essentially means Yes to God — so “Amen” may in fact be our most important prayer. Practicing prayer, with a genuine heartfelt Amen, is how we let God dwell in us more and more, making us more and more like God. It is a piece of the practice by which we grow in our sainthood. It’s part of what we celebrate this All Saints Sunday.
We reveal what we will be, we grow into our sainthood, we become adults of God in the practice of compassion. To rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep, to have a heart that is open enough to receive into yourself what someone else is going through, and by sharing it to transform it — that is the compassion that comes from God. Out of sheer compassion, God shared our human life in Jesus, shared it to the point of dying a very human death on the cross — and by sharing it transformed it into Resurrection and the promise of everlasting life. And that’s part of our Christian life, part of our life as saints, although often on a much smaller scale. Years ago I visited a widow, who was deeply grieving the death of her husband; and I listened as she told me some stories and shared some memories and told me how much she missed him and how sad she was to be without him; and I didn’t try to cheer her up, I didn’t try to take her sadness away, but I felt sad that she was sad, and we shared that sadness together, and we sat in silence for a moment; and in that moment there was a connection, in that moment there was something other than sadness, something more than sorrow, in that moment there was a gift of God’s compassion. And that compassion, even in the midst of sadness, was a moment of holy joy. Having a heart that is open enough to receive the truth of others and to be moved to respond is to share in the compassion that comes from God; and to grow in compassion is to grow into God. It is a piece of the practice by which we grow in our sainthood. It’s part of what we celebrate this All Saints Sunday.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now” — and we celebrate that gift of adoption and grace as we celebrate all the saints, including us, this All Saints Sunday. “What we will be has not yet been revealed” — so let us celebrate that hope of even greater growth as we move forward from All Saints Sunday into God’s mission in the world every day. Amen.
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