October 31, 2004 - 22nd Sunday After Pentecost - Father Andrew Green

FIRST READING: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
PSALM: 149
SECOND READING: Ephesians 1: 11-23
GOSPEL: Luke 6: 20-31

I was thinking of preaching on one of the verses out of the Gospel today until somebody from the 8:00 service said that my name was in the paper, and I was described as the "ever popular" Andrew Green; and I thought of that verse that said, "Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you" - that shot that sermon!

Today is All Saints' Day, and All Saints' is the day that we celebrate here, I think, differently than most places do. Our list is longer in some ways, and we probably leave out some folks that other people have; but I guess what I have most of all is kind of an image that comes with the feeling about All Saints'. It comes back to one of the saints who was a mentor for me as I was growing up. I preached about him once before. Father Enrico Molnar talked about that there is a grain to the universe; and he described sin as when you rub your hand against the grain, and you get splinters. So, I like that.

But I am thinking today about our celebration of All Saints' being a celebration of this tremendous flow that is going on in the universe. Imagine a great waterfall - not necessarily a huge one, but a beautiful one - one that is inviting you to come and step under the water of that flow. That is what I am thinking about All Saints'. At All Saints', time and geography take a holiday, and we find ourselves immersed in this flow, this refreshing stream of all of those who have gone before us, those of us who are partners in the faith now, and all of those who will come after us. And, if we could on this day step into that flow and feel it completely cover us and go on; and if that sense of joy and refreshment, the tingle or even the immediate sharpness of the cold water touches us; if we would realize that that is what we are a part of - not just today, but every day - that we are a part of the Body of Christ. I think that is an exciting vision.

Now, I have a second thing that I learned yesterday. Have any of you heard of Billy Sunday? Billy Sunday evidently was the person who started altar calls. You would go to one of his tent revivals; and, at a certain point, he would invite everybody, and they would literally flow down to the front where they would be prayed for. Do you know what I learned yesterday? Billy Sunday got that from us. Billy Sunday got that because he went to the Church of a friend of his - I believe it was a Church in New York - and he saw all these people going down to Communion. He saw all these people flowing toward the altar to give their lives to God, and he decided to incorporate that in his tent revivals. So, whenever somebody talks to you about going forward and turning their life over to Christ, say, "Yeah, He got it from us. He got it from the Episcopal Church".

There is this sense that, as we share together in baptism, in that water of baptism, that flow that I have invited you to imagine yourself stepping into again, imagine all those others who were named stepping into it, and imagine all the people with whom we are at odds today stepping into that same flow, and wishing for them the great blessing that we have received as a part of it, and wishing for them the refreshment, the challenge, the invigoration that we have found as a result. Think what might be different around us if we spent that time taking Jesus at His word and attempting, instead of getting even with our enemies, to love them - instead of doing for ourselves before it's all gone, doing for others as we would wish done for us.

We will have an opportunity today, and I am thinking in terms of a couple of different opportunities. You are going to come forward for Communion. I am torn about this. There is a part of me that would like to see it done a little bit differently. Susan and I, on one of the Sundays that we were on vacation, went to the new cathedral in Los Angeles, Our Lady of the Angels. It is huge - I mean, this whole front area of our Church is about the size of the choir area, and the altar area stretches about as large as the inside of our building. There were probably 3,000 people at worship that Sunday, and, usually the Archbishop is there, but he was on vacation, too. We were about ten rows back from the front, but, when it came time for Communion, they had 20 stations around; and people just started flowing up toward the altar area, all at once. You could tell there was no sense of order. They weren't all in the right lines, going to the right place - you know, as if to say "that is my chalice-bearer right there". They were simply flowing, and, if that line was busy, they went to another line; and, when the chalice was empty, they would put it away, and the people just got bread after that. But it felt like stepping into that stream again. We both felt like we were a part of something so much larger than us, and we found ourselves being drawn more and more fully into the life of God as a part of that experience.

Without inviting you to step on one another as you go forward to Communion today, I would invite you to think of yourself as being a part of that flow - a renewal of that flow in baptism, that flow that comes forward to the altar to offer our lives again to God and receive them back from God renewed, refreshed, invigorated, empowered, and sent out to be that flow, not just going to the font, not just that flow going to the altar, but that flow out into the world to take the joy, to take the power of God's Spirit, that all the saints have participated in, and take it out into this world for whom Christ died - to take that sense of joy, invigoration, and renewal out and let other people see that we are a part of something much greater than just one little Church here, and that we are part of something that is so great that we don't need to fight desperately against our enemies, and we can forgive. We can bless; we can renew; and we can do for others all the best that we would want for ourselves. We can imagine for others the participation in the healing waters. We can imagine for others an abundance in a world where there is enough for everyone, and no one guards their own so tightly that others are left out.

I would invite you to be that flow of the Saints. That is nothing less than the flow of God's Holy Spirit into our lives and taking us out and into the world to be God's Presence in this desperately needy world.

(Father Green pours water into the baptismal font).

So, if you want to have one more opportunity - after Church, if you want to come and participate in that flow one more time, come on up and bless yourself and even get a little wet - not a real Episcopal three-drops kind of thing - but get yourself into that flow and be a part of God flowing through the world that God sent his Son to die for and redeem.

AMEN