All Saints Day, (Observed)
November 2nd,
A+D 2025
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer
and Hill City, SD
For All the Saints
1 For all
the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world
confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Life forevermore. Psalm 133 ends with a triumphant declaration, that, on the mountains of Zion, … there the Lord commanded the blessing— Life forevermore. Eternal life, with God, this is the Lord’s goal for humanity, this is the hope we all press toward. On All Saints Day we celebrate the victory of all those Christians who fought the good fight to the end, who finished the course, and so now their souls rest with Christ, awaiting the Last Day, and the revelation of the New Heavens and New Earth, the resurrection of their bodies, and the consummation of God’s plan to bless His chosen people. Christians are pro-life, and, I have come to realize, not only because the Lord desires to give His faithful a good earthly life. Rather, He intends to have His children living with Him forever, in perfect joy and health and community, gathered around the glorious throne of God, living the blessed life, forever and ever.
I was seven years old when the Supreme
Court discovered a new right in the U.S. Constitution, the right for babies to
be killed in the womb, in the infamous Roe-vs-Wade court decision. As this woeful miscarriage of justice rippled
across our nation, I remember a family conversation at lunch, when the subject
of abortion came up. My older siblings
and mother were discussing the topic. I
remember quite clearly how my dad broke-in to state, very matter-of-factly,
that babies in the womb should be protected, that killing them was wrong. Over the years I would learn much more about
the finer details of the Christian pro-life argument. But my dad’s plain statement was all I needed
to be convinced that a baby is a human person, deserving of our protection.
Twenty-two
years later, when I left the Marine Corps and took a job in central
Pennsylvania, Shelee soon began volunteering at the Capitol Area Pregnancy
Center in Harrisburg. Her growing
involvement led us to leave the wishy-washy Lutheran church we were attending,
because Shelee sensed, and soon verified, that the pastors were “Pro-Choice.” This means they supported the murder of babies
in the womb when people find them inconvenient.
Shelee became more deeply involved in the pregnancy center, and so did
I. Eventually, we worked together to
open a satellite of the Harrisburg center in Carlisle, the town we lived
in.
Working to support life, along with a year of
church shopping, were a big part of why I started considering attending
seminary and sought to become a pastor.
All of this, and later pro-life
experience, meant that my focus in life issues has always been mostly about
protecting babies. Later I learned how the
merchants of death in our society were also coming for the elderly, for the
disabled, and even for those who are healthy, except for struggling with
depression. Loving life, from womb to tomb,
from conception to natural death, became my perspective, and I thank God for
teaching me this.
But as I was preparing my thoughts for
this sermon, it dawned on me that my time perspective is still limited, not
nearly as expansive as God’s.
Explaining to John the great multitude of
saints in white robes that he saw around God’s throne, the elder instructing
John explained that their robes were washed white in the blood of the Lamb, and
so “they are before the throne of
God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence. 16 They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching
heat. 17 For the Lamb in the
midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs
of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Perfect, painless, joyful, tearless,
in-the-flesh LIFE, forevermore.
From Womb to Tomb to Eternity. The
pro-life character of the Almighty began before time, in the mind of God, who
thought of each one of us, and all the men, women, boys and girls that have
ever lived, and will ever live. And
God’s pro-human life character endures.
God, from whom comes all life, has a love
for human life that will never end. We begin
to understand better what Jesus meant when He declared to His disciples that “I
AM the Way, and the Truty, and the LIFE.” Forever and ever, Amen.
Urging the elderly or the disabled to
commit suicide, along with aborting infants, these are all horrible. And so is telling lies about God and His plan
of salvation. Whether they are outright
pagan, or supposedly Christian, preachers and teachers who deny or pervert the
Gospel are guilty of a much worse sin. For
they are, intentionally or not, working for the Devil, who seeks to cut off
souls from God, forever. An essential
part of the pro-life message is the Reformation proclamation that salvation is
a free gift, not based on our works, but rather given to sinners who trust in
Christ and His sacrifice on Calvary. By
this faith, their sins are washed away and their hearts are transformed. This is Good News for those facing
challenging life situations, and the Gospel even offers forgiveness to those
who come to repent their pro-death actions.
And so we sing: Thy name, O Jesus, be
forever blest, by all the saints, those in heaven, and those still fighting the
good fight, here in this broken world.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
2 Thou
wast their rock, their fortress, and their might; Thou, Lord, their captain in
the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true light. Alleluia!
Alleluia!
3 Oh, may
Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, Fight as the saints who nobly fought of
old
And win with them the victor's crown of gold! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Almighty and everlasting God, You knit
together Your faithful people of all times and places into one holy communion,
the mystical body of Your Son, Jesus Christ…
This first sentence of the Collect of the
Day for All Saints Day is also the beginning of the first petition of the
Prayer of the Church in our funeral service.
This makes sense, because today we celebrate the holy ones of God who
now rest from their labors, all the faithful Baptized Christians of every time
and place whose souls are now with God, awaiting the Last Day. Likewise, at a Christian’s funeral we celebrate
God’s completion of another Baptism.
The Lord’s work of salvation, conceived in
His mind before time for each of His elect, is announced publicly as a reality
for a particular soul when he or she is baptized, washed with water and the
Word of Christ. Then the harder work
begins, for the Baptismal life is a long battle, God fighting in and through us
to bring us to the finish line in faith.
At a Christian funeral we celebrate not just the good days and fun times
of this worldly life, but even more, in the midst of tears, we celebrate the perseverance
that has resulted in eternal life, which God has won and delivered for our dear
brother or sister.
This is the essence of that holy communion,
the community of saints into which God knits us. A mystery of divine grace and love joins
Christians together with each other, through our connection to God through
Christ. This is the one true and
everlasting life, found in Christ, and worked by God. It is also our daily pursuit to reflect the
truth of the Gospel that has saved us in our words and deeds.
Part of this mystical communion, this
mystery of Christian life, is the double sense of both passively receiving, and
vigorously doing. As we sang, God is our
rock, our fortress and might; Jesus is our Captain in the well-fought fight. And yet, in Him, and by His presence in us,
we too fight, faithful, true and bold, just as the saints nobly fought of
old.
There are two examples of this double
meaning in our reading from John’s first letter this morning, of our passive justification,
God coming to us and declaring us righteous, not for anything we are or have
done, but for the sake of Jesus alone, and also of our active efforts in sanctification,
holy living, as we strive in our daily lives to be the saint whom God has made
us to be.
John writes: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be
called children of God; and so we are. Does John mean to focus on the high honor and
calling of being a Christian, a child of God, of the responsibility of each
Christian to live up to the Name that has been placed upon us? Or does John mean to marvel at the wonder and
mystery of God’s effective Word? That
is, what He desires to see and enjoy, the Lord calls into existence, and so, we
are Christians because God’s call, through His proclaimed Word of Law and
Gospel. Which is it, a focus on our call
to live up to our name, or a focus on God’s act of saving us, through His
Word? Well, it’s both, no? Both are true, opposite sides of the same
coin of saving faith.
John then finishes our passage
this way: And everyone who thus hopes
in God purifies himself as God is pure. Does the Apostle mean to say that the soul who
hopes in God seeks to keep his or her life pure, free from sin and faithful to
God? Or, does John mean that by hoping
in Christ crucified we are purified?
Again, both are true. We are
saved because God does 100% of the work of salvation, (justification by faith,
that is, hoping firmly in Christ alone), and we are
called to dedicate ourselves to living out the new identity He has given us in
Jesus, (the sanctified life of good works and fleeing from sin.) It’s both/and, not either/or.
Now, there is a priority,
there is a Source, and an effect. God’s
work in and for us must come first. Our
ability to live as Christians always depends on the Holy Spirit working in us
both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
We receive the gift of salvation, and the privilege to seek to live holy
lives. Sanctification always depends on
justification, on the free gift. As my
propane furnace must stay connected to the tank to keep producing heat, so also
the saints of God must stay connected to the Gospel, the Good News of free
forgiveness, both in order to remain in the faith, and to produce the works of
love God has prepared for us to walk in.
We receive the gift, and the
privilege of living as God’s holy ones in this world. God receives all the glory.
4 Oh,
blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia! Alleluia!
5 And
when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, Steals on the ear the distant
triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia! Alleluia!
One of the many blessings of the
Reformation is the way that the close study of God’s Word enables us to clear
up the terrible misunderstanding of what a saint is, a misunderstanding that
was entrenched in the 16th Century Church, and still plagues many
Christians today.
Sinful human beings are always looking to puff
themselves up, and put others down. A
saint in 1500 was understood to be a Christian who had done so many good works
that he had elevated himself to a special, higher status.
In fact, saints, (and also implicitly
monks and nuns praying away in the monasteries), were understood as so much
superior to the average Christian that they produced a surplus of good works, a
treasury of merits, which the Church, specifically the Pope, managed for
God. These merits won by super-Christians
could be credited to mere run-of-the-mill believers, and maybe get them into
heaven as well. Eventually. For a price.
There are many problems with this
teaching. First, it is not supported by
the Bible. God never said that. Second, it is the most obvious perversions of
the Gospel: instead of salvation being Christ’s work, which the Spirit
graciously delivers to sinners through the preached Word, salvation is taught
as explicitly depending on works done by mere humans. Christ, the once for all Savior of Sinners,
is robbed of the honor He is due. Souls
for whom Christ died are robbed of the comfort of free forgiveness and the
promise of God’s eternal favor. Even the
privilege of Christian prayer, offered in the Holy Spirit, directly to God the
Father, through Christ Jesus His Son, was taken from the people, as they were
instead taught to pray to the Saints, especially to Mary, who would then carry
their petitions to God, maybe.
From the Bible, Luther and his friends
rediscovered a simple truth. Saint
simply means “holy one,” and sinners do not earn holiness by their feeble
works. No, God calls holy all who trust
in His Son, who has won forgiveness for all sins. Saints are believers in Christ, the faithful
baptized, those who are invited to dine at Christ’s holy meal.
Now, to be sure, on All Saints Day we
focus on the dearly departed saints. We
are celebrating the completion of their life of faith, of the fact they now
rest in the nearer presence of Christ.
The reality is that you and I, believers who are still in this world,
are also sadly still sinners. This makes
it natural not to focus on ourselves, but on the victors, on the dearly
departed in heaven, whose souls are now free from sin.
It is also natural and good to focus
special attention on Biblical saints, and also on outstanding Christians
through history. That is, it is good and
right to celebrate the forgiven souls through whom God worked great things, as
He achieved our salvation. Like St.
Joseph and St. Mary, the guardian and the mother of the Christ Child, and Saints
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, St. Paul, St. Peter. God has taught us to study their lives, emulate
their dependence on Jesus, and learn from their example. Always in accordance with Scripture of
course. We don’t need to make up stories
about what Biblical saints or any other Christian in history has done. The true story, most especially the story
recorded for us in the Bible, is better than all the saintly fables ever
imagined. And it is part of God’s Holy
Word, His means for bringing us to faith, and keeping us there.
As God’s saints, we are called to live out
the beatitudes, to be meek and humble, to make peace, to hunger and thirst for
righteousness, even to suffer persecution for Jesus’ sake. Clearly, we can only begin to do such things because
God is with us. Jesus has perfectly
fulfilled this list of strange blessings; read it again thinking of Jesus and
His life, and you will see. So, when we
are joined to Him, the Beatitudes begin to make sense in our lives. We can be meek, humble, peaceful, we can
endure suffering for Christ, because we know that we have already won the
victory. We know because Jesus our
Captain has risen from the dead.
All those who trust in Christ crucified
for the forgiveness of their sins are saints, holy ones of God. That means you, dear baptized believer. We feebly struggle, other saints in glory
shine. And yet in God, all are one, for
all are His. Alleluia, Alleluia,
indeed.
6 The
golden evening brightens in the west; Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh
rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blest. Alleluia! Alleluia!
7 But lo,
there breaks a yet more glorious day; The saints triumphant rise in bright
array;
The King of glory passes on His way. Alleluia! Alleluia!
8 From
earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, Through gates of pearl
streams in the countless host, Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Alleluia!
Alleluia!
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