Homily for Sunday of All Saints, 15 June 2014--A Great Cloud of Witnesses

Homily for 15 June 2014:  Sunday of All Saints

(Hebrews 11:33-12:2)                    (Matthew 10:32-38, 19:27-30)

 

Today is the Sunday of All Saints.

Of course we remember and honor certain saints by name every day of the year—some are famous, some are not.  We remember and honor certain saints by name in the prayers and services of the Church.  And we have our personal devotions to certain saints—maybe those for whom we are named, maybe according to family or village traditions, maybe because of personal experience or inspiration.

But today the Church reminds us that all Christians—all of us, and all of those who have gone before us, and all those who will come after us—are called to be saints:  the “Holy Ones” of God.

St Paul reminds us of this when he calls the saints a “great cloud of witnesses.”  He also reminds us of what we have to do in order to join that great cloud of witnesses.  And in today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us some very clear—and also pretty difficult—advice on how to live holy lives.

When St Paul calls the saints “a great cloud of witnesses,” he’s telling us two very important things.

First, like a cloud, the saints are sort of above us and around us.  Sometimes they are closer and heavier; sometimes more distant and fluffy (if we can imagine fluffy saints!).  Sometimes they storm; sometimes they provide shade.  Like the droplets of moisture that form a cloud, the individual saints form this great cloud of witnesses.

Second, the saints are a cloud of witnesses:  they have a function, to be examples to the world and to us—examples of Christian faith and life.  Like the people of the Old Testament that St Paul describes, different saints have different talents, different experiences, different ways of witnessing.  But all their words and actions and trials and sufferings and deaths are meaningless unless they are connected to faith.

This is true for us, too.  Jesus says, “Whoever acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father,” but “whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

We can’t call ourselves Christians unless we live as Christians.  We have to live in a way that joins us to that “great cloud of witnesses”—God’s holy ones.  This takes determination and effort.  It’s not going to happen unless we work at it all the time, every day.

First, according to St Paul, we “must rid ourselves of every burden and sin” that holds on to us and holds us back from living holy lives.  This means we have to look honestly at ourselves, discover and admit our shortcomings and failures, and repent—turn ourselves around in the right direction.

Second, that right direction is following the lead of Jesus Christ.  We have to “persevere in running the race, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”  He has done it; He is showing us how; He wants us to succeed.

Third, we have to follow Jesus openly, not secretly.  We should never be afraid to thank and praise Him for creating us, loving us, guiding us, saving us—in whatever situation or company.

Fourth, we have to put Jesus first in our lives.  It’s kind of hard to hear Jesus say, “Whoever loves father or mother, or son or daughter, more than me is not worthy of me.”  But our family is not God; we must not worship them.  They are gifts from God, so we must treasure them.  The best way to do this is by living holy lives and setting a good example.  Parents have to be witnesses to their children, showing them how to put Christ first, ahead of selfish desires.  Let your children see you pray, teach them to enjoy coming to church, share with them the goodness of helping others.

Finally, we can’t expect rewards in this life.  Being Christian is not easy or comfortable or profitable in worldly terms.  The only reward that counts is the joy of eternal life in God’s love.  That is the reward that awaits us when, by God’s grace, we join all the saints in that “great cloud of witnesses,” giving thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

Homily for Pentecost Sunday, 8 June 2014--The Holy Spirit Makes us Witnesses for Christ

Homily for 8 June 2014:  Holy and Glorious Pentecost Sunday

(Acts 2:1-11)                    (John 7:37-8:12)

 

Today is the great feast of Pentecost—the 50^th day after the Resurrection of Christ and the 10^th day after His Ascension to the Father.

Imagine how the disciples must have been feeling.  When the Lord was crucified, died, and was buried, they were devastated.  When He rose from the dead on the third day, they couldn’t believe it at first, then they were overjoyed to have Him with them again.  But when He ascended, once again they were left alone, although He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit, whom He would ask the Father to send.

So, ten days after that, they were probably confused and scared, maybe even angry.  They must have been full of questions:  What’s going to happen to us?  What is this “Holy Spirit” that’s supposed to be coming?  What will we have to do when it comes?  How can we do anything without Jesus, our Master and Teacher?  Why did He have to leave us?

Maybe—probably—we often feel the same way and have the same kinds of questions?  What do we really know about the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives?  What are we supposed to do with the gift of the Holy Spirit that we received in Baptism and that was sealed in Chrismation?

We get a clue from what Jesus told His disciples at the time of His Ascension:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

So the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to become witnesses for Jesus Christ “to the ends of the earth”—that is, in the whole world.  But how can we do that?

In his First Letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 12:3-13), St Paul writes that there are many different varieties of gifts of the Spirit, and that different ones are given to different people to be used for the good of all.  These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit:  wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles or mighty deeds, prophecy (calling people to follow God’s will), discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues.

And on Pentecost, as we read today, the disciples received these gifts and used them to preach the Gospel in many languages.  All those hard names in today’s reading from the Book of Acts—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Phrygia, Pamphylia—represent “the whole world” known in the Roman Empire at the time.  All those people from all those places, gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Shavuot (the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai), understood the disciples’ message as if it was spoken in their own languages, which is a sign of unity in God, just as the disciples were unified.  That’s why Acts says, “they were all together in one place.”

What happened at Pentecost shows the Holy Trinity at work:  the Father, at the Son’s request, sends the Holy Spirit.  And it shows that the way to accomplish God’s will is to seek the unity of Christians—all languages, nations, cultures, people.  The Father creates us all, the Son saves us all, and the Holy Spirit gives life to all and guides all.

So we can be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth by using whatever gifts we have for the good of all.  Some use wisdom to raise their families, teach their children, show good example.  Others show their faith, and share their faith, in everyday life.  Some use God’s healing power as doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals; others use it in words and actions that heal anxiety, confusion, and depression.  Still others are called to preaching and public actions.

We just have to certain, when we use our gifts, that we’re doing it for God, not for personal glory or profit.  And we have to remember that it’s not our power, but the working of the Holy Spirit.  Then we can truly be witnesses for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

Homily for 1 June 2014--The Spirit Guides the Leaders of the Church

Homily for 1 June 2014:  7^th Sunday of Pascha (Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council)

(Acts 20:16-18, 27-36)                    (John 17:1-13)

 

Every year, on this sixth Sunday after Pascha—the Sunday between the feast of the Ascension of the Lord and the feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples—the Church honors the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.  That Council, called by the Emperor Constantine in the year 325, brought together all the bishops of the Christian Church in the world.  That’s why it was called “ecumenical”—it involved the whole oecumene—the whole world.

Those bishops had the job of agreeing on a statement of Christian belief in order to settle the fights among Christians that were disturbing the peace of the Roman Empire—which stretched from Britain to Germany to Northern Africa and almost to India.  To do this, the bishops prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, studied the Holy Bible, and considered the teachings of philosophers and earlier Christian theologians.

With much discussion and argument, they composed the Creed, which we still recite as he statement of essential Christian belief.  They made sure not to put any words in the Creed that were not in the Bible. So if anyone tells you the Creed is just a man-made statement, you can point out that it is completely based on the Bible.

All of this information is interesting, but that First Ecumenical Council happened 1689 years ago.  Why should we still have a Sunday remembering it?  Isn’t this one way in which the Church is kind of stuck in the past and not really connected with the modern world?

As the readings for this Sunday show, remembering the Holy Fathers of that ancient council teaches us lessons that remain extremely important and valuable today.  Today’s readings from the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John lay out some basic duties of bishops as the leaders of the Church, and, by extension, duties of priests as leaders of the local churches, and also essential truths for the People of God, who are the Church.

In John’s Gospel, we read the words that Jesus addresses to His Heavenly Father while He is still at supper with His disciples before His betrayal and Passion.  Because the disciples are listening, in a way these words are also addressed to them.  They will be the teachers and builders and leaders of the Christian community.

Jesus makes four main points:

1.  That His followers must know the One True God and Jesus the Christ whom God sent into the world.
2. That we belong to the Father and to Jesus.
3. That we must be one unified people, as Jesus and the Father are one.
4. That we must be joyful in Jesus our Lord.
   In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that St Paul is meeting with the leaders of the Church in Ephesus, on the coast south of Byzantium in what is now Turkey.  He gives them advice on how to continue the work of the Lord.
   St Paul makes five main points:

1.  They must keep watch over themselves and all the flock, because the Holy Spirit has appointed them as overseers.
2. They must be alert and guard against people inside the church who will distort the truth to get people to follow them.
3. They must preach and teach the message of God’s grace that builds up the community and leads to salvation.
4. They must not seek to get rich off the community.
5. They must work to support the weak.
   We can see that these words of Jesus and St Paul provide sure guidance for the whole Church—bishops, priests, and people.  Jesus sets forth the spiritual truths; Paul gives practical methods for achieving them.  The leaders of the Church in 2014, like the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council in 325, have to live by these words, teach them to the people, and so build up the Body of Christ.
   The decision of Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew, at their recent meeting in Jerusalem, to meet in 2025 on the 1700^th anniversary of that first Council, shows that the Holy Spirit is still at work, guiding our leaders towards Christian unity.  We don’t know what form that meeting will take, or who will be involved, or even if the Pope and the Patriarch will be alive then, but we rejoice at this sign that Christians are once again trying to overcome their differences, and we give thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.