{"id":688915,"date":"2025-10-08T14:37:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:37:38","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-08-10T11:23:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:23:55","slug":"gods-grace-all-saints-day-c-tr-november-2-2025","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/gods-grace-all-saints-day-c-tr-november-2-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"God&#8217;s Grace, All Saints&#8217; Day (C) \u2013 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=DFMS4400387385&#038;light=true\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>[RCL] <\/strong>Daniel 7:1-3,15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ASD-2025-Sermon-Title-FB-EN-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-338922\" style=\"width:512px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The redactors of our \u201cnew\u201d Book of Common Prayer \u2014 which is almost 50 years old \u2014 probably didn\u2019t imagine that most of our congregations would only observe All Saints\u2019 Day on the Sunday following. On page 15 of the prayer book, they write, \u201cAll Saints\u2019 Day may always be observed on the Sunday following November 1, <em>in addition to<\/em> its observance on the fixed date.\u201d They most likely hoped that every church would have a celebration for All Saints\u2019 Day on November 1 and then a celebration of All Faithful Departed, formerly All Souls\u2019 Day, on November 2. Then maybe another celebration of All Saints\u2019 Day on the following Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then the prayer book got into churches, and the people of God called Episcopalians started using it. Marion Hatchett, the author of the definitive <em>Commentary on the American Prayer Book, <\/em>recounts attending an early usage Eucharist where all three opening acclamations were used. That didn\u2019t catch on, but celebrating All Saints\u2019 \u2014 joining with most of mainline Protestantism \u2014 on the first Sunday in November did. So too, in many of our churches, did we bring some All Souls\u2019 to the table, remembering the faithful departed who were and ever will be close to our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That might lead us to ask, if we\u2019re paying close attention to the rubrics, \u201cWhat are we doing?\u201d \u201cWhat is the church doing today?\u201d \u201cFor what used to be called the <em>Protestant<\/em> Episcopal Church in the United States of America, what are saints?\u201d \u201cWho are the saints?\u201d \u201cWho are we remembering or celebrating today?\u201d \u201cWhy is this day special?\u201d Two beloved All Saints\u2019 hymns can help us to see the dual nature of an Episcopal understanding of sainthood and who the saints are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the one hand, we have \u201cFor All the Saints\u201d: \u201cO blest communion, fellowship divine! \/ We feebly struggle, they in glory shine.\u201d While the rest of the hymn draws a broader picture of those who confessed Jesus as Lord, this line highlights the glorious shining, those we look to as examples of our faith best lived. Peter, Paul, Anna, Lydia, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, we have \u201cI Sing a Song of the Saints of God\u201d: \u201cThey lived not only in ages past; \/ there are hundreds of thousands still. \/ The world is bright with the joyous saints \/ who love to do Jesus\u2019 will.\u201d These two hymns can be braided together to understand the church at work and the church at rest, the saints who live now in the community of the baptized \u2014 gathered right now and hearing these words \u2014 and the saints on whose shoulders we stand and for whose intercession we ask when following Jesus seems a little more difficult than we\u2019d like. \u201cWe feebly struggle, they in glory shine\u201d indeed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, what are we doing, church? Who are the saints? What is this All Saints\u2019 Day about? First and foremost, it is about what every Sunday gathering and every feast of the church is about: Proclaiming that Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. We look to the examples of the faith \u2014 those from ages past and those who formed us to be who we are \u2014 and remember that in the Christian story, Jesus\u2019 death has defeated death itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we are baptized, we are baptized into the same body as Timothy and Silas, Elizabeth of Hungary and Catherine of Sienna. Many churches will celebrate baptisms today as the church remembers that death is not the end. Others will observe a baptismal remembrance if they don\u2019t have candidates for this baptismal feast. Coming through the watery grave, we\u2019re joined to Jesus\u2019 resurrection and new life with Florence Li Tim-Oi and Alexander Crummel, and with those we know who\u2019ve died through our lives who showed us how to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The end of our passage from Luke today summarizes the ethic of following Jesus, an ethic that flies in the face of what we understand as common sense. The ethic of following Jesus is difficult for us because, even having been baptized, we are, as John Wesley put it, going on to perfection. \u201cLove your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.\u201d Jesus concludes with what is commonly known as the Golden Rule: \u201cDo to others as you would have them do to you,\u201d but that\u2019s so much more difficult when he\u2019s told us exactly what he means!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This summation, starting with loving our enemies, comes after Luke has written the Beatitudes as he recalls them. These are different from what you\u2019re probably used to from bookmarks and Sunday school posters. Keeping Luke\u2019s theme of justice for the marginalized that begins in Luke Chapter 1, it is not only the poor in spirit who are blessed in Jesus\u2019 words; it is the poor, period. Not only are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness\u2019 sake blessed; it is those who are hungry in their bellies. In God\u2019s reign made manifest, they will be filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luke has Jesus saying more than Matthew at this point, too. Jesus today not only offers blessings but woes! \u201cBut woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation\u2026 Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.\u201d It\u2019s no wonder the leaders of society didn\u2019t like his message, and the government didn\u2019t want his preaching to persist. As the television show <em>The Gilded Age<\/em> makes clear, \u201cSociety\u201d doesn\u2019t like change, and it doesn\u2019t like to be challenged, especially in its perception of its own rightness and righteousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saints and baptisms and woes, oh my! So, church: What are we doing today, as we celebrate the saints who walk among us and the saints who\u2019ve made us who we are and the saints of the church on whose shoulders we will always stand? Even with Jesus\u2019 giving us such a difficult ethic for what following him looks like, primarily what we\u2019re doing today is preaching God\u2019s grace made available to all of creation through Jesus\u2019 life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The saints we celebrate aren\u2019t celebrated for their perfection; they\u2019re celebrated because God working through them showed us the better world that\u2019s been made available to us through God\u2019s grace and Jesus\u2019 defeat of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rowland Taylor wasn\u2019t burned at the stake because he thought it would be fun, but because he understood God calling on him to make the reforms of the English church available to those under his cure. Mother Teresa didn\u2019t live among the poor of Calcutta because she was just a very good person, but because she understood God calling her to live among the poor and let the world know the truth of poverty. Jonathan Myrick Daniels didn\u2019t throw himself over Ruby Sales because he was trying to be a hero, but because God\u2019s power working in him did infinitely more than he could ask or imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We feebly struggle to live in God\u2019s reign made manifest, but so did the saints of old. Peter and Paul really, really didn\u2019t like each other. John Wesley was petty and messy. Having come through the ordeals of their lives, they in glory shine \u2014 because of God\u2019s grace in their lives and God\u2019s love for the world shining through them. This is the grace that God gives us when we are baptized and sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ\u2019s own forever. This is the grace we see when we share meals with one another, and the grace made present when we give to those who ask of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The saints of God \u2014 people joined to Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection in baptism, people the church remembers for their deep faith \u2014 lived not only in ages past. There are hundreds of thousands still. We pray for them now on this All Saints\u2019 Day as we celebrate all those saints who\u2019ve gone before \u2013 and pray that we might be one too. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This sermon was written by <strong>the Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews<\/strong>.<br><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-22949828-4808-4bbe-b8d4-f51cc590443c\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sermon-All-Saints-Day-English.docx\">Word \u2013 All Saints&#8217; Day (C) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sermon-All-Saints-Day-English.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-22949828-4808-4bbe-b8d4-f51cc590443c\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-f2449716-dd4d-4ed2-8622-6cac2279e690\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sermon-All-Saints-Day-English.pdf\">PDF \u2013 All Saints&#8217; Day (C) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sermon-All-Saints-Day-English.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-f2449716-dd4d-4ed2-8622-6cac2279e690\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[RCL] Daniel 7:1-3,15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31 The redactors of our \u201cnew\u201d Book of Common Prayer \u2014 which is almost 50 years old \u2014 probably didn\u2019t imagine that most of our congregations would only observe All Saints\u2019 Day on the Sunday following. On page 15 of the prayer book, they write, \u201cAll Saints\u2019&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,3],"tags":[327],"class_list":["post-688915","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-all-saints-day-c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":327,"label":"All Saints' Day C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/688915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/688915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477403,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/688915\/revisions\/3477403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}