All Saint’ Day (Year C) | Sunday, 2nd November 2025 – St Anne’s, Wrenthorpe – Eucharist
Ephesians 1:11-end | Luke 6:20-31
So, I wrote a letter….
“Dear Jesus”.
Ok it’s a prayer…
“Dear Jesus, I have a rubbish memory, and I struggle to recall all the things you said. Please can you give me a brief summary of it all. Many thanks, hope to see you on Sunday”
Good stuff, eh?
Well, I got an answer….
You heard it just now – Luke 6:20-31
Who knew!
Luke sets the scene amidst a great crowd, yet has Jesus directly addressing His new ministry team – an assortment of men, chosen based on who-knows what skills and experience.
The Disciples get a sense of what Jesus is about and of what they too must look for in the world, to build God’s Kingdom on earth.
In an echo of the Book of Deuteronomy – those who are now weeping, impoverished, hungry and persecuted – they shall receive Blessing.
The Woes are reserved for those who have had their fill, who laugh, are rich and are well regarded.
We shouldn’t place people into distinct groups, assess their value as a binary – good/bad, poor/rich, happy/sad – and then assume they will not change.
Yet, we do it all the time – with our prejudice and our messaging that often comes from a place of privilege and power.
Yet this is Jesus, speaking of God’s unending love and grace….
We all laugh, and we all weep. Sometimes life goes well for us, and quite often it does not.
What is it I hunger for and if I get it, will I be satisfied? And then what?
We all pass through seasons we call ‘blessings’ and ‘woes’ – on our own journeys, as a church, and the communities we inhabit.
Jesus didn’t say that virtue and Godliness are to be found in poverty, misery and hunger.
The shifting sands of human existence were all too well known to Him.
Injustice amplifies need; poverty is vocal, for good reason.
The dangers of ‘doing well’ come in the presumption: ‘this is what I deserve, I did well, I want my reward. I don’t need you or anything you have to offer, unless it makes me look good. Everyone says: “Im worth it”! Obviously I don’t need God any more….!
Does that ring any alarm bells with you?
We cannot survive outside a unity with God.
In our deepest need for God, in lives shared, we find our greatest blessings.
If we have known powerlessness, misery and darkness, when we look out and see light and joy – in the sacrifice and generosity of all life – we know we are blessed.
When we hear of peace – or rumours of peace – we might feel a lightness of being – HOPE – even if it doesn’t directly affect us – despite the inevitable cynicism.
Just over a week ago, the world witnessed a surprising scene — a monarch and a pope – from long divided traditions, praying together. For many it felt like a small, public healing of a five-hundred-year rift.
For others, it was just another opportunity to chastise churches, and the state – from a different world view.
I found it deeply moving…. symbolic of the peace, and hope we all crave. A moment that was a long time coming, and may not offer more than just what it was. Not everything broken was mended. Far from it. Yet it happened.
Peaceful progress – healing, hope and redemption – is possible for us all through God’s divine grace – that free gift available to anyone, at anytime.
What does unity mean to you?
A family commitment? An association with a team or group?
Maybe you are in union with creation, at one with nature’s bounty.
Perhaps, for you, finding a sense of belonging is more of a challenge… yet you are in union with sisters and brothers, in Christ: here and the world over.
And we share so much, don’t we?
There is more to unity than membership alone, although that is a good place to start.
In baptism, we are brought into a worshipping family – the Body of Christ – that extends in and through the Communion of Saints, all the way back to those first Disciples and those that knew Jesus and took His message into the world.
The saints, then…. This long line of … people… and there seems to be a lot them!
You may have heard me speak before about Archbishop Óscar Romero – made a saint only 7 years ago, but considered a modern martyr in the Anglican church since the 1990’s.
Romero was an Archbishop in El Salvador during the late 1970’s. Initially a cautious church leader, he became a prophetic voice for the poor and oppressed. In 1980, while celebrating Mass, he was assassinated.
I choose Romero as a ‘go to’ Saint, because, as well as being from recent memory, he went through a transformation – from a safe choice by the church, to someone who used their position to speak truth directly to military and political power, and uphold Christ-like values, despite the best efforts of the prevailing elites to silence him.
Not all Saints are famous, well known and well regarded.
You will know some personally….
Although you might think, surely “saints” are holy, righteous and morally wholesome people….! Sort of…
In the Bible, the word ‘saint’ collectively describes those whose lives are set apart for God – lived in obedience and faithfulness – yet not necessarily in a moral sense, as we might think of it.
Love one another as you have been loved.
Faithful obedience – to the Commandment of Jesus – thats the key….
My prayerful “letter” to Jesus might have echoed the look on the faces of those disciples – ‘what do you want us to do?’ He told them… and they got on with it, in their own ways.
‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,’ (27)
‘bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.’ (28)
‘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.’ (29)
‘Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.’ (30)
‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’ (31)
Everyone proclaiming Christ, as saviour, has the same challenges as those first Disciples.
The very fact that it is hard work, in which we are often thwarted, laughed at, and diminished, means that it is the work Christ gave us, and we are set aside to take it on, in faithful obedience.
And it will take the whole of our lifetime.
Is All Saint’s just another day in the church year?
It is good to remember that we have connections stretching all the way back…
And even further, with Paul, writing to the Ephesians, saying they are a part of an inheritance through Christ – that reaches back to prophets, psalmists, and those of early biblical history. Wow! That is Unity – a oneness in God – shared by all of us.
How should we live this unitive life — when the world so often wants to highlight our differences – diminishing our efforts at peaceful unity?
Yesterday, I attended a Peace Vigil outside the Cathedral, in our busy town centre.
We do it each month, in silence – it’s mostly Quakers.
It’s just for a few minutes.
People look on, some point, sometimes they shout… mostly they pass by.
Yesterday it was sunny, and I sensed the warmth on my face, and I prayed for people who work hard for peace, and I felt a hope for the world.
I was in a crowd, that reached to eternity… I was not alone.
So today is a commemoration For all the Saints….
I love that hymn we began with today, from Bishop Walsham-Howe.
Verse 3* does it for me:
O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Our unity is in God.
Have courage, my sisters and brothers, in the days to come.
Love one another.
Be faithful.
We wont be judged on not always getting it right.
We are members of something wonderful, and we are not alone.
Go and share it, and become the saints that we long to hear about.
God be with you.
Amen.
Inspiration on Óscar Romero – CAC , Modern Day Saints and Archbishop Romero Trust
* or 4 dependent on version – “For all the Saints” and Bishop Walsham-Howe on Hymnary
Image: Composite SB – Modern Day Saints / The Guardian and Peace Vigil 011125