The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith

St. Paul’s on-the-Hill, Winchester

www.spoth.org

All Saints’ Day 2009: Connections

The reading about the raising of Lazarus makes a great Halloween story. He comes out with strips of cloth around his hands and feet and head. Kind of zombie like….but he is not a zombie, but living human-being. Alive once again. He had died but through Christ he lives.

On All Saints’ Day we have so much to celebrate. All Saints’ Day is all about connections. Jesus cries when he hears that Lazarus is dead because of the connection he shares with Lazarus that cannot be broken, so in death we feel the pain of not being able to be with those whom we love. Love never ends…love knows that death is not the final statement about our relationships. And so Jesus weeps because he loved him and because Jesus feels the pain and confusion of the crowd.

Knowing his power to heal, Martha says with great emotion – Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. They go to the cave where they have put Lazarus and the point is made that he has been dead four days – he is really dead. At the time Jews believed that the soul hovered around the body for three days, but by the fourth even the soul was gone. He is dead. And in response to Martha’s disbelief, Jesus tells her that if she believes she will see the glory of God. Jesus commands Lazarus to come out – to come out of death into life. He comes out with strips of cloth around him, and Jesus directs others to unbind him and let him go.

This is a perfect reading for All Saints’ Day because through Christ’s resurrection, eternal life is experienced now. Martha had thought that she would see the resurrection on the last day, but Jesus is the resurrection and the life – the beginning and the end. We continue to be connected to those who have died…they are the saints of God and we remain in communion with them…we receive the bread of heaven every time we come to the Altar of God. These are the saints who now rest from their labors. We will always be connected to them…Jesus connects us – our Lord, our Savior who is resurrection and who is life.

Through baptism we become God’s saints on earth. Today we will baptize Lucas and Oliver and they will be sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever. Christ’s own forever…they will share in the risen life of Christ now as do we. While not complete, while not the only thing competing for our attention, even now we share the resurrection life with Christ and all the saints in heaven. Just as Jesus commands that Lazarus be freed from the hold of death – unbind him and let him go—through baptism, through our life in Christ, we are freed from the death-dealing ways of the world that hold us down, even as we will be free from death to live forever with God.

We know that because Lucas and Oliver will be marked as Christ’s own forever, they will be free to live life to the fullest in Christ – unbind them and let them go…unbind them for all that will be challenging in life…in the sense that their spirits can never be held down by the world…today they are united with Christ who is the resurrection and the life, life at its fullest and most meaningful.

Lucas and Oliver also become members of the Church today…the Body of Christ on earth…the fellowship of the saints here and now. Through our baptism we are not only marked as Christ’s own forever, we are also marked as each others’ forever. All Saints’ Day is all about connections.

In the Baptismal service, we are all asked if we will support Lucas and Oliver in their life in Christ. And we answer “we will.” After the service, you can sign their baptismal certificates around the edges so they can know who made this promise to them. We are here for each other. We are here today because others where here 40 years ago…and in the larger reality, we are here because those first Christians, against all odds, promised to follow Jesus and they did. Those are some of the Saints we will meet in heaven and to whom we are connected now.

At St. Paul’s on-the-Hill it has been the tradition to turn in our pledge cards on All Saints’ Day or All Saints’ Sunday. And this is so appropriate because when we pledge ourselves to God and the church, we are also reaffirming the connection we have to each other, knowing that what we do and what we give is a community matter…a matter for celebration. We celebrate and give thanks for each other and the ministry we have been blessed to share on this day.

And because we take this seriously and continue in the Apostles teaching, the fellowship and in the breaking of bread, we are able to support Lucas and Oliver, and we are able to share in the life of the saints to come, those who will worship at this church 100 years from now. What we do today has that much of an impact. For those who truly believe that we share in the life of Christ now, the urge to represent that to those who do not yet know of the life of faith, is compelling. We are compelled. We are God’s saints on earth connected to each other and to all God’s children. Arch Bishop Temple is the one who said that the church is the only institution that exists for those who are not its members.

So on this All Saints’ Day, we baptize Lucas and Oliver. We remember our saints who have died in the last year, formally in the liturgy (of course we remember all our loved ones and friends who now share a closer embrace with God –knowing that we will always be connected to them—love never ends!). And we make our pledge to this fellowship of saints here gathered and the ministry we share. Thanks be to God for the connections we share, and the ways we are able to celebrate those connections. Thanks be to God, for our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we are raised to the life of grace and set free to be the people God has created us to be. Amen.