All Saints 2017

Revelation 7:9-17 and 1 John 3:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-12

This morning at the Minster we celebrate All Saints. That is, we look back with thanksgiving for all those faithful men, women and children who have followed Jesus in this locality, and this region, and this nation, and this continent, and to the ends of the earth, and we find our place within that expansive and expanding story. We are the inheritors of their deposit of faith, to which we add our own for those who will come after us.

Sunderland folk have gathered to this hill above the River Wear, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, for over a thousand years. We are surrounded by the echoes of their stories, carved into stone, and wood, and metal plaques. The building is full of memorials: some bearing just a name, others containing a description of their character and deeds. We can see these as a monument to the past, and so-doing miss the point: or as testimonies to the partnership between God and God’s people, for the blessing of this city, across the generations.

This morning we have heard read out, again, the Beatitudes: Jesus’ proclamation of good news for certain kinds of people.

Those who are poor in their own resources: for whom the good news is that they have access to all the resources of the King of the Universe.

Those who live with the weight of bereavement: for whom the good news is the comforting that makes life bearable, one day at a time; even joyful, in time.

Those who remain teachable, when, overlooked, they get left behind or fall through the cracks in times of social upheaval: for whom the good news is a place of belonging and responsibility.

Those whose experience of injustice is such that can be fittingly described as an ache in their belly—who, indeed, may go hungry in a literal sense: for whom the good news is that their deep hunger will be satisfied.

Those who show mercy, in a world that bays for the blood of scapegoats: for whom the good news is a place where they themselves will be treated mercifully.

Those whose thoughts towards others are pure, in a world where powerful men exploit women and children, and make excuses when eventually called to account: for whom the good news is that they do not have to fear meeting God face-to-face.

Those who actively wage peace, non-violent protest and community-making in a world of racial and other expressions of violence: for whom the good news is that they will be recognised as being children of God.

Those who suffer because of their commitment to these things, who are rejected and mistreated by their own kin: for whom the good news is to be received with honour within a new community.

This proclamation of good news comes at the opening of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is holding out to his disciples the vision of a counter-cultural community, that exists to proclaim and enact good news specifically for these kinds of people.

Read some of the testimonies written around this building, and you will see that down through many years these kinds of people have heard good news proclaimed from this place.

Have glimpsed sight of it.

Have smelt its aroma.

Have tasted its bitter-sweetness.

Have touched it and felt its touch, at times a firm hold and at times a fleeting brush.

And the same is true in our day. Every day of the week, people who have been bereaved slip in and out of this place, finding it to be a place of refuge and sanctuary, of comfort, of encountering God. Sunday by Sunday, and several times throughout the week, our Iranian brothers and sisters do the same.

Four weeks from today is Advent Sunday, the start of the new Church year. Advent is a Season of looking forward, of making ready for Jesus’ return. He has promised that he will come again. We don’t know when, and so each year we return to a time of renewing our expectation. This year, Advent Sunday falls on 3rd December, and on that day we will hold a celebration of the life of the Minster community, this gathering of unlikely saints who come in the guise of children and the elderly and the stranger. We will honour the many ways in which people give of their time and their talents and their resources to be a blessing to others—especially the kind of people Jesus describes. In addition to our morning services, there will be a praise service in the evening.

On that day, we will take up a Gift Day offering, as an expression of our thankfulness to God for all that this place has meant, and continues to mean. We will be asking for a financial gift, in support of the life and work of the Minister, over-and-above our regular committed financial giving.

So, this is what I would encourage you to do: Go away and think about All the Saints who have stood here before us, and to imagine yourself as having inherited the deposit of faith they invested: because that is what you are. Then, I want you to think of all the things that go on here, or that flow out from this place, all the ways in which good news is proclaimed and acted-out for the city of Sunderland—and to start giving thanks to God for everything that comes to mind. Think of the ways in which you have participated in the life of this community, and how you have grown as a result, perhaps doing things you would never have imagined yourself doing in the past.

And then ask, what financial gift might I offer in thanks? Think of an amount, and pray about it—have a conversation with Jesus about it. Some of us might be able to give larger sums, and some of us will only be able to bring a small amount. The size of the gift doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is an expression of a thankful heart, not given grudgingly or out of habit, but after careful and prayerful consideration. We haven’t set ourselves a target: whatever is gathered in by the end of the day will be more than we had at the start, and will be invested in the next chapter of the lives of the Saints at Sunderland Minster in the Diocese of Durham. The chapter that will record our part within a much bigger story.

As we look backward with thanksgiving, and forward with expectancy, may we discover once again who we are: people John describes as children of God. Children of a wonderful, generous, Father God who has been revealed to us in his loving-kindness and enduring faithfulness. People growing into that likeness, not there yet, but knowing that one day we will be like him.

And may we take the next step of faith into that future, which is both longed-for and beyond all that we could possibly imagine. Amen.