Saint Philip's November 4, 2007 Sermon

All Saints Day           Beatitudes              by Joyce Dupont

Today, we are celebrating ALL SAINTS Sunday. A day recognized formally on Nov. 1st.
                   So --- What is a Saint, - or more importantly Who is a Saint?
Well, I had always thought of as a saint as someone like Mother Teresa or people who have had churches named after them like St. Philip, St. Andrew or St. Francis. People who had spend their lives working in the field of despair, poverty or disease to help others. They gave as they were gifted. Many times they were martyrs, people who even died for their belief in God and/or Jesus.

I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant for us, so I looked up the definition in the Episcopal Dictionary of the Church.        SAINT: A holy person, a faithful Christian, one who shares life in Christ.

To me, that seemed to widen the spectrum of actually who qualifies as a saint & who this Day in the life of the church is to celebrate. The key to all this, though, is the word “HOLY.”      But, I couldn’t believe it when I tried to look up “HOLY” in the same dictionary: it wasn’t there.   But I think we can imagine what it means as we apply it to the phrases: Holy Week, Holy Eucharist and Holy Spirit. All these are based upon faith, a connection to The Holy One, to God. AS the definition said “ONE WHO SHARES LIFE IN CHRIST.”
                                          A person dedicated in service and celebration to God.

Today’s Collect refers to those in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord. This description is the Church membership, those baptized into the Body of Christ: Who are to be called HOLY.
       Yet, there is a difference between observing and being a dedicated, serving HOLY SAINT.

Service is not just being up here at the altar, or bringing communion to the shut-ins; it is the dedication and priority we have to keep this place as our Church home. A place to protect the unity and spirit of caring that allows us to be active missionaries in the field. A place focused on others within the greater community with a caring effort to extend a helping hand to ALL in the name of God.   But Jesus is the reason we are here, in this Church.   Love for Jesus makes our work and efforts HOLY. It is what separates our work from the community shelter, the police department or the hospital.   They all are great organizations But the Church is an agent of God.

There is a general description in today’s Old Testament reading’s very first lines naming the characteristics of SAINTly people: It is the reading from Ecclesiasticus
       “Let us now sing the praises of famous men, our ancestors in their generations.
The Lord apportioned to them great glory, his majesty from the beginning.
There were those who ruled in their kingdoms, and made a name for themselves by their valor; those who gave counsel because they were intelligent; those who spoke in prophetic oracles; those who led the people by their counsels and by their knowledge of the people's lore; they were wise in their words of instruction; those who composed musical tunes, or put verses in writing; rich men endowed with resources, living peacefully in their homes…”
What makes them considered HOLY is HOW they are using those gifts God GAVE them!!
                               So what does all this mean to us today?

THE SAINTS of today ARE you, you, you, & me & as such we all have a responsibility to utilize the gifts God has given us. We are the ancestors of the future and what we do now will have a tremendous impact on the Church in the days and years to follow. What priority we give to the Church will determine its future.   As is easy to see, the field of need in this world is increasing every year; just read the newspaper.   IT is that need that is making the of

value

our work here even greater.   Our efforts are just as important as it was in St. Philip’s time, when those saints gave their lives sacramentally in so many ways.

The definition of a sacrament is “the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.”   You can transfer that to your dedication to the Church life here at St. Philip’s.

Slightly over a decade ago, I was like so many others who took their faith life for granted. Actually, in my case, I can honesty say I barely had one and my dedication to the Church was just about non-existent.   That changed when I met Jesus. My spiritual life began to develop and the Holy Spirit changed my heart.   Every opportunity I could find to be of service at the Church, I would volunteer.   Although our salaries were going down due to changes in our work lives, our pledging increased. Sunday mornings involved: choir, altar guild, ushering, acolyting and any number of committees.   We as a family made service to God a priority. The importance of having a community for our faith life grew in proportion to our love for God. I am standing here as a result of that change: that spiritual grace.

       We all know of many in our midst who unselfishly share their talents to do the work of God: some quietly, some very obviously.   The vestry and wardens who donate their time and organizational skills, our music department which enriches the worship services, the finance and stewardship committees that keep the church solvent, the people who maintain the grounds and buildings, the Sunday school volunteers who teach our younger members, and even the cooks for the Steak Fry and the coffee times who keep us fed as acts of mission and hospitality. They ARE ALL essential to this mission of the Church. IT can NOT and WILL NOT continue without the efforts of all its members. They are all saints, using the talents and gifts God has given them in a HOLY manner.

We can not ignore the need to meet the financial obligations of the church, as well, which like everything else in society is increasing steadily. Those that can give more than the average financially are able to do so because God has Gifted them with that extra to make that possible.   Just as God has gifted the clergy with their skills, and the greeters with the gift of hospitality, those who can afford to share extra should consider sharing that gift. This is no accident that so many people have a variety of gifts here. AS you have no doubt heard before, the body is made of so many different parts and ALL are necessary for it to thrive.   Everyone HERE is needed for some purpose to keep this body; this life alive and well.   The talents, we enjoy together each time we enter this body of believers, is an outward and visible sign of our love of God. We are Blessed that so many saints offer those gifts freely in holiness.   I know my life has been enriched by their generosity.

Today honors our Holiness, as it honors all those before us who were agents of God, keeping the faith alive so that we could receive its benefits.   Now the time is HERE for US to be as the saints we have heard about, and even those we have not heard of, but who obviously did so much.   Where would we be today in our faith if our Church was not here? / If we were not associated with this family in Christ?    This is the place where we find communion and fellowship, especially when we encounter the struggles of life.   This is the place where we do mission in God’s name; / where we participate in the sacraments that express our faith in our LORD, OUR SAVIOR.   Where we Share LIFE IN CHRIST.   Where we see and express The HOLY.

My life and my family’s life would not be the same were it not for the Church body. God has given me this love of His Church and I plan to continue to serve it the best way I can as an offering back to Him for His Blessing on my life.   I can testify to His love that I found through the body of believers, saints, those filled with the Holy Spirit in His Church. It was that Holiness of God that entered my heart, also. That holiness is available to all God’s saints to empower them to new life, and new priorities. The value of the Church as God’s Hands, Feet and Heart in the world is very much life saving and life Giving.

   AS I asked a moment ago “Where would you be right now without this Church” and possibly without the encouragement of your faith that you have experienced through your relationship with this Church? Not having this Church, is not a scenario I would care to face But it is a reality we have to consider.   This Church is here ONLY because its Saints want it here enough so that they will give as much as they can to keep it alive, to keep its purpose alive, to keep its mission alive in this community, in God’s world.    WE can not afford/we can not jeopardize losing something so valuable to us.    The major question, though is: HOW valuable is this Church to us?   Is it worth the same amount as the extra we are paying for our favorite meal in our favorite restaurant that increased from last year?   Or the extra we pay each month to get High speed internet service rather than dial up?   It seems Everything gets more expensive each Year But somehow we pay it because we Want that something, we appreciate the convenience or we recognize that we pay for what we get.

So how much is the Church worth this year?

What is your heart revealing about How much you value your relationship Here?   We will not all answer that question the same way, BUT we must listen to that inner voice!!!!!

    WE, the SAINTS, are the Church. We have been entrusted with its life & I say life because this church is a living organism, the Body of our Living Lord.   It is US, & the future generations that we want to be part of it.   That life is dependent upon our donations of TIME, TALENT & TREASURE.     Please search your hearts, discover your gifts and make them holy by using them for God’s purpose. If you have difficulty recognizing that gift, how you can be the most useful to the church: speak to the rector who will help you discover them.

        The Gospel reading today is the Beatitudes, the Blessings from God.
This Church is another Blessing to us from Him so add it to the list if it is so for you.

Last year for some random reason, (not an accident I am sure) I noticed a sermon by our then brand new Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. In her sermon of All Saints Day in 2006 at Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, she explained what a saint was.     Paraphrasing what she said was that - It was basically that the Holy Spirit had come to dwell in a person and they would glow with the fire lite inside them.   She ended her sermon with the following and I find it very fitting here as well:

“Turn inward for a moment and greet the spirit planted within you. When we come to the peace,
turn to your neighbors and greet the saints, the fire-lighters in this field. Welcome, saint!
Burn brightly and transform this world into God's field for life, full measure, pressed down
and overflowing, meant for all humanity and all creation.”

Well, we still have plenty of fields around us that need the lite from the people of God. This is the chosen community of Christ, will we let GOD down? Or will we respond to our Blessings by entering into a deeper, more committed relationship by giving even greater of ourselves and our resources? WE ARE All SAINTS. This is our DAY.

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