All Saints and Trinity 21 - Propers and Rev Jack's Sermon

The Propers for today are found on Page 256-257, with the Collect first:

 

All Saints’ Day. [November 1.]

The Collect.

 

O

 ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

 

¶ This Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave. 

 

Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity

 

The Collect.

G

 

RANT, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

The text serving as the Epistle for today came from The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, the Seventh Chapter, beginning at the second Verse.

 

For the Epistle.

Revelation vii. 2.

 

A

ND I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living creatures, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 

 

The Holy Gospel for this morning comes from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the Fifth Chapter, beginning at the First Verse.

 

The Gospel.

Matthew v. 1.

 

J

ESUS seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 

 

Sermon - Rev Jack Arnold
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California

Today’s sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and talked, as is oft the case, of the need for action, not simply diction.

 

Before we discuss the propers, I would like to talk a bit about today, All Saints’Day.  First notice the word is plural, a great number of saints, all in fact, are remembered today.  

 

In other traditions, All Saints' Day is known as All Hallows, Day of All the Saints, Solemnity of All Saints, or Feast of All Saints.  It is a fixed day, celebrated on 1 November every year, except not surprisingly by our Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brethren who celebrate the even on the first Sunday after Pentecost.

 

Roman Catholics and our Eastern Orthodox friends are talking about people who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven.   In the Reformed Church and Anglican Orthodox Church in particular, we regard all true Christian believers as saints and observe All Saints Day to remember all Christians both past and present. 

 Consider the words of the Collect, “…God … keep us … from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest …”

 

The Collect asks God to keep us from things that are bad for us and make our hearts ready so we can do the things He wants us to do; this ties perfectly with the Epistle and Gospel as it always does.  The message of the Collect, the Epistle and the Gospel can be summarized by Stay away from things that will harm your spiritual and physical health and do things good for your health and be spiritually aware of what is going on.

 

One word that intrigues me from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is “circumspectly”; which when I looked it up meant “wary and unwilling to take risks.”  I believe Paul meant today we should not be taking risks with our faith, but walking in that which has been tried and true for over two thousand years. He means we should not compromise our belief in the Gospel. We cannot risk comprising the integrity of the faith. Too many of the modern so called Christian churches today compromise the integrity of the faith to gain more power on this Earth. We called not to compromise on the core of our faith which is Jesus and His Death and sacrifice and resurrection.  This is not what being a Church is supposed to be about. It is supposed to draw people closer to God, not away from Him.  We are called to be shining lights towards God and to stand out, to be holy, and not part of the darkness of this World. If God has not changed over the millennia, why should we change our position? 

 

Indeed, we must not change our position; if it is truly derived from His Holy Word, then it should never change. If a minister or bishop’s position conflicts with Scripture, then you know they are not in line with His Word and is not a fellow believer. We must all strive to be in congruence with His Word. We are all working together in His Church to further His Cause. If we are not all on the same page, then we are not furthering His Work. We have to all work together to spread the Gospel, each person contributes to the much larger picture of spreading the Gospel. 

 

Paul in his Epistle warns us not to drink to excess, but to keep it in moderation. He does not mean never to drink wine, as some, (Puritans and certain Baptists, among others) would take, but rather have “moderation in all things”; which is a similar idea Paul expresses in 1 Corinthians 6:12, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.  Just because you can do something, like drinking or eating, does not mean you should do it to excess where it can cause you harm. He is warning against excesses in everything, and we should do everything in a healthy dose of moderation. Eating too much can cause stomach problems, something we want to avoid. Drinking too much can cause serious issues, not the least of which is hangovers; the worst is drinking to death. 

 

Our Lord wants us to be moderate in our celebration, not celebrating to the point of excess where bad things can happen to our bodies and our minds; but celebrating to where we are thankful to Him for all things, and for His Love.

 

This is the unifying theme of both the Epistle and the Gospel for today. Keep everything we do in moderation and avoid excesses in anything.  Rather than turn to the excesses of this world, Paul says we must turn to God and be filled with His Grace of the Holy Spirit; making joyful noises to the Lord, be it in prayer or song while giving thanks always for all things to God. 

 

The Gospel’s theme is that everybody is invited to God’s great feast and or wedding party (heaven) but if you do not have the right clothes (the Holy Ghost’s presence in your heart) then you will not be allowed to enter. Just like if somebody shows up to a black tie event wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, if we are not up to God’s Holy Dress Code, then we will not be able to make it into heaven. How do we get His Dress code? Simple, we have to let the Holy Ghost into our hearts and read and digest His Word. Scripture will tell us how to act and be allowed into the feast.

 

How often are we thankful to God for letting us join His Feast? More often than not we seem to forget who made us, who created the world we dwell in, who created the fantastic beasts on land and in the sea. It seems very strange we forget to thank God for all of these things, but we do. Making a joyful noise unto the Lord is part of how we can do this, besides prayer and thanksgiving. Be it through songs, happy declarations to the Lord or joyful worship, we can send our joy unto our Lord.  This is part of the reason it is important to say prayers like the Gloria in the prayer book with “liveliness”, we are expressing our praise and thanksgiving unto God, for having sent His Son down to save us from our wicked selves. 

 

In our lives, we should be grateful to God more than we are. We are too often not thinking of God’s role in our lives and only thinking of our own. I can identify this. We have to widen our view to think of what God has done for us in our lives and appreciate and thank Him for it. We have to turn away from that temptation, and let the Holy Spirit in and guide us to thanking God for what He has done for us in our lives. 

 

The Collect, Epistle and Gospel tie together, laying out, detailing and reinforcing the same message ultimately.  We have to be ready and willing to listen to God, and walk with God, and act with the Holy Spirit in us, in order to have the right “clothes” to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

 

Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.

 

The time is now, not tomorrow.  The time has come, indeed.  How will you ACT?

 

The time to act is NOW.  Will you act?  For whom will you act?  Will you count the cost before you act?

 

Action, not diction, is what counts.  It is by your actions you are known.

 

Be of God - Live of God - Act of God