Transcript
I sing a song of the saints of God and I name to be one too. Please be seated.
Today is a fun little lurggical twist of a day. It’s All Saints Day or actually yesterday was All Saints Day, but this is one of the holy days we can transfer to the following Sunday. So today is All Saints Day observed and then it’s also all souls day. In reality, the day after all saints is all souls. Hence why tonight’s even song will be all souls. And it’s also the day we celebrate all that we have promised, all that we will promise for what’s next. That’s right. It’s also in gathering Sunday when we gather in our pledge cards. Today we honor what we have now, who we are now by promising what we will offer next and honoring who we were before. All of these days combined into one is like a lurggical bending of the time space continuum of before, now and next.
Before when those who have gone before us were present here. When those we honor as saints, capital S and lower saints, lowercase S, the saints who have stained glass windows and icons and songs done for them. And the saints who were special in our own personal lives. Now you and me and the person sitting next to you and the person living down the street from you and all the people in the world. And next, those who will come, those who are not yet here, those who will in the future be able to praise and pray to God as part of this holy communion because of what was done before and is being done now. Today is officially the last day of pledging season.
Although stewardship happens year round, this is when we talk about our hopes and dreams for St. John’s Church and consider the monetary contributions we make towards achieving those hopes and dreams. I want to recap what we’ve experienced during this pledging season. First, at the beginning of October, I talked about faith and hope. I introduced our theme, which is invest in what’s next. I invited all of us to imagine what could be next while considering what has happened before in order for us to be here and now.
That following week, I invited our youngest members to come forward and tell us what they experience in church. They talked about what they see and hear and taste and smell and feel when they are at St. John’s Church. and they talked about their favorite parts of church and Sunday school. A reminder of the what’s next of the future doesn’t have to be 400 years in the future. The next Sunday, I invited the best to present some project ideas. These aren’t done projects. In fact, many of them aren’t even established projects. Instead, these are ideas that the Festry has for what could come next. And as we continue now as an entire congregation to develop these project ideas, they will become actual achievable projects.
And in case you don’t remember, those projects are one, offering ADA accessibility in the church building to be more welcoming for those otherwise unable to participate. Two, creating a space for our children to continue to grow in their faith in addition to what we already offer. Three, developing a lay pastoral ministry team to help build communities within our congregation. Four, bringing the community to St. John’s Church for more events to show off how awesome we are. Because let’s be honest, we’re super awesome. Five, launching a sacred storytelling program in order to preserve our oral history. Six, establish written policies and ensuring they are followed so we can all be cared for in a safe way. And seven, repairing the organ to fully functioning in order to elevate our worship and our presence in the community in more ways than we already are.
Then last week I spoke of death and more importantly of legacy pointing out that even though we don’t remember all the saints that went before us, it was their contribution to St. John’s Church that allows us to be who we are now and encourages us to become what we will be next. And finally, in a little bit, just after I welcome everyone during announcements and before we hear our offeratory hint song, we will hear some of our longer term members. The ones who were here last week at least that I could invite to come forward and they will share why they give to a future of St. John’s Church that many of us may never see. Just as the saints capital S worked to create a church that many of them never got to experience and as the saints lowercase S helped each of us up in our own journeys of life and faith so that we could become the people they never got to meet. rooted in faith, grounded in this holy community, promised for a life eternal that will come. Today’s gospel reading is the biatitudes, but from Luke’s telling.
We’re more familiar with Matthew’s version as part of the sermon on the mount in chapters 5-7 of Matthew’s gospel. Matthew’s version ends with the lines about a city on a hill and not hiding our a light under a bushel basket and how salt can lose its saltiness. Matthew’s version also talks about the poor in spirit and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and it’s in a third person form. So it’s not blessed are you who are poor in spirit. It’s blessed are they who are poor in spirit. Luke on the other hand is in the second person form. Luke is talking to us, to you and me here and now. There’s no pretending this is about someone else or somewhere else. Just like there’s no pretending that all of this is about other people in other times. Because while yes it is here because of other people in other times.
Now it’s our turn. Now we are the here and the now. The ones who must take on the responsibility of creating a church, a building, a staff, a congregation, a collection of ministries and create it into the next great thing that St. John’s Church can be. or perhaps the ne next great things because since we already know how awesome we are, we might as well be even more awesomer, right? And I have to admit with all of you, what you do, what you give, who you are, how you live, you are the reason why St. John’s Church is as oft awesome as it is and why St. John’s Church has any chance at becoming even more awesomer. So, thank you. Thank you for being who you are, for doing what you do and for offering what you offer as we continue to invest in what’s next.
And of course, like last year, there is cake and balloons in the parish hall after this service because all the best kind of celebrations involve cake and balloons. And this, all of you, all of St. John’s Church, you deserve the best kind of celebration. None of us might be the kind of saints who have stained glass windows and icons and songs done for them. All of us though are the kind of saints who are special in the personal lives of one another. And the specialness we are, that’s what will be experienced as the what’s next becomes the here and the now. So again, thank you. Thank you for having faith, for considering the future, for leaving a legacy, and especially thank you for investing in what’s next. Amen.