SERMON SHORT for November 3rd, 2019
Mourning into Dancing
Romans 8:28-39, Matthew 5:4, 6:25-34
All Saints Day is a tradition to be celebrated on the
day after Halloween. Although the Halloween circus has long ago left behind any religious significance in our culture, All Saints and All Souls day can still be a moment for us to seriously reflect on some important spiritual reality in our world. Originally it was a day to commemorate all the saints that do not already have a feast day assigned to them. But in our protestant tradition we consider all of God’s people to be “the saints” so this becomes an acknowledgment of all our loved ones – the departed members of our families, our congregation and our community are honoured and remembered.
We can take strength from the saints who are gathered around God’s throne, we can take strength from them – and in that strength, as the church has always intended by naming the saints, we can then go forth to imitate them; to copy in our behaviour and attitudes those things which cause us to name them as special and holy to us and to God.