Divine Entanglement

All Saints
John 17:20-26 

In another life I studied quantum theory at the University of Regensburg in Germany. It is a much more interesting field of study than many might imagine. But I have to admit, when I turned my attention to theology, I didn’t think I would be finding much use for quantum theory again. Then I read today’s text.

But before we get to that, I need to explain a couple of basic points about quantum mechanics for those of you who may not have been paying close attention in Year 10 science.

Firstly, quantum mechanics looks at the interactions of particles at the sub-atomic level, much as classical physics looks at the laws that govern the interaction of matter on the large-scale level.

As we know, everything material that exists, like air, water, stars, trees and us, are made up of distinctive combinations of atoms. Water, for instance, is simply a collection of molecules made by combining two hydrogen atoms with one oxygen atom. H2O. That seems pretty straight forward.

But what takes place within these various atoms is something quite remarkable. Electrons orbit around a nucleus that composed of protons and neutrons. And these subatomic particles are again formed by even smaller fundamental particles such as leptons, quarks and bosons. But the really interesting thing is that matter seems to relate and act differently at the subatomic level than at the large-scale level.

Just a few points that you may recall from those long-gone days in science class. Sub-atomic particles appear to act as both a particle and a wave. This means we need to look at them as being both at the same time to understand how they work.

And here is another interesting point. These particles/waves are connected in ways that are hard for us to fathom. For instance, Albert Einstein (who you have all heard of) together with Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen (who you have probably never heard of) put together the famous EPR thought experiment in 1935 seeking to show that quantum theory really didn’t make sense. But they appear to accidently have gotten it right. Some decades later laboratory experiments not possible in the 1930s showed that what they proposed was actually the case. Basically, it was shown that particles that are split remain somehow connected and in communication even at great distances. So if a particle has a total spin of 0 and it is split, and one half of the particle is measured or made to have a ½ right spin, the other half of the particle, even if it is kms away or even on the other side of the galaxy, will instantly have a ½ left spin to balance it out. And this information between particles is transferred faster than the speed of light. Which according to classical physics is not possible. And yet it happens. Einstein was not happy about this and called it ‘spooky action at a distance’ which is not a technical scientific term, but it is easy to remember.

Another famous scientist of the time, Erwin Schrödinger (famous for his Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment) looked at the whole phenomenon of how subatomic particles are both wave and particle at the same time, and are somehow connected even after being split, even if they are half a universe away. He called the whole scenario quantum entanglement. And that became the technical term.

So this is the point. At the most fundamental level of reality, everything is completely entangled. That’s the way God made our universe. There are connections and actions that defy our understanding of time and distance, and of wave and particle. Everything is so inter-connected to everything else at the foundational sub-atomic level that traditional categories of space and time cannot explain the depth of these connections. And this, in a nutshell, is what is called quantum entanglement.

Now, back to today’s Gospel reading.

This is the only substantial prayer of Jesus that we have apart from the Lord’s prayer, which is more of a template. In this prayer we have a glimpse into the heart and deepest concerns of Jesus as he was preparing for the cross.

The first thing we notice in today’s text, which is the final part of his prayer, is that Jesus is praying for us.  ‘I ask not only on behalf of these here, but also on behalf of those who are yet to believe in me through their word.’ Think about that. Jesus prays for all those who are yet to believe. That’s us.

That alone, if nothing else sticks in your mind from this text, should bring comfort and peace. Jesus prayed for us – for you and me today.

But what exactly does he pray for? He prays that we might all be one. And in his prayer he reveals something of what this means. He does this by revealing who he is in relation to the Father and who he is in relation to us.

Jesus does this through the repetition of key words and ideas. It is something we find often in John’s Gospel. The key themes repeated in the next few verses are unity, love and glory. Like elsewhere in John’s Gospel, we find that these words and concepts are not simply repeated, but recur in every changing configurations that continue to fill out these key concepts.

For instance, in the case of the theme of unity or oneness we begin with Jesus’ wish that we might all be one. The foundation of this idea we then find is that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus and that all of us who believe in Jesus are in this unity of Father and Son. Likewise, Jesus says, that he is also in us, and the Father is in him. And in this way Jesus says we are becoming ‘completely one’ so the world will see and know that the Father loves each of us just as he loves Jesus.

So the love that flows from Father to Son and Son to Father is the same love that flows to us, and between us. And we learn that this has been the case since before the physical world was founded.

And this famous prayer of Jesus finished not with an ‘amen,’ but with these words: ‘I made known your name to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

And that is the end of the prayer. Jesus concludes with the desire that the love of the Father which flows into the Son, with whom the Father is one, will also flow into us, and that Jesus will also be in us just as we are in him.

So now, and in the future, and from before time began, love and unity flow between Father and Son, and between the Son and us, and between us and the Father, and between all of us. And the glory of the Father is also the glory of the Son. And in following Jesus we reflect this glory back to the Father and we experience and see this glory ourselves.

Now, if that all sounds impossibly complex and interconnected, that is exactly the point.

This text sounds a lot like the situation of quantum entanglement that underlies all physical reality.

Perhaps we might call this divine entanglement. It is description of the complex interconnectedness which underlies all spiritual reality.

It makes sense that a God who creates a physical world so completely and mysteriously inter-connected or entangled would also produce a spiritual reality no less complex and interconnected.

But you might say, ‘This is all too complicated. How can we ever understand what Jesus is describing in this prayer? ‘

I would like to suggest that that is not the point.

Let’s think again about the world of quantum physics. Some time ago at a conference on the relationship between science and faith, I was asked how to tell if someone actually understood quantum theory, as there were (and still are) so many competing and contradictory explanations and understandings about what actually takes place at the quantum level.

My answer was that I could not tell them how to tell if someone understood quantum theory, but I could tell them how to tell if someone did not. This got their attention.

The simple test, I said, was that anyone who says they understand how the quantum world works, has no idea what they are talking about.

In the field of quantum mechanics, it is well known that basic principles, like uncertainty, action at a distance, wave particle duality, and entanglement work in practical application. But it is also well-known that no one really understands how or why these principles work.

Similarly, on the spiritual level, we do not know just how it is that Jesus and the Father and the Spirit are one. Nor do we fully understand just how we are one with Jesus and with each other. Or how he is in us and we are in him. Or how love and unity flow in every possible direction between Father, Son, and believers, or how all this is both still being ‘made known’ and has at the same time been true since before the foundation of the world.

But we know that it works. We know that if we think of the relationship of Father and Son in this way, and of our relationship with both Jesus and Father in this way, and the relationship that we have in unity and love also toward one another, that it works.

Understanding how it works is not a prerequisite for it working.

But if such things are too complex for us to understand, or at least fully understand, then why does Jeus bring it up? Why does Jesus pray in this way? And why does John record this complex prayer?

The reason is because John’s Gospel is about knowing who Jesus is as God, and about who we are in Jesus. It is about knowing what it means to be one with Jesus, who is also one with the Father. John’s Gospel is about the mutual circle of love between Father and Son, and between us and Jesus, and among one another.

So Jesus, in this prayer, is describing the reality that we are completely entangled in divine love and unity and glory. We may not understand the complexities of how it works any more than we are able to understand the complexities of the quantum world.

But we know that it works.

We know that we are safely entangled in the love of Jesus. We are bound up in unity with him and with the Father and with the Spirit. We are entangled and inextricably connected to all those who are also entangled in Christ’s love.

This divine entanglement that begins and concludes in the person of Jesus and in our relationship to him is not a mystery to be solved. It is a truth to take comfort in.

In Jesus, God has entangled us in his love, and in is very being. And we do not need to fully understand how this works to know that there is no better place to be than fully embrace and entangled in God’s love.

Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing.
Port Macquarie.

All Saints Day

Matthew 5:1-12

 

 ‘I feel so blessed’. It’s surprising how much you hear people say things like that these days.

Some of you may know that in the online world of social media and all that people use the word ‘blessed’ quite a bit too, on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook there’s a tag which has been surprisingly popular: ‘hashtag blessed’.

The idea basically is that when something good happens to you and you feel thankful, it’s something people to add to their photo or news acknowledging that they feel some gratitude for their good fortune.

But what’s really interesting about the phenomenon from a Christian perspective is what people understand it means to be truly blessed.

Because as we turn to the words of Jesus, we discover that he has quite a different vision for what true blessedness is. For Jesus, true blessedness is not so much dependent on our circumstances in life, but on the action of God for us in those varied circumstances.

So let’s see how Jesus speaks of true blessedness in three steps today,

First that we are blessed in our helplessness,

Second that we are blessed in our helpfulness,

And third that we are blessed in Christ.

So first Jesus pronounces his blessings on us in his our helplessness. This has to be some of the most surprising teaching for us about what Jesus considers true blessedness. Notice what Jesus speaks blessing into here:

Those who are ‘poor in spirit’ or who are ‘spiritual beggars’.

Those who mourn or are sorrowful.

Those who are meek, lowly, little ones.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

Who lack something,

Those even who are ‘persecuted for righteousness sake’.

Now don’t we begin to see straight away how Jesus has a very different vision for true blessedness in life. Let me tell you, you’re not going to go on the internet and find too many people posting pictures of Christian churches being burnt down and pastors being arrested and put in jail, ‘Hashtag blessed’.

And yet blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you. How about ‘blessed are those who mourn, who grieve, who are sorrowful’?

Here we are celebrating All Saints’ Day. Maybe some of us in this room have had loved ones die in the past year and mourn for them. Others might still carry the grief from the past when you lost someone dear to you.  Still others may experience mourning and sorrow over other forms of loss in life. We don’t normally think of these painful circumstances in life as being states of blessedness do we?

Yet Jesus does. There is blessing in helplessness.

And here’s the really important point:

It’s not blessed are the poor in spirit, FULL STOP.

It’s not blessed are those who mourn, FULL STOP.

It’s not blessed are those who are persecuted, FULL STOP.

In each case the blessing is not because of the circumstances, but the blessing is because in the circumstances God is at work, God is doing something, giving something, bringing something, either now or in the future.

We are blessed because of what God can and will do for us in our helplessness.

We can miss this basic point because the second half of each of these beatitudes is in the passive voice: ‘they will be comforted’, and so on. And so we ask, by who? Who’s doing the action here? When we hear these passives in the Bible, God is the one doing the action.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness—for God will fill them with that righteousness.

Blessed are those who mourn, because the Lord your God will comfort them.

Pastors conduct quite a few funerals. One thing they observe around funerals, is that it can be a tremendous time for families and friends to be drawn together. Not always, for funerals can be difficult times in family life too when there’s significant conflict. But often, as one of our funeral prayers say, people are drawn together in their sorrow. They comfort each other, and they receive comfort. It can be quite a wonderful thing to witness.

Now we don’t want to have to go through the grief and sorrow, but even at this human level perhaps we get a glimpse of the blessing of receiving comfort from another in the midst of mourning.

Jesus is saying is that true blessedness can be found even in mourning and sorrow, because God himself – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – will personally comfort us. Remember one of the names for the Holy Spirit is the comforter. That theme came up in our Revelation reading as well, ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eye’. This is a promise of the closeness of God to bring comfort.

So Jesus blesses us in our helplessness.

But secondly, Jesus blesses us in our help-ful-ness. We notice that there seems to be a movement in the list of the beatitudes from situations where people are lacking something – poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty  – to the next pronouncements of blessing where people are doing and being something.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for their will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’

There’s an image that one writer uses in this movement of the beatitudes which might be helpful.

“Start by imagining a person down on their knees, in the posture of a beggar. This is where it begins, the poor in the spirit, the spiritual beggar, the one who acknowledges they have nothing to give God, but everything to receive.

What does God do?

He blesses you,

He gives extravagantly to you,

He fills you.

And then he lifts you from your knees and puts you on your feet. So now you’re on your feet, you can do something, you can be active. You can pass on what you’ve received.

The poor in spirit have received mercy from God, now they can be merciful to others. And then as they show mercy to others, they receive even more mercy from God. It’s like a loop of mercy.

Jesus says there is true blessedness on our knees receiving from God in our helplessness, but there’s also true blessedness in being on our feet. Being help-ful. Showing mercy, living pure lives toward those around us, making peace in our relationships, our families, our communities, our church.

Again we can get a window onto this through human experience.

Isn’t this true at a very basic level: that if we aren’t feeling too good about life, and we simply go out and intentionally engage in an act of mercy for other person, that it’s almost guaranteed, we’ll feel better?

This is prominent in the literature on anxiety and depression. A part of the problem it seems is that we’re so easily curved in on ourselves, and there is a true blessedness in us being lifted out of ourselves to look to the needs of others. ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy’.

All Saints’ day is also a day for giving thanks for qualities like these we’ve seen in God’s people who have died. Here’s a quote from the Lutheran Confessions:

“It is also taught among us that saints should be kept in remembrance so that our faith may be strengthened when we see what grace they received and how they were sustained by faith. Moreover, their good works are to be an example for us, each of us in his own calling. 

There’s a nice parallel here with the movement of the beatitudes.

As we remember those dear Christian people who have died, first we are to focus on the grace they received, we remember that they like all of us were by nature spiritual beggars who now live in the true blessedness before the face of God only by his grace.

But secondly, we can also give thanks for the good things they did in their life, and they can be an example to us. Perhaps a mother or grandfather or Christian friend who has died, was an especially merciful person, or strove for purity in their life, or endeavored to live a peacemaker.

Let’s learn from them and follow their example. There is true blessedness in our helpfulness.

Finally, true blessedness is in Christ.

As is so often the case in Jesus’ teaching, He finally is the one who embodies most fully his own words. We hear Jesus give this teaching in the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, but then read the rest of the Gospel, and look for the one who actually does it.

Who is the truly merciful one, who is the one who is truly pure in heart, who is it that come to bring peace?” It’s the one who speaks these words, it’s Jesus Christ himself. As we read the rest of the Gospel and look for the one who is persecuted for righteousness sake, we’ll be drawn to Jesus, the one rejected, despised, handed over into the hands of sinful men.

Read the Gospel and look for the ultimate one who is poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty. We will find him on the cross.

It’s finally only in Jesus Christ himself that we find true blessedness, because in his death and resurrection he opens up the kingdom of heaven for the poor in spirit, he defeats death so those who mourn can be comforted, he reveals the righteousness of God to those who are hungry and thirsty for it, he makes peace, and he gives it to you as a gift.

True blessedness is found in Christ.

Sometimes people ask, but is all this only for in the future, or is for this life now? According to Jesus it’s both. Six times he promises future blessings, ‘they will be…, they will be…’, But these are bracketed by two promises in the present tense, There is – right here, right now – yours is the kingdom of God.

True blessedness is both now, and not yet.

So what is it to be truly blessed? We all desire it from the core of our being, And Jesus points to the work of God as its ultimate source. There’s true blessedness in our helplessness, there’s true blessedness in our helpfulness, there’s ultimate blessing in Christ. May God grant it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

All Saints Day.

Jesus Teaches and Heals 17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Blessings and Woes 20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you [54] on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Dear saints in Christ, I want you to have a quick look around, and tell me if anyone here is wearing a golden halo. Is there anyone here who is looking particularly saintly today? Your husband or wife or your Child perhaps? The fact is, we know that we’re all pretty human, and being human means “warts and all”. Most of us have probably said, “I’m no saint”. However, in just a little while we are all going to say the words, ‘I believe in the communion of saints’. And with these words we will confess our belief that there is more to the church than meets the eye.

There is more to this Lutheran congregation, than meets the eye. The church is far more than a gathering of individuals loitering with religious intent. The church is, in fact, a communion of all people who have been made holy by Jesus – all believers in Christ, in all places, of all times. The communion of saints includes all Christians living now, all the faithful who have died, and even those believers who are yet to be! All of these are “saints” because they are baptized into Jesus, and all of these saints are a “communion”, because being united to Jesus makes us united to each other.

The thing I’d like to focus on today is that all Christians as saints. All baptised believers are holy, and that’s what the word ‘saint’ means: a holy person. And to look at the role that the saints (both living and departed) play in our lives, I’d like to focus on a passage from the Lutheran Confessions, one that I think all Christians could say ‘Amen’ to. Let me read the relevant passage to you.

Our Confession approves giving honour to the saints. This honour is threefold. The first is thanksgiving: we should thank God for showing examples of his mercy, revealing his will to save people, and giving teachers and other gifts to the church….The second honour is strengthening of our faith: when we see Peter forgiven after his denial, we are encouraged to believe that grace does indeed abound more than sin. The third honour is imitation, first of their faith and then of their other virtues, which each should imitate in accordance with his calling. (Apology, XXI)

Let’s look at these three ways of honouring the saints

  1. We give thanks to God for all his people. Because apart from the gospel and the sacraments, the saints are the greatest blessing the church has. Every saved man, woman and child is a wonderful cause for rejoicing. Every believer sitting in the pew today is evidence that God is still at work in the 21st century just as much as he was in the first. Every believer sitting here today demonstrates that miracles still occur. We should never stop giving thanks for the fact that despite all the faults we can find with others, and all the warts others can find with us, God has begun his work of salvation, and is daily working to bring it to completion.

Moreover, we can thank the Lord for those who taught us the faith and brought us to Jesus: our parents, our pastors, our teachers. Thank the Lord for every mature Christian who showed us what following Christ means. We thank the Lord also for ordinary Christians who have simply and steadfastly kept the faith, and for unknown Christians who were never remembered in this life, but will receive ample reward in the next. And, we can even thank the Lord for those living saints with whom we disagree, with whom we experience conflict, because they too are our brothers and sisters, and our unity in Christ transcends our disagreements and tensions. Every saint, in fact, is a demonstration of how much God wants to save us, how much he wants to forgive us.

  1. And that brings me to the second reason for honouring the saints: for strengthening our faith. Again and again we discover that the saints are forgiven sinners. They may have been heroes of the faith, but they were highly forgiven heroes! The greatest hymn-writer of the Bible, King David, was an adulterer and a murderer. Jacob, who was named Israel, was dishonest and tricked his brother Esau. Peter denied his Lord three times. Paul confessed to a lifetime struggle with sin. And yet, God’s grace triumphed over all their faults and his forgiveness covered their most disastrous sins. When they were weak, God showed his strength in them. Whenever they thought they had failed, God’s word returned to them having achieved all it set out to do. And how does this strengthen our faith? Well, if God has shown such mercy to them, think of what mercy he will show to us. If God has used other sinners, he will also use us. There is hope for us all!
  2. Imitate the saints who stand out are worth copying. They are good role models for the rest of us. St Paul quite unashamedly said: ‘Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you’ (Philippians 3:17). We need heroes to inspire us. We have sporting heroes – why not faith heroes? A young Catholic I spoke to some time ago said that at their confirmation they chose a saint to whom they could look as a model and inspiration. What a good idea!

So, our honour of the saints is three-fold, say the confessions. We give thanks for them, our faith is strengthened by them, and we imitate them. To finish off, let me return to a point I made at the beginning:

  • The communion of saints is a spiritual reality, and therefore it’s something we can hardly begin to understand in this life. But because we are all joined sacramentally to Christ – through baptism and holy communion – we are also joined to each other. We share all things in common. The spiritual strength of some saints help and sustain those who are weak. On the other hand, the sins and weakness of others are shared by the rest as well. As Paul writes to the Corinthians: ‘If one part (of the body of Christ) suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it’. So, on this festival of All Saints, let us give thanks for what we all share in common, and let us confess: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints”. Amen.

And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

All Saints Day.

Dear saints in Christ, I want you to have a quick look around, and tell me if anyone here is wearing a golden halo. Is there anyone here who is looking particularly saintly today? Your husband or wife or your Child perhaps? Thefact is, we know that we’re all pretty human, and being human means “warts and all”. Most of us have probably said, “I’m no saint”. However, in just a little while we are all going to say the words, ‘I believe in the communion of saints’. And with these words we will confess our belief that there is more to the church than meets the eye.

 There is more to this Lutheran congregation, than meets the eye. The church is far more than a gathering of individuals loitering with religious intent. The church is, in fact, a communion of all people who have been made holy by Jesus – all believers in Christ, in all places, of all times. The communion of saints includes all Christians living now, all the faithful who have died, and even those believers who are yet to be! All of these are “saints” because they are baptized into Jesus, and all of these saints are a “communion”, because being united to Jesus makes us united to each other.

The thing I’d like to focus on today is that all Christians as saints. All baptised believers are holy, and that’s what the word ‘saint’ means: a holy person. And to look at the role that the saints (both living and departed) play in our lives, I’d like to focus on a passage from the Lutheran Confessions, one that I think all Christians could say ‘Amen’ to. Let me read the relevant passage to you.

Our Confession approves giving honour to the saints. This honour is threefold. The first is thanksgiving: we should thank God for showing examples of his mercy, revealing his will to save people, and giving teachers and other gifts to the church….The second honour is strengthening of our faith: when we see Peter forgiven after his denial, we are encouraged to believe that grace does indeed abound more than sin. The third honour is imitation, first of their faith and then of their other virtues, which each should imitate in accordance with his calling. (Apology, XXI)

Let’s look at these three ways of honouring the saints

  1. We give thanks to God for all his people. Because apart from the gospel and the sacraments, the saints are the greatest blessing the church has. Every saved man, woman and child is a wonderful cause for rejoicing. Every believer sitting in the pew today is evidence that God is still at work in the 21st century just as much as he was in the first. Every believer sitting here today demonstrates that miracles still occur. We should never stop giving thanks for the fact that despite all the faults we can find with others, and all the warts others can find with us, God has begun his work of salvation, and is daily working to bring it to completion.

Moreover, we can thank the Lord for those who taught us the faith and brought us to Jesus: our parents, our pastors, our teachers. Thank the Lord for every mature Christian who showed us what following Christ means. We thank the Lord also for ordinary Christians who have simply and steadfastly kept the faith, and for unknown Christians who were never remembered in this life, but will receive ample reward in the next. And, we can even thank the Lord for those living saints with whom we disagree, with whom we experience conflict, because they too are our brothers and sisters, and our unity in Christ transcends our disagreements and tensions. Every saint, in fact, is a demonstration of how much God wants to save us, how much he wants to forgive us.

  1. And that brings me to the second reason for honouring the saints: for strengthening our faith. Again and again we discover that the saints are forgiven sinners. They may have been heroes of the faith, but they were highly forgiven heroes! The greatest hymn-writer of the Bible, King David, was an adulterer and a murderer. Jacob, who was named Israel, was dishonest and tricked his brother Esau. Peter denied his Lord three times. Paul confessed to a lifetime struggle with sin. And yet, God’s grace triumphed over all their faults and his forgiveness covered their most disastrous sins. When they were weak, God showed his strength in them. Whenever they thought they had failed, God’s word returned to them having achieved all it set out to do. And how does this strengthen our faith? Well, if God has shown such mercy to them, think of what mercy he will show to us. If God has used other sinners, he will also use us. There is hope for us all!

  2. Imitate the saints who stand out are worth copying. They are good role models for the rest of us. St Paul quite unashamedly said: ‘Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you’ (Philippians 3:17). We need heroes to inspire us. We have sporting heroes – why not faith heroes? A young Catholic I spoke to some time ago said that at their confirmation they chose a saint to whom they could look as a model and inspiration. What a good idea!

So, our honour of the saints is three-fold, say the confessions. We give thanks for them, our faith is strengthened by them, and we imitate them. To finish off, let me return to a point I made at the beginning:

  • The communion of saints is a spiritual reality, and therefore it’s something we can hardly begin to understand in this life. But because we are all joined sacramentally to Christ – through baptism and holy communion – we are also joined to each other. We share all things in common. The spiritual strength of some saints help and sustain those who are weak. On the other hand, the sins and weakness of others are shared by the rest as well. As Paul writes to the Corinthians: ‘If one part (of the body of Christ) suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it’. So, on this festival of All Saints, let us give thanks for what we all share in common, and let us confess: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints”. Amen.

And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

‘Death is broken’

Psalm 24:10
Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.

            Hallelujah! Just as we have sung, He is the King of Glory! Jesus Christ the Righteous! The Lord of the angelic hosts and the armies of all the saints. The one who has defeated death. And this wonderous, and strange Psalm, a song written by King David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and prayed by God’s people ever since. But what does it mean, and why has the Church decided that we pray it today as we commemorate all the saints?

            Well, this day, we celebrate and commemorate, because Jesus Christ is Lord of us all, not just you, this parish, not just our LCA, nor the Christians we know; but all Christians across this world, and also all the Christians, the saints, who have passed through death and await Christ’s return. All the saints in warfare; that’s us as we struggle against the enemies of humanity, against sin, death and the devil. And all the saints at rest; those who’ve gone before us in faith, by grace into the presence of God, to await the return of Christ, the New Creation, the Final Resurrection. This is a celebration of all God’s people. That we are one people. In Christ we are not even separated by death, for death is defeated.

            And this is what our Psalm today proclaims! This Psalm was used in the time of David every Saturday evening, for the Hebrews the beginning of the first day of the week, of what we call Sunday. Written for when they ascended with the ark of the Covenant mount Zion, the mountain Jerusalem was built on, the mount on which the Tabernacle then the Temple stood.
Singing, proclaiming, The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the whole world and those who dwell in! For it is He who founded it on the chaotic, dark, deep seas, on the shifting and flowing streams. These words echoing the Creation accounts in Genesis, in the beginning the deep waters, chaotic and empty, a picture of falling into the deep dark ocean in the midst of a storm. Yet God brings order to the chaos, He fills the earth with good things, He overcomes the sea with its chaos and darkness by setting down His kingdom and bringing light to the world. Now high above the sea, who could come to stand with Him?
For those ancient Israelites chanting this as they step toward the Temple, up atop mount Zion. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who will stand in God’s Holy Place? Jesus the clean and pure. Yet also us, as we confess our sins and Christ Himself washes us clean in the absolution, takes away our sin and guilt, defeating it on the Cross (Ephesians 5:25-27). As we approach God, His Word and service to us here today, we don’t lift up our souls, we don’t offer ourselves to what is false, nor lie, but with a true heart by God’s grace we have confessed our sins, and according to His Promise God has forgiven you, cleansed you, purified you. This is one reason we have Confession and Absolution before we hear God speak to us, and the reason why some have it before coming to receive Christ, His Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood. For now forgiven we receive blessing from God in His Divine service to us here, we receive righteousness from God our Salvation.
And now the Israelites are at the gates of Jerusalem, The King of Glory sees these doors and demands they rise up to the honour of having Him enter. But who is this King of Glory? When Jesus entered on that donkey, who is this King riding in? When the devil deceived Judas Iscariot, did he really understand who he was dealing with? The Lord, strong and mighty, mighty in battle, The Lord of Hosts; Jesus Christ the Victor, He is the King of Glory! And the doors, they open.

            Now that last part, with the doors and the King of Glory, I wonder, as a child did you ever hurt someone, or do something wrong, and run and hide behind a door? Like a little boy who took the car keys or something. The dad comes to the door and says, ‘open it up’. The boy asks, ‘who is it?’ not wanting to open the door. The dad replies, ‘it’s the man who owns this house.’ ‘Yeah, but who’s there?’ ‘It’s your father.’ ‘Who?’ and the dad breaks the doors open.

            Everything in all creation is God Almighty’s. And yet the devil by deception sought to claim some for his own. This is the serpent, Adam and Eve, the Fall and the beginning of death. From that time on many people have died, fallen into deaths arms, into the grave and covered over with the doors of death closed and locked to them. Even many of God’s own people, King David and those ancient singing Israelites, claimed by death. This is not the way it should be! This is not what God created us for! He made Adam and Eve for life everlasting with Him, just look at their names, Adam means humanity, Eve means life. And yet after the Fall it was no longer Adam and Eve, but Adam and death. Who could fix such a thing, such a horrific thing; Who could defeat death?

            Thanks be the God through Jesus Christ our saviour! The King of Glory, The Lord, strong and mighty, mighty in battle, The Lord God of Hosts! The King of Glory, crowned on the Cross. Jesus, God incarnate, ascended Mount Zion with clean hands, never having done evil or wrong, with a pure heart; He came to that which was His own and yet His own did not recognise Him, His people, His Creation, had been gripped by fear of death. We were owned by death in the power it held over us. So the King of Glory died on the Cross. But when He came to death, to those doors that are made to divide us from our lost loved ones, when He came to those gates of Hades they did not prevail (Matthew 16:18)! Like Samson before (Judges 16:3), Christ broke those ancient doors and threw them down, He tied up the devil, that strong man (Matthew 12:29) was no match for Jesus, and Christ took back what is rightfully His, all the saints who have gone before. Although we here might not remember it, the Church still commemorates this wonderful truth in her art and her liturgy. Just as those ancient Israelites sang this Psalm on Saturday evening, still many Christians in Eastern Europe sing this Psalm in the evening of Easter Saturday; remembering and reliving Christ’s destruction of the power of death just before He rises to proclaim this victory to Mary Magdalene and His disciples.

            This Psalm proclaims the truth, and points us, as all scripture does, to Jesus and His victory, this wonderful news for you and all people. He has defeated death, He is life everlasting, and according to God’s trustworthy Word we are joined with Him, just as all the saints are for that is what a saint is, one trusting Christ. When we commune with Him, The Lord of Hosts, it is not just Jesus we are united with, it is also the great hosts of all the saints, those across this world, those who have gone before; in God’s mercy those we have lost.

            In Christ we are not cut off from those who have died, because death cannot hold us. Christ has smashed down those doors. So we may be comforted by the Gospel, Christ’s Victory over death, and thank Him for those faithful who have gone before us, look to them for examples of a life trusting Christ, and pray for mercy and strength to persevere unto the end; knowing that The Lord of Glory will return in power to set things right, to destroy all evil and death, and to raise up all the saints in renewed, glorified bodies, and that we all will live with Him forever together.

            And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now unto the end. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

Twentysecond Sunday after Pentecost. All Saints Day

Matthew 5:3
Fortunate are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

            What is a saint? In our bible studies recently, going through the Acts of the Apostles; our church after Christ ascended. There’s Pentecost, the first preaching, and Stephen the first recorded saint to receive that crown and fortune of Martyrdom, dying for the faith. Fortunate are you Stephen, for yours is the kingdom of Heaven. Down the ages there have been so many faithful Christians, gentle, merciful, pure of heart, craving righteousness and making peace. Fortunate are the saints who have gone before inheriting the earth, filled with righteousness, called children of God, seeing Jesus face to face. This is our church, this is our family; you are not baptised into the LCA, you are baptised into Christ’s church.

            The same Church, Paul, Stephen’s vicious opponent, was baptised into, adopted as God’s son, then sent to strengthen and grow. The same church you were baptised into, the same church Karissa will be baptised into, that same church of those of our parish who died this last year, Lewis, John and Ruth. Fortunate are they who rest in Christ now, fortunate are the saints, people who embodied these beatitudes.

            But these beatitudes are not attitudes you must work towards. Just take hungering for righteousness. Do you decide when you are hungry or not? We can choose to eat or not, but do you choose to be hungry? No. It’s something you’ve no control over. It just happens to you, almost as if it’s given to you. Just like the Holy Spirit giving us the desire for righteousness, we receive this hunger and all these blessings from God. And all these blessings point to Jesus. The lives of the saints, the lives of all good Christian examples, point to Christ. Those people who prove, that Jesus isn’t just up there in heaven somewhere, but here in the lives of us Christians. Who is poor in spirit? Jesus emptied Himself and became obedient unto death even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Who mourns? Jesus wept when He saw Jerusalem, How I long to gather you as a hen her chicks (Matthew 23:37). Who is meek, powerful yet gentle? Jesus to Peter at His arrest, you think I can’t call on my Father and Him send 12 legions of angels (Matthew 26:53). Who hungers for righteousness? The boy Jesus listening and asking questions in the temple (Luke 2:46) Who is merciful? Jesus healed the silent long-bleeding woman (Matthew 9:20-22). Who is clean/pure in heart? From His purity Jesus cleanses lepers (Matthew 8:3). Who makes peace? Jesus says, peace be with you, my peace I give you (John 14:27). Who is persecuted because of righteousness? And so the Pharisees sought to kill Him (Matthew 12:14).

            Who are the saints? The last beatitude: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Jesus. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted, not only the prophets and saints who were before you, in the same way they persecuted Christ Jesus Himself. We have been hearing since Trinity Sunday who we are in Christ’s church and what that means. Today we remember we are not alone, Christ is with us, He shines through us, His saints, by the grace given to you by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, you are already called children of God; and in another great mystery we are united together with all the saints who have gone before, in Christ’s Holy and Beloved Bride, His Church. Remember who you are, who we are together; and remember the fortune waiting for you, peace, joy, love and life everlasting with Jesus and all the saints who have gone before.

            That peace of God, which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and to life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Joseph Graham.

All Saints Day

Daniel 7:18
“But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.

Receive the kingdom that will last forever, the kingdom of God. Today we are celebrating the Christian festival of All Saints from last Friday. We thank God we are in His kingdom, and for all our brothers in Christ, Christians throughout the world now and those who have gone before, all the saints at warfare and all the saints at rest. We are all in Christ, so we are all together. God gave Daniel a vision the worldly kingdoms defeated and the Holy people of the Most High to receive this everlasting kingdom, and earlier a vision of a great rock that crushed the powers of this world then grew to fill all things (Daniel 7; 2). Jesus is the fulfilment and in His ministry proclaims it, ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is here, repent and believe the good news.’ (Mark 1:15) The king foretold, coming on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9), suffering, dying forever victorious over sin for your forgiveness, and rising forever victorious over death for your life. The power of this world destroyed, the power of God’s kingdom has come and the gates of hell and death will never overcome it (Matthew 16:18). This is the wonderful news for you today.

Last week we remembered the church of God throughout human history, how and why the reformation happened, but now we remember all the members of God’s kingdom and the eternal truth that together we receive this kingdom, this inheritance of the King of kings. You were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). And when were you sealed, given the Spirit? As Jesus said you must be born again by water and the Spirit (John 3:5) and then Paul writing to Titus, He has saved us in mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5), this is the one baptism all saints are baptised into (Ephesians 4:4-6). And so sealed in baptism in the Spirit, elsewhere joined to Christ Jesus in Holy baptism (Romans 6:3), we are members of the kingdom (Ephesians 2:19), you are a co-heir with Jesus (Romans 8:17), inheriting with Him and all our Father’s children the kingdom of God. The Holy people of the Most High will receive this everlasting kingdom.

And that kingdom of forgiveness and everlasting life is here. God is not a god of the dead but of the living (Mark 12:27), so you who are in Christ are with all others who are in Christ. It’s not something we can comprehend by our own human understanding and without a God-given vision we cannot see this truth, but today you are in the presence of God, in the name of Jesus. He is here! Just as we are joined mystically with Him, we are joined together with all who are in Him, all Christians suffering and struggling throughout this world, and with those Christians who have died before us. We remind ourselves in the prayer before communion, together with angels, archangels and all the company of heaven. This image from Revelation (4:2-11; 7:9-17) of the multitudes of martyrs and all saints praising and glorifying the Lamb who was slain, the victorious lion of Judah. Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty! We are not alone, in the wonder of Christ descending to you and me offering Himself in bread and wine we have a foretaste of the feast to come. Coming to the table in Christ with all saints, one in Christ and not separated. You are forgiven, you are freed by the truth, you, together with all the holy nation, the royal priesthood, the chosen people of God, we have received this everlasting kingdom, together. And thank God for that!

The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now to the final revelation of His kingdom. Amen.

Joseph Graham

24th Sunday after Pentecost 4th November

All Saints reflection

Matthew 5:1-12

Fortunate are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Fortunate are you when others despise you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

We hear blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven, God Almighty’s Kingdom, that belongs to all those who He has justified through Jesus; for all those saints who have gone before. It’s always a bit funny, or rather strange, talking about our Christian brothers and sisters who have died. There again is the pain of loss, of what could have been, that sorrow at sin and its final consequence; but also the comfort and joy that those who rest in Jesus, baptised into His death, will surely rise again with Him on the last day, or maybe they’ve joined up with the angels singing God’s praise in His glorious presence as Revelation shows us. We don’t know exactly what happens after a Christian dies, God only saw fit to write down that we will find our ultimate rest and peace in Jesus Christ His Son.

But I am not talking to the saints who’ve gone before, but rather to you, the saints still in the war. Fighting against temptation, against fear, despair your own sin, even the sins of those down the street. We are still in the thick of it, and just like many farmers in this drought we are called to be vigilant all the time. Are you?

Do you always reject temptation? Do you realise that you cannot live on your own? Are these beatitudes things that you need to do, God’s Law for you? Jesus was teaching His followers when He spoke these beatitudes. Fortunate/blessed/happy are the poor in spirit, the crushed and broken, those who have no self assurance, no self esteem, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; do you hunger for something when you’re full, or when you don’t have it? Rather than God’s Command these are promises for who? In the final one we hear who Jesus is talking to: Fortunate are you, Jesus says, when you are despised and persecuted for His sake, rejoice and be glad.

And you are blessed and fortunate because you have been shown your sinful failings and been washed in the saving waters of Baptism, as that saint who came before us said in his letter to the Romans (6:1-11), in baptism we are joined to Christ in His death and so too you and all the saints who have gone before, all those who knew their need and received Christ’s righteousness, all of us have suffered under sin, but will be ultimately be united together in His resurrection, on the last day.

Pastor Joseph Graham.