All Saints Sunday, 2001
Primary Text: Ephesians 1:15-23
OPENING PRAYER: Almighty and Everlasting God, who dost kindle the flame of thy love in the hearts of the saints, grant to us the same faith and power of love; that, as we rejoice in their triumphs, we may profit by their examples, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen+. –From, Feast of Anglican Spirituality, Backhouse
As a boy I can remember having a sense of the importance of history. I think being raised in the Episcopal Church had a lot to do with it. My boyhood parish was a Cathedral, and I remember walking around the Church and seeing all the names on the various plaques and stained glass windows. Even then I could sense a connection with history. I would stare at the pictures of the people and the clergy as they worshipped the Lord in the same pews, with the same altar, and sometimes I would see that they were drinking from the same chalice! They left a legacy, just like our predecessors here at this cathedral. Glance around. Like my boyhood parish, the walls almost seem to speak. There are stories that go with each plaque, window, dedication and gift. And today we honor those saints, those faithful in Christ who have gone before us. But the saints we see represented around us are only part of a long list of people who, even now, cheer us on.
I want to tell you about one in particular. His name was Bishop Hugh Latimer.
Latimer lived in a turbulent time in England’s history, when the break with Rome was still an open wound, tender to the touch. There was a great struggle as to what form this Church in England would take. Would it follow the path of the Reformation? Would it return to Roman Church? The tension was great and the stakes were high. When “Bloody” Mary assumed the throne, she wasted no time in earning her name. In her attempt to purge England of the reformers, many Anglicans were martyred for their faith. In a brief 4 year period, over 280 people were burned to death at the stake, including 1 Archbishop, 4 Bishops, 21 clergymen, 55 women, and 4 children. 1 of those Bishops was Latimer, who was burned to death on October 16, 1555 along with another clergyman Nicholas Riddley. They were taken to the north side of Oxford and chained back to back on a stake. The wood was piled up around them. Then, as the fire was started at the feet of the men, Latimer said in a loud voice to Riddley, “Be of good cheer Master Riddley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England that I trust never shall be put out.” (Ryle, 36, 158)
And you know what? He was right. This is our heritage.
As we celebrate All Saints, we should not dwell on the fire that burned Latimer’s body, as awful as it was. Instead, we should ask “What was the fire that burned in his soul?” There was a fire of faith in him that was blazing long before that October day. That fire, friends, is common to all the saints that we celebrate today. It is the fire that has been present in our forerunners from Augustine to Aidan, from Clare to Cranmer, from Wesley to Wilberforce and conceivably to us. So as we consider the saints we are compelled to ask, “Do we have the fire inside us?” “Is our faith an active flame?”
This morning’s reading from Ephesians will help us examine this question. Please follow along in your bulletin insert as we look at this passage.
In verses 15-16, Paul is thankful for the spark. The Ephesians have heard the Gospel and responded to it. He says READ VS 15-16. From this basic spark, Paul knows that a flame can develop. They are displaying their faith in Christ, and they are displaying love for one another, “all the saints”. Paul is thankful because they have not made these two ideas mutually exclusive. Love for neighbor without an active faith in Jesus, is not necessarily Christian. Anyone can do that. Faith in Christ without love for neighbor is simply disobedience. It is a half-hearted attitude which Jesus addresses in Luke when he says, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?” (Lk 6:46) But Paul is thankful that the Ephesians are living their faith. Although he is thankful for their initial response –their first steps –he prods them forward in their faith. His prayer from this morning’s reading centers on three things…
1.) He prays that they may knowledge of God may increase. READ VS 17 This is a prayer for growth. There is an important lesson in this verse. Where is the source of the knowledge of God coming from? It is coming from God. Read the verse again. Who is Paul asking to bestow the wisdom and revelation? God. Christianity is a revealed religion. It is unashamedly based on the conviction that God has spoken and continues to speak to His people. Paul wants them to have more than simply factual knowledge.
For there is a great difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone. It is not unlike the story of the civil war soldier who received a letter from his mother. It contained the horrible news that his brother and father had been killed in action. The soldier knew that his mother needed him. There was no one to take care of the younger children or the farm. He went to his Commanding Officer, who passed him up the Chain of Command. All his requests were denied. Finally he took the little leave he had and went to Washington with the crazy idea of seeing the president. As he walked up the steps he was met by a stern guard who asked him what he wanted. The Guard laughed and turned away. He tried again, but the guard threatened to arrest him. In despair, he began wandering around the city. Utterly depressed he sat on the ground outside a general store. After a moment he sensed someone watching him. When he looked up he saw a boy. The boy asked, “What’s wrong mister?” The soldier told his story to the boy. When he was done, he sighed and wiped a tear of anger from his eye. The little boy said, “I think I can help.” The soldier was amused, and thought the boy was kind but didn’t really believe he could help. After some convincing the boy got the soldier to get up and taking his tiny hand, the soldier followed the boy back through the streets of Washington. They went toward the White House, then through the gates. They went past the guards and into the house. The boy rushed the soldier into a room where Abraham Lincoln was seated. Upon seeing the boy, the grand president said, “Yes Todd. How can I help you?” Todd said, “Dad, please listen to this man’s story”. The soldier received permission from the commander-in-chief to return home. (Relayed Story Source Unknown).
You see it’s one thing to know about someone; it’s another to know them relationally. Just as the boy ushered the soldier into the presence of the president, so Jesus is the one who ushers us into a relationship with God. We see this later in Chapter 2 when Paul says, READ 2:13. Paul is praying that they would have a relational knowledge of God. -a relationship that would make a difference in their life. The spark of it is already there, the Apostle just wants it to flame up!
2.) He prays that they will know their calling to hope. READ VS 18. Notice that now the apostle is praying that their hearts may be enlightened. We often speak of the heart differently than the writers of Scripture. When we say something is “heart-breaking”, we usually mean that it is emotionally wrenching. In scripture the word “heart” refers to more than emotions. “Heart” does refer to the emotions, but also to the mind, the will, essentially the whole person. This makes sense if you look at the idea of hope from the underside. How does hopelessness affect us?
If you are hope-less, does it not affect the whole person? A person without hope is truly miserable. Their heart aches, their mind is frantic with self-doubt, anger, and apathy. Their emotions are a wreck. When you are hopeless, nothing looks good, and there seems to be no way out.
The Christian is called to hope. But that hope is not simply a vague sense of optimism about the future. It is not some attitude of whistling in the dark. Anglican theologian J.I. Packer says, “For God the creator, who designed us, sustains us and knows our hearts, never intended that humans should live without hope.” (Packer, 13)
But what is that hope? What is the hope to which he has called us? READ 18b-19 New Testament hope is centered on the work of Christ on the Cross and in the Resurrection. Through the cross our sin is removed, through the resurrection our future is secured. Still this sounds like only so many clichés. Let me put it another way. Christian hope speaks to that deepest part of you and me, those things that keep you awake at night staring at the ceiling. Christian hope speaks to the deepest longings and the ache of your heart. It speaks to those places inside yourself that you show to no one. In those places there may be regret, mounds of regret, things said or not said, words you wish you could snatch from the air. It may be the abandonment you have experienced when he walked out. It may be the sense betrayal when you were fired. It may be the sense that the Church let you down, mom and dad weren’t there, and no one likes you. It is the bitterness you feel and aren’t sure why. All the worries about the future, all the depression you can’t shake. Whatever is at the core of pain in your life, Christian hope speaks to it. Better than that, Christian hope speaks into it. The sin you have committed, or the sin that someone committed which hurt you need not rest on your shoulders. Just as Jesus spoke into the storm and said, “Peace, be still”, He speaks to our hearts, “Peace, Be still.” This is why it is such a great danger, in fact a tremendous sin, to restrict Jesus to our heads only as some sort of intellectual mind-game or philosophical idea. When we do that, we keep God out of the muck and mire of our daily lives. But that is where he wants to be, because that is where we live. This is why the writer of Hebrews can say, READ HEB 4:15 That means when we are tempted to give in to the pain, the despair and finally hopelessness, we are not alone. Desert hermit Carlo Carretto reminds us that “Having faith means believing that no leap can cast me out from His arms.” (Carretto, 21). Paul is praying that the Ephesians’ faith would mature, that they would know the great hope of God, that they would know there is always a dawn with God and the night never lasts forever. And in the midst of the night God is not absent or unconcerned, but present and active. But we are aware of it only as the eyes of our hearts are opened.
3.) Finally Paul prays that the Ephesians would know the power of God. He says, READ 19b-20 . As we know Him better, as we have our hearts opened to see his work, we will come to know the power of God. Here we see the wonderful, and perhaps surprising thought that this is the same power that was present in the resurrection of Christ. This is not power in the sense we normally think of it, it not power “of”, but power “for”. God’s power in our lives is the power, the strength to live, to follow and obey him. It is enabling power. It is the power to believe, to trust, to serve, to give. It is the power to say “Good morning Lord!” instead of “Good Lord, it’s morning”. It is the power to live well, and when the time comes, to die well. It takes power to do these things! But notice that there is a catch to this. In verse 19 Paul says it is for “us who believe”.
Is this unfair? NO. It is no more unfair than complaining that the Post-Gazette never showed up when you never subscribed! How can you expect the benefits of the Christian faith if you never subscribe to its teaching?
The power Paul is talking about is the true Power of God working in the life of a follower of Jesus. The beautiful piece of this is that it is God’s power. Not ours. You don’t have to make yourself stronger, better or more spiritual. Lord knows the last thing the world needs is another religious person. .
Conclusion
Instead of more “religious” people the world needs people with their hearts on fire for their Lord, who are determined to love him and follow him –who have however, feebly or tentatively said to God “Yes. I want to follow you”. All that is needed is that spark of faith. With that spark, saints are born. The saints that we see represented in the plaques, windows and gifts in this place began with that spark. . The saints that we know, that are examples to us in our own lives, also began with a “Yes” to God’s invitation, His call. Likewise you and I must begin with that spark of faith.
But like all the saints who have come before us, we cannot stop there. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is that that they would know God better, that they would know the Hope they were called to, and that they would experience the enabling power of God in their lives. And this is God’s desire for us as well.
I pray this will be a reality in your life and my life. The possibilities are amazing –Saints, all of us! Perhaps, in the grace of God, we too may burn brightly and ignite a fire like Latimer and Riddley that will never go out! AMEN+
