All Saints Day

Revelations 7: 9-17; Psalm 34: 1-10, 22; 1 John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12

Today we are celebrating All Saints Day. The old way of saying it was "All Hallow's Day" and so as we know, that is where we get the word “Halloween”, from “All Hallows' Eve”. This is a day to celebrate all the Christian saints, known and unknown. The first reference we have to the celebration of All Saints Day is from Ephrem the Syrian, who is from the area now known as Turkey, and lived in the 300’s. The day we recognize as the celebration of All Saints has shifted around the calendar a little bit. But it became solidly established in the very early 600s, and it has been a feast in the Christian church since then.

Last week at the announcements I mentioned our new mission statement:

"Reveal Jesus, encounter Christ, live His Word."

An aspect of what we mean by "reveal Jesus" has to do with the saints. What we mean by "reveal Jesus" is about learning, understanding, and seeing Jesus clearly. Who is Jesus? What did he teach? What is the life he is inviting us into? What does it mean to be a citizen of his kingdom? This is symbolized by the head.

All of this is revealed to us, obviously, as we read Scripture, which is the foundation of the preaching and teaching of the Church. … Jesus is also revealed to us through the lives of the saints. The saints are those who have applied the teachings of Scripture to their own life. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they bring their life into alignment with the way of life they discover within the Scriptures. As they learn to live this life, they are transformed into people who radiate the grace of God. They show us what Christlikeness looks like in real people. So, their life gives us a vision of the transformed life that Jesus invites us into. They have caught the vision of the Kingdom of God and have submitted themselves to the transformation that the King has desired for them. When we look at the saints, we see a vision of what Christ wants for us.

In Genesis, we read that God made human beings in His image. In the Fall, the first human beings walked away from that calling to be images of God. So, learning to be saints, learning to be Christ-like, is learning to return to our original calling as bearers of the image of God. All human beings are made in God's image, but it's a fractured reality that we are called to restore by following Christ. So, the saints are those who have had that image healed. The transformative work of God, the grace of God, has become visible to those who encounter the saint.

The Epistle reading from John says,

"What we will be has not yet been revealed, but we know that when Christ appears we shall be like him."

That's really what a saint is. A saint is someone who has become truly human by the image of God being restored in them. Looking at a saint is looking at a human being as they were meant to be- which means to shine with the likeness of Christ.

It's important to remind ourselves that the word "saint" is used in a couple of different ways. St. Paul, when he is writing to churches, addresses them as saints, even the churches who are misbehaving. So, in a sense, the word “saint” is describing Christians.

The other way we use that word is of those who seem to have fully embraced their calling to be the Church- to be the body of Christ. It's sort of in humility that we don't call ourselves saints. Primarily we call the heroes of the church “saints”. We hope to become like them because they are like Christ. We see our calling realized in them.

In the Protestant world we don't seem to talk about saints very much. It's more common in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox circles, where they will pray to saints, asking them to pray to God on their behalf. There are some Anglicans who practice this as well (generally high-church Anglicans or Anglo-Catholics), but the more common practice in Anglicanism is to pray to God in thanks for the life and example of the saint.

Our Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic friends will remind us that we commonly ask others to pray for us. It is a traditional Christian belief that those who have died continue to be alive in Christ. They are part of the church that is sometimes called the Church Triumphant.

In our reading from Revelation we read that there is

“a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Rev 7).

In Revelation 5:8 there are golden bowls of incense, which are described as the “prayers of the saints”. And in Revelation 6:10 we see the saints praying for justice on the earth. So, the saints gathered around God's throne are praying.

We who are still living our earthly lives are called the Church Militant. We are still engaging in spiritual warfare against the fallen world, our fallen fleshly desires, and the devil.

We will sometimes seek out those we know to have deep spiritual lives to ask them to pray for us, or for our loved ones. Similarly, our Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic friends would suggest that it is a wise thing to ask those who are in the Church Triumphant, gathered around the throne of God, to pray for us.

In James 5:16 we read,

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

We see God work powerfully through those who are his intimate followers. In the book of Acts, the Apostles do things that Jesus was doing. Jesus continues to act through them. People bring the sick into the street so that Peter’s shadow might pass over them and heal them. Peter brings a girl back from the dead. People bring handkerchiefs that touched Paul to people at home who were sick so that they might be healed.[1] These don’t seem to be actions that are criticized in the Scriptures. It seems like there is a kind of holiness that emanates from them.

In one odd story in 2 Kings 13, there were some Israelites who were burying a dead man when a band of enemy raiders approached them. They were forced to bury the person in a hurry, so they could deal with the raiders. They quickly put the corpse into the nearest open tomb, which happened to contain the remains of the prophet Elisha. The moment the dead body touched Elisha's bones, the man immediately came back to life. It's almost as if there is a kind of power that emanates from God through those who are His closest servants. We don't want to exaggerate this as if our prayers are not effective, but we also don't want to ignore this reality. Jesus continues to work through the apostles in the book of Acts. God works through his followers, and he seems to work even more powerfully in those who lead lives of intense spiritual dedication.

If we were to ask John, the author of the book of Revelation, what he thinks is happening in the realm of heaven, I suspect he would say that God is on His throne surrounded by a community of angels and saints. There is a community of beings that are worshipping and praying and active. Our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox friends would encourage us to explore what our relationship is to that community, the Church Triumphant.

In some traditions when a church is named after a particular saint, they are thought to have a particular kind of relationship to that saint. That saint is believed to hold that place, and the people who gather there in their prayers. The community that bears their name is even thought to take on something of the character of that particular saint. So, here at St. Leonard's, we would have a particular kind of relationship to St. Leonard.

St. Leonard's feast day is actually quite close to All Saints. His day is November 6th. That’s called our patronal feast. Interestingly, because he is quite early, living around the year 500, he is recognized by both the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox as well.

Leonard came to be so highly thought of by the king of France[2] that any prisoners Leonard visited were released from prison. The King tried to make Leonard a bishop, but he refused the offer, preferring solitude for prayer.

St. Leonard is most well known for his ministry to prisoners, especially prisoners who are wrongfully held, or who he discerned were worthy of mercy. It was said that some prisoners who invoked Leonard’s name saw their chains unlocked and were able to walk away free without being stopped. (Which echoes the story about St. Peter being released from prison by an angel in Acts 12). These people would then bring their chains to Leonard, and many ended up staying with him at his monastery. After his death, these miracles continued to occur, and former prisoners would leave their chains at Leonard’s tomb. (We have his symbol of opened chains in a stained glass window, as well as painted on the outside of our building.)

For St. Leonard to be our patron would mean that part of our calling as a church has to do with setting prisoners free.

What chains do we feel on us that we desire to be free from? Perhaps we are chained by our shame. Perhaps we're chained by lies we believe about ourselves. Perhaps we're chained by our habitual sin or addiction. Perhaps we're chained by negative and destructive thoughts. Perhaps we're chained by our anxiety.

What chains exist in our neighbourhoods and city that we are called to help people be released from? Some people are stuck in a cycle of poverty. Children are struggling with their education and even with getting their nutritional needs met, which can paint a bleak picture of their future. Some people are working hard but they never seem to be able to get ahead. They are always struggling to make ends meet. Some people feel isolated and lonely. Neighbours don't know each other anymore. There's no connection to community life. Some people feeling trapped by hopelessness.

And of course this is exactly in line with the mission of Christ, who came to rescue us from the chains of sin, death, and the powers of evil. Every saint ultimately is about Christ, and their actions are really Christ working through them.

The saints reveal Jesus because Jesus has become visible in them. When we look at St. Leonard freeing prisoners, we catch a glimpse of Christ setting captives free. And as much as All Saints is about looking back on those heroes of our faith, it's also about looking forward. The saints show us what God's grace can do in a human life. They remind us of our calling and who we are becoming in Christ. May St. Leonard's be a place where people encounter Christ, where chains are broken, where lives are restored, and where Jesus is revealed more and more clearly. AMEN

Here are some pictures that you may be interested in and that are connected to St. Leonard.