Sermon for All Saints Day, November 1, 2020

RECEIVE THE LOVE LAVISHED ON YOU

1 John 1: 1-3

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him   Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,  we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Today’s reading from the first general Epistle of John holds a message of hope and expectation of all God’s people.  It is a message that is as relevant for today as it was for John’s day.  It is a message that God lavishes his great love on us to the point that we can be called children of God.  The writer emphasizes and confirms this important point when he affirms “that is what we are”

It means then that we are to all called to be God’s children.  For those who have doubts; you are called to be God’s children.  Sometimes when persons are suffering from illnesses or the loss of a loved one, they ask questions – why?  Some become, angry with God;   you too are called to be God’s children.  There are persons who feel unwanted, unloved, unappreciated, ostracized from the rest of society; you and all of us are called to be God’s children.  And I want us to note again that John affirms you ARE God’s children.  As God’s children, the message of hope and expectation is indeed for all of us, wherever we are.  As God’s children whatever we may be going through at this time can be turned to opportunities to draw nearer to God, opportunities for service and witnessing to the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ. 

St Paul in his letter to the church at Rome says: and I quote   Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

With these assurances we can be confident that regardless of who we are and despite our faults, our weaknesses, our shortcomings, God loves us as his own and he created us to be saints in our own right.   It is recorded in the creation story that God said: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” 

In Psalm 8 after asking: 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,     human beings that you care for them?[    He provides the answer in verse 5:  You have made them[b] a little lower than the angels[c] and crowned them[d] with glory and honor.

That is in essence of God’s love for His children.

In recent times, when we speak of saints, one of the first names to come to mind is Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  We don’t know that she was a perfect woman, but we know that she served selflessly and tirelessly among the poor and depraved especially in Calcutta:  She cared for the sick and dying. people who had no one else to care for them.  For many, hers was all the human love the experienced in a long while.  But through her they experienced the greatest love of all, the love of God.  She understood the value of human life, created by God.   I believe that this saintly woman saw the face of God as she cradled the poor, the sick the dying in her arms.  I also believe that as many of them looked at her face, into her eyes, they experienced God’s love and compassion of God being lavished on them. 

The present pandemic has shown with certainty that there are many who are making sacrifices of time, energy, family life, day after day, month after month. Some have even made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of humanity.  They touch lives with the same love and compassion of God. 

These are persons who allow God to work through them, persons who reflect what Jesus did for us in his life, sufferings, death and subsequent resurrection. Persons who sometimes may not even realize the true depth and significance of their ministry of caring for the suffering.

They too are saints in their own rights.  Through them God lavishes his grace, mercy and love on his suffering children as he does on them and all who serve the good of humanity. 

Another saintly woman of God, Teresa of Avila said these words which many of us are familiar with:

God has no hands but our hands to do his work today; God has no feet but our feet to lead others in his way; God has no voice but our voice to tell others how he died; and God has no help but our help to lead them to his side."

As children of God each of us must be ready to serve sacrificially as God calls and sends us.  

In the reading from Matthew, we are told that Jesus’ sat on the mount with the disciples he taught them in the words of the beatitudes.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek those who yearn for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peace makers, the persecuted, those who are insulted for his sake.  And in each case Jesus gives the reason they are blessed.

He was alerting themt f situations that they would have to deal with from time to time as they ministered among the people.

As Christians we are called to take the message of salvation to all the world. But we must know that we are not exempt from having to face similar challenges.  Quite the opposite, these are things that all people face in their lifetime, but as followers of Jesus Christ, called and sent by him, we must be more conscious, more aware of how they can impact our lives, or witness and divert our attention from what God desires of us.

The temptation can be to take the easy way out, to give in and give up, instead of enduring any challenge instead of making the sacrifices necessary to continue, instead of being  faithful to our faith and to the Lord God.  We must not all our egos, pride, the desire for self-preservation, the feeling that the world has more to offer that would make us comfortable within ourselves to determine our destiny.

The good news is that we can overcome by God’s grace.  He is the one who determines our destiny.

To Taking the easy road, is to walk away from the faith, and so walk away from the Jesus promise of blessedness.  Is that what we want for ourselves?

We are not saying that any of us should deliberately bring those situations upon ourselves with the hope of being blessed.  It is not what Jesus TEACHES and that is not service for God.   That is what I call “self-serving vanity”.  God desires our genuine service, from genuine witnesses always striving to serve faithfully even in the most trying of circumstances.

We must be faithful!

When we serve faithfully, the blessing will be ours even though we do not deserve them  the blessing will be ours, but cannot earn even with our best personal effort.    As Isaiah says All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. 

But today we can say thanks be to God, by His grace and mercy His blessings are always available to us.  As out text says:  God lavishes his love on us who are His children.

Not only are we children of God, not only joint  heirs with Jesus,  But John says as such children and heirs : we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

We shall see him as he is, not on the mountain like the gathered disciples but standing among the great and innumerable multitude John saw gathered around the throne.  There they were worshipping before the Lamb (Jesus Christ)

 "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"

My brothers and sisters the ultimate blessedness is to be among the multitude, the saints gathered before the throne; again, not that we merit it but because of the One seated on the throne is the same one whose work of reconciliation on the cross won for us; the victory that confirms us as sons and daughters of God.

To God be the glory

AMEN.