All Saints Day
Christians believes two things about life in this
world. First, that it can be a real
struggle. As Christians, we acknowledge
that the world is a broken place.
Conflict is real. Violence, pain,
fear and terror are real. Death is real.
Relationships are often frayed and shattered.
People are hurt, and hurt others in a million ways every day. The thing
is, the world has always been that way.
Second, Christians believe that death is not the end. We believe that destruction, brokenness,
conflict, pain and hurt never have the last word. These two central truths about human life
play themselves out in a powerful way in the cross and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth. Jesus was nailed to a cross by
a world that could not tolerate his message of God’s love and grace for
everyone (no exceptions); a sacrifice to the brokenness and violence of our
world and our human propensity to demand blood when we feel wronged or slighted
or hurt. Jesus’ resurrection is a clear
demonstration that God’s love and grace is more powerful than all the
brokenness and violence the world can muster; more powerful even than death
itself – even the horrors of a death on the cross.
But, the Good News that death is not the end is not just a
panacea to help us tolerate the pain and suffering of the present tumultuous
times. Instead, the Good News that death
is not the end frees us to live boldly and joyfully in the midst of an often
difficult present. Because we no longer
have to worry about death, we can focus on nurturing life. Because we know that the fullness of life,
not the emptiness of death, lies in our future, we can join hands and work
toward that future in the here and now.
Because we know that God, in Christ, has reconciled the world to God, we
can join in that reconciling work.
The book of Revelation paints harrowing and horrible
pictures of the great battle that is being waged between the forces of Good and
Evil that seem to be swirling around us all the time. People in every age since John of Patmos
shared his vision have been able to see themselves and their times in his
images. That’s because the world has
always been a broken and often fearful place to dwell. But, the point of Revelation is not to
terrify, but to give hope. The punchline
comes at the end – in the vision of the ultimate victory of God over all the
world’s brokenness, evil, violence and death.
A victory won in Christ who died, defeated death and showed us the way
to eternal life, and how to live in the here and now.
The saints that the Church celebrates each year on the first
of November are not people who were perfect, or more holy or in some way better
than the rest of us. No. The saints of the Church are those people who
understood and experienced the reality of a broken world and, with God’s help,
managed to live in love and hope and joy anyway. People who were very much like you and
me: imperfect and broken and, most of
all, loved by God.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
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