7^th November 2011

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 30 October 2011

Lessons -- Psalm 34:1-10; Revelation 9:7-19; Matthew 5:1-1 2

'We believe in the communion of saints' (Apostles Creed).

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

November 1 is All Saints Day. Despite Protestant wariness of strange Catholic practices -- like praying to the saints, venerating relics and beatifying martyrs -- we should look forward to this great festival.

* It reminds us that all members of the Christian communion are called by grace to be 'saints' who are 'set apart' to witness to God's sacrificial
love for all in Christ. It reminds us of our vocation!

* It reminds us, as does the Revelation to John and the Religious Liberty Network, that many 'saints', like the Old Testament prophets before them, endured severe testing, persecution and death for their loyalty to Christ.
It reminds us of the cost of discipleship!

* It reminds us, as Luther did by emphasising the 'priesthood of all believers', that we are united in bonds of affection with countless folk who have gone before us. It reminds us that we share a 'holy communion' as members of Christ's Body -- that we are privileged to belong to the 'communion of saints' throughout time and must always give thanks for pioneers of faith with love and gratitude. It reminds us of our unity across the ages!

* And it reminds us of the vision of a 'new heaven and new earth' when what has been begun in Christ, and celebrated in the Church, shall come to glorious fulfilment. It reminds us of our hope!

In view of dodgy practices that grew up around the cult of the saints, we Protestants might still be wary about celebrating All Saints Day. But we must not allow it to blind us to its importance. Luther once criticised veneration of saints but warned fanatics not to destroy relics. 'Of course there are abuses . . . but men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit wine and abolish women?' (I wonder what teetotallers and feminists might make of this!)

In Saints for Confused Times (1976), John Garvey lists a few saintly
characteristics:

* They believe in God wholeheartedly. They are, in Jesus' words, 'pure of heart' (Matthew 5:8) -- single-mindedly taken up with praise and service of God. Their ultimate loyalty is 'undivided'. God is not an abstract or comforting 'idea' but the incomparably good and gracious Creator and Redeemer of humanity who disturbs and transforms lives, communities and
(even) churches. 'Seeing' in Christ what God requires of them, they gladly and wholeheartedly worship God.

* Although others think of them as 'saintly', they do not. Because they count on the reality of God's goodness and mercy in Christ and do not treat God as an idol to satisfy their desires, they think of themselves as profoundly unworthy. As the Beatitudes show, they are largely devoid of self-righteousness, resentment and self-pity. Their saintliness is visible
to others, but not themselves!

* They do not expect God to give them an easy life or make them invulnerable to suffering. Because they open themselves to God's costly love in Christ, they are vulnerable to God's calling and human need. They are found with those who 'mourn' because of evil, affliction, tragedy or death. They show 'mercy' where there is resentment and seek 'peace' in the midst of conflict. They 'hunger and thirst for righteousness' where there is injustice and unrighteousness. They stand up for what is right -- not what is popular.

* Despite suffering, persecution and martyrdom, they are joyful and full of hope. In looking to the consummation of all things in Christ (Revelation 9:7ff), the 'saints' who are 'pure in heart' believe that God's love for sinful, broken humanity has been embodied in his life, death and resurrection. Therefore they are not ultimately daunted by opposition.

The saints throughout time -- with all their different temperaments, vocations and frailties -- take the Gospel to heart. They glorify God wholeheartedly! Without them our ideas about Christianity would be diminished. They impress on us what the Church as the 'communion of saints' is called to be in every generation. They unsettle our complacency and summon us to live out the Gospel.

Above the West Door of Westminster Abbey stand ten statues of 20th Century Christian martyrs. One is the Polish Franciscan, Maximilian Kolbe (1894- 1941). Imprisoned at infamous Auschwitz, 'he was known discreetly to give his own food to other prisoners, even as his own health crumbled, to hear confessions and, in the face of stern prohibitions, to celebrate mass. On
14 August 1941 he was killed by lethal injection after interceding to save a condemned fellow inmate with the words, "I want to die in place of this prisoner." ' (Abbey brochure.)

This sacrificial act, as Patricia Treece says in her biography of Kolbe, was the culmination of a life devoted to the kind of humility, purity of heart, goodness, and intercession for persecutors and victims patterned on
the Beatitudes.

We must never forget the sacrificial love of Christians, like Father Kolbe and many other brave men and women, whose love of God has been demonstrated in costly love for others. We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses: saints who in different situations take seriously the reality of God who became flesh among us in Christ. By their example they summon the Church -- the 'communion of saints' -- to live in faith, hope and love in the midst of our world. They remind us that, by God's grace, we belong to a living community that transcends time and space.

On All Saints Day, we remember all who have died in the faith of Christ:
the well-known, the unknown and those known only to us. And we commit ourselves to follow their examples by glorifying God and defending human dignity wherever God is mocked and our fellows suffer abuse, affliction, tragedy or death because of their own or others' actions.

In doing so, we are reconnected with the great story of God's faithfulness to humanity and assured that, whether or not we are remembered by name, we shall be remembered by God as members of the communion of saints -- as sisters and brothers of Christ.

We do not have adequate words to 'explain' such a reality. That is why, as well as 'saintly' examples, we need the richness of liturgical language -- like that in the service of Holy Communion: 'We praise you with the faithful of every time and place, joining with choirs of angels and the whole creation in the eternal hymn . . .'

Despite our Protestant misgivings, we should embrace All Saints Day. It reminds us of the motley cast of forgiven sinners who, often at great cost, have answered Christ's summons to discipleship by provoking the arrogant and encouraging the vulnerable. And it links us with them so as to impress on us the urgency of being saints in our own day: to love God with a 'purity of heart' and a 'hunger and thirst for righteousness' in our society where, despite significant differences between our situation and that of Father Kolbe, faith in God and human dignity are being seriously undermined.

Make no mistake! Christianity in Australia / the West is under fierce attack from the intolerance of those who zealously promote universal tolerance for all sorts of faiths and life-styles -- except Christianity!
Belief in God's self-revelation in Christ as the Creator, Reconciler and Redeemer of all nations is widely regarded as an obstacle to realising our potential by any means at our disposal.

As contemporary members of the communion of saints, we must not let this liberating word be silenced. Otherwise, worship of the self and worship of nature will fill the void left by unbelief. As GK Chesterton once famously
said: 'When people stop believing in God they do not believe in nothing; they will believe anything.'

Therefore, whatever challenges we face in our own lives or in public life (in Church and community), All Saints Day helps us to live in hope knowing that, in life and death, now and eternally, we belong to the communion of saints -- with those who have been unsettled and invigorated by God's gracious calling as it has been embodied in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

May the Holy Spirit enable us to believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.