Isaiah 25:6-9, Psalm 24, Revelation 21:1-6a, John 11:32-44

Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This prayer is a portion of our collect for All Saints’, which we read as our worship began this morning in celebration of the major feast of All Saints’. Traditionally, on this day we remember all saints and all loved ones – all souls – who have gone before us.  I’m not sure where to draw the line between saints and loved ones; I’m not sure there is a dividing line between saints and loved ones.

Early on in seminary, liturgics professors alert postulants toward Holy Orders that we should memorize the Commendatory Prayer, for which we are called upon to pray, often quite unexpectantly, at the time of death:

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant N.  Acknowledge, we humble beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.  Receive him/her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.  Amen

The glorious company of the saints in light… What is it to be in that glorious company of the saints in light?  Who is there? And, how do we get there?

The answer to all three questions is the same: Love.

What is it to be in that glorious company of the saints in light?  It is Love.

Who is there?  Love.

How do we get there?  Love

Can we earn our way there?  No.

No, we cannot earn our way to the communion of saints.  We cannot earn God’s love; we rejoice and are glad in his salvation, but we do not earn it.

We are loved by God from before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs.  We come into this life loved by God.  We do not earn the love that is already ours – the love that grants us our place within “the glorious company of the saints in light.”  We cannot earn it because we already have it.  We cannot earn God’s love.  Fortunately, we do not have to earn it.

Finding our place within the communion of saints means not earning God’s love, but accepting God’s free gift of love and returning that love.  We cannot earn God’s love, but we are called to return it.

If we believe, as Mary and Martha believed, we will see the glory of God.  Jesus will roll away the stone that blocks our hearts from experiencing the glorious company of the saints in light.  If we believe, as did the saints in light who walked this earth before us, the love that is ours through God’s grace will be unbound as the restored body of Lazarus was unbound and returned to service in the name of Jesus Christ.

Returning God’s love through our mission and ministry of sharing the Good News of Christ, feeding those who are hungry in body and soul, we experience God in Jesus Christ among us, dwelling with us, his people in our ordinary daily lives. We are renewed in our faith that God, as he has promised, will wipe away every tear in communion with the saints in light where death is no more, neither mourning, nor crying, nor pain.

When we return God’s love, we share with the saints in light that feast of rich food and well-aged wines.

When we return God’s love, we welcome the stranger, even when he smells bad and has dirty hands and looks very different from us.  We welcome the stranger, even when she is expensively-dressed, bejeweled, and perfumed, and seeming quite aloof and unapproachable.  We return God’s love in genuine hospitality.

When we return God’s love, we pray for those we hate or who hate us; praying that through the love of Christ, the stone will be rolled away; praying that we might see the brokenness of the relationship as God sees it; praying with patience and perseverance that the relationship will be restored in God’s way, in God’s time as we await his guidance into that blessed light of the communion of saints.

When we return God’s love, we rise from the tomb of death and the grave, we experience God’s home among all mortals – God’s constant presence with us, and we recommit ourselves to his mission.  We are all called to mission in our daily lives, called to return God’s love in seemingly ordinary ways.

We cannot earn our place among the saints in light; it is our gift as God’s beloved children.  But, to experience here and now that glorious company of the saints in light requires our returning that gift of God’s love, removing the stone that inhibits our faith in God’s promise, tearing away the wrappings that blind our eyes to his call to us, returning that gift of God’s love in the full awareness that God himself is with us.

‘Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So, they took away the stone.’