All Saints: We All Have a Place at the Table

Revelation 7: 9-12 & Matthew 5: 1-12

Roger Lynn

November 5, 2017

(CLICK HERE for the audio for this sermon)

(CLICK HERE for the video of the entire worship service - the sermon begins at about 16:40)

All Saints Day was this past Wednesday. I really appreciate this particular tradition in the life of the Church. It is so expansive and inclusive and abundant. In contrast to the ways in which we sometimes think of ourselves in terms of our limitations, or our isolation, or our inadequacy (in short, all the reasons why God wouldn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t care about us), All Saints Day reminds us that we are all beloved of God, that we all have a place reserved just for us at God’s table, right next to all the rest of God’s beloved.

The book of Revelation was written at a time when those in the early Church were experiencing persecution because of their faith. The question on many people’s lips centered on wondering where they fit in God’s reality. Did they matter? Revelation is intended to respond to that question with a strong affirmation of God’s abundant realm of love. “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...” (Revelation 7: 9) In the poetic, symbolic language of apocalyptic writing, we are presented with an image of the virtually limitless nature of God’s all-embracing love. Nationality, language, family affiliation, skin color – all come to naught. None of the things we humans so often use to divide ourselves one from the other will finally get in the way of the connection which binds us to each other and to God. I find it incredibly interesting that the text which we just read from Revelation comes immediately after a very famous text in which the number of those chosen from the people of Israel is numbered at 144,000. I do not even pretend to know for certain what the original meaning of those verses might have been, but I do know that there are those in our world today who claim that they point to the exclusive (and limited) faithful few who will enter into God’s grace. Lots of attention is placed on the 144,000, while seemingly little attention is given to the very next verses which point to the limitless numbers (which can easily be understood to mean everyone) whom God gathers in compassionate, comforting grace. We all want to belong. We all want to be included. Unfortunately, we sometimes have a tendency to think that means someone else has to be left out. Can it really be a party worth going to if they let in just anybody? 

How much damage has the Church been a participant in inflicting over the years through misguided efforts to limit the scope of God’s love? How many people have been unduly burdened and weighed down by being told (directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally) that they don’t measure up in God’s eyes? What might be different if the Church spent more energy and resources lifting people up and reminding them of their divine birthright, and less time creating lists of who has fallen short?

Our reading from Matthew’s Gospel (the Beatitudes) is a prime example. More frequently than I can possibly count, these verses have been interpreted as some sort of shopping list of virtues to which we all ought to aspire, the reward for which will be nothing short of God’s blessing. The problem with such an understanding, it seems to me, is that it doesn’t stand up very well to close examination. First of all, the supposed virtues which are described are incredibly diverse. It seems highly improbable that they could all be embodied by any single person. Secondly, Jesus speaks of them not so much as virtuous behaviors or attitudes to be practiced and developed as ways of being which simply are. All of which leads me to an understanding of inclusion rather than exclusion. If we look at the beatitudes through this lens we begin to see a picture which fits quite naturally with the image from Revelation – one in which all sorts of folks (indeed, every sort of folks) find themselves being reminded of God’s blessing (God’s loving, accepting, transforming presence). So whether we are working for peace or so burdened by grief we can’t do anything but weep, whether we are always seeking after God or unsure where to even begin looking for God, whether we are on the giving or the receiving end of compassion, the one thing we can all be assured of is that we are included in God’s blessing, that we have a place at God’s table, that we belong.

Finally I believe this is what we all long for – the assurance that we belong. And when we participate in a way of life which both affirms and proclaims this reality not only for ourselves but for all those with whom we share life on this planet, then we find ourselves living in harmonious connection with ultimate reality. God longs for us to live fully into such connection. God longs for us to discover what it means to be truly alive and connected with God and with each other. My friend Amy Martin wrote a song entitled “All Souls Eve” which contains a refrain in which I hear God’s invitation to each of and all of us.

Calling all souls, come make me whole, 

come set me free

Calling all souls, return to the fold, 

come back to me

All my souls come home

So this year, as we once again participate in the Church’s tradition of “All Saints Day” let us remember, celebrate and proclaim the truth of God’s abundant love for all of us. And let us continue to be on the lookout for ways to help that reality be more fully realized in our lives and in our world. Amen.