Proper 26/All Saints

Preparation

    Please begin by reading Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17 in your Bible. If you do not have one at hand, we have provided that text for you at the end of this reflection.

Reflection--Hello, Saints!

   If you have ever heard the Rev. Troy Perry speak or preach, you have heard his greeting, “Hello saints!”, spoken with much gusto.  Who are these saints?

Today’s passage from the book of Revelation is a good place to start.  It presents a picture of a great multitude of people, so many that they can not be counted, gathered together in the presence of God and Jesus, the Lamb, shouting praise.  It is an incredibly diverse group “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.”  (Won’t many be surprised at who else is there!!)  They are those who have deeply connected with Jesus’ message and survived the oppression which that often brings.  They waive palm branches, symbols of victory. 

They are in the most wonderful imaginable place where “they will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne [Jesus] will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."  It is a scene of enormous joy and of God’s tender care for those who have remained faithful in life, not only in their deep connection with Jesus, but in resisting pressures to “go along to get along.” As one observer notes, “That harsh juxtaposition of ideas, making robes white in blood, evinces an awesome purity that comes through costly and deliberate devotion to a better way.”

What distinguishes “saints” from others is their relationship with God.  The word’s Old Testament roots are in a word for “covenant faithfulness,” those bound closely to their God in love, and another word for those set apart for service to God.  In the New Testament, the word is based on the Greek word for the “holy ones.”  It is often used to designate members of Christian faith communities.  For example, if Paul were writing to a church I previously pastored, he would likely begin his letter “to the saints at Holy Redeemer M.C.C. in College Park.”  You can as easily fill in the name of your faith community and your town.

In short, the saints are not just mystic figures peering out of ancient icons.  They are those of who are faithful to God’s call in their lives.  They include those we have known in our lives who have shown us what God’s love is really like.  They are the brothers and sisters around us.  They are each of us. 

As All Saints Day draws near we celebrate all the saints who have been faithful through time, those who are faithful even now, and those who will be faithful in the future.

revclay

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Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17

       I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, saying, "Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads."

    And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel.

*  *  *

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.  They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

    "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

    And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,  singing,

"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." 

    Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?"  I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows."

    Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship day and night within Gods’ temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.  They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat;  for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

 [NRSV]