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November 4, 2014This weekend we celebrate the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls. The question posed for our reflection during the week was "How has your faith sustained you at times of loss?"
This question made me stop and reflect. What came to me was my faith gave me hope! There is of course no right answer, but for me it's hope. But what does hope look like? Is it the face of a new born child? Do we find it in the embrace of a husband and wife who hold each other after 65 years of marriage? Is it in each of us as we are comforted by others in our grief and loss? As I look out into this congregation I see and feel hope!
The Feast of all Souls is not about sadness, although it is natural to have sadness remembering those who have gone before us, but this feast is truly about hopefulness and confidence. In this feast we remember those who have gone before us, those who are in the presence of God! We especially remember those in our family, our friends and fellow parishioners who are in the kingdom of God! We also take time to reflect on how much love we have for them and know that is only a small fraction of the immense love that God holds for them, and for all of us!
Reflecting on the theme of hope a question comes to mind? Do we truly believe our creed?? If we do, we cannot help but be hopeful!! In the Apostles Creed we profess:- We believe in the communion of saints,
- The forgiveness of sins,
- The resurrection of the body,
- And life everlasting!
We believe that all will be restored in body and spirit. And we believe that we will all come to live with God and the communion with all saints, all the people we love forever!
There is such great hope in these tenets of our faith!
But don't misunderstand! I am not saying that we won?t have pain. That we won't experience sorrows and loss in our lives - because we all have and will! And it is natural that we miss and grieve those who have gone before us. However, our faith calls us to have an attitude of hopefulness, as we reach out to support one another other and offer consolation for those who suffer and mourn. For alongside of our sorrow, we have hope, and joy in the Lord!
We are hopeful, because Christ gave his life that we might live! In the Gospel of John 14:3 we hear: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. That where I am, there you may be also?" What can be more hopeful than living forever with Christ! Our readings today convey this great hope and assurance that Christ has gone before us to prepare a place for us!
My father died a number of years ago. He was a large presence in our family. He was passionate about what family means, he was passionate about our responsibility to look out for everyone in our family. He also stressed that we had responsibility not only for our own family, but also for our community. He stressed that we needed to do our share to help others in our world. Our two sons loved him dearly. When he died, we talked with them about how Grandpa was with the communion of saints, about how he was now with God and in no more pain. We also talked about as member of the communion of saints, he was still present to us even if we couldn?t see him. We also talked about how his life was changed, now fulfilled, not ended. Christ had indeed prepared a special place for him.
When I think of the communion of saints it's not just about those saints the church chooses to formally canonize. Rather the communion of saints is about ?all? the faithful those who have gone before us. All those who have crossed life?s threshold and also all of us here on Earth in Christ?s church. I like the image of the communion of saints who surround us and are there to greet us when we enter the Kingdom of God. They are with us in our journey, here and now, in our joy, and in our pain. Theologians talk about this communion of saints as a "great cloud of witnesses" as "companions in hope".
In the creed we find hope as we profess "The Forgiveness of Sins" The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a tangible sign of Christ's love and forgiveness. Can we imagine being fully loved without regard to our faults and failings? God truly does! God always wants a intimate relationship with us. This sacrament fills us with hope and draws us closer to God.
We also profess in the creed that we believe in the resurrection of the body. A concept that is often not of stressed in our faith discussions. But we believe that not only our souls but our mortal bodies will be restored and that we will raised with Jesus on the last day. And we know that God promises us Life Everlasting - what greater hope can we have?- In hopefulness we profess:
- We believe in the communion of saints,
- The forgiveness of sins,
- The resurrection of the body,
- And life everlasting!
