John Foulds
Last Friday some
friends from London came to visit and we went into Liverpool for the day. It was
a chilly afternoon and I know a lovely cafe there which serves the best hot
chocolate in the world ...so off we went to find it. On the way I saw a long
queue of people snaking along the pavement waiting to go into a shop. It was too
early for the January sales so I wondered what all the fuss was about and went
over to investigate. The shop in question turned out to be a Fancy Dress shop
and the people were all standing in the cold waiting to hire Halloween costumes.
The queue was very long and they would most certainly have had to wait well over
an hour to get inside.
Halloween means the eve of All Hallows or the eve of All Saints Day. The
people in the queue for costumes were absolutely right that this feast day
warrants a celebration although Halloween traditions as they are enjoyed today
by so many have, in my opinion, nothing to do with the beauty and joy and hope
that we experience in our All Saints worship in church this
afternoon.
There can be an ugly side to Halloween, not least in some of the costumes and
also when ‘trick or treating’ gets out of hand.
However, this really should be a beautiful celebration.
Just as an aside, when ‘trick or treaters’ come to my door, I always
make sure that I have a little supply of small gifts from the Christian bookshop
for them instead of sweets. This year I got yellow pencils with smiley faces on
and the words ‘God loves you’ written on them. It’s one tiny way of bringing the
Gospel back to what should be a lovely Christian celebration. I know that some
of you were able to enjoy a wonderful service and party on the night with
members of our host congregation here at St John Chrysostom’s. That’s a really
superb way to keep this season happy and holy.
So, what exactly are we celebrating in this season of All
Saints?
Primarily, faith in God and the Christian message of salvation.
We celebrate the faith of the well known saints, the unknown saints and also
our own faith too.
Let’s think about the well known saints first. We may well have been touched
by the story of one of the followers of Jesus in a very personal way. Perhaps
one of the gospel writers. Maybe someone like St Francis or St Clare. This is
their day. A time to draw inspiration from the life of someone whose own life
was radically changed through their relationship with Jesus
Christ.
In the Metropolitan Community Church as we celebrate 40 life-giving years of
this denomination, we can give thanks for the dynamic witness of our founder
Troy Perry. His love of the Saviour was so deep that he was inspired to build a
church which could share God’s love with communities which were being ignored
and persecuted. The feast of All Saints is his day too!
Let’s think for a moment of the unknown saints. Those who have made a
difference in our own personal journeys of faith. I’m sure we have all known
people who put the love of God into action in their daily lives in a way that
was somehow unforgettable. They probably didn’t do anything dramatic. Perhaps
they provided a comforting word when we most needed it, a smile or a cup of
tea...some small gesture that touched us with a love that we sensed was divinely
inspired. This is the day to give thanks for them ...the saints who would not
have ever thought of themselves that way but who just did what they did in
response to God’s love...and in so doing blessed us greatly.
And what of us? We are like runners in a relay race to whom the light of
faith has just been passed!
It’s our turn now...our turn to know that we, imperfect as we are, have a
relationship with God which illuminates the life we live and share with our
fellow men and women.
We probably don’t think of ourselves as saints, but saints we are because we
know that Jesus is our Saviour and as such we present him daily to others. We
don’t always get things right, of course, yet still we share His Light which
illuminates the shadowy parts of all our lives. So today is your day
too!
‘Blessed are you’, wrote the writer of the Gospel of St Matthew! How
true!
In the week ahead...’Go celebrate!
(John Foulds)
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.