All Saints’ Day                                                           Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10, 13-14
November 1, 2005                                                      Psalm 149
St. Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church               Revelation 7:2-4, 9-17
The Rev. Linda McCloud                                           Matthew 5:1-12 

“Who are these, robed in white . . . ?” 

            You probably noticed that the liturgy for tonight is baptismal liturgy.  Right away this evening we said, “there is One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.”   In a little while, we will stand and affirm our faith -- not in the words of the Nicene Creed as we usually do, but in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.  The Apostles’ Creed is the ancient baptismal creed.  It is included here in the Prayer Book under the heading “The Renewal of Baptismal Vows.”     

Why do we do this on All Saints’ Day?  It’s to remind us of the varieties of holiness in the lives of God’s people.  It’s to remind us that, by virtue of our baptism, we are living saints.  And, it’s to remind us that someday, we will no longer be living saints.  Either living or dead, we are a part of the communion of saints that we say we believe in when we recite the creeds.  The communion of saints binds us together with the saints in heaven.  We all share in the same mystical body of the church, of which Christ is the head.  It’s just that some of us saints are here, and other saints are “there” – wherever there is.  Tonight, we are here to celebrate that fact and to remember those who have gotten “there” ahead of us.   

            When we gather at the altar to receive Holy Eucharist, we gather with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing “Holy, Holy, Holy” to proclaim the glory of God’s Name.  There is a thin veil between them and us.  It’s amazing to think about, isn’t it, when we consider who gathers with us in the communion of saints?  On this day, we think about our own mortality when we realize we are right behind them on the treadmill of life, so to speak.    

Last week I got a boost in thinking about this when a little booklet arrived from the Bishop’s office.  It is entitled, “Our Saints in Georgia.”  This booklet gives partial answers to the question, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”  The saints of Georgia included in the book are Sir Thomas Bray, John and Charles Wesley, Anson Dodge, Albert Rhett Stuart, Brother Jimmy Lawrence, Deaconess Alexander, Bartholomew Zouberbuhler, and Bland Tucker.  The Bishop has asked that on a regular basis, we get together as a church community, share a meal, and celebrate our saints.  This evening, I want to mention a few of these special “Georgia” saints. 

Thomas Bray was an Anglican priest from England who visited Maryland in 1699 for about two and a half months.  He saw that our churches were in dire need of educated clergy, Bibles and Prayer Books.  He went back to England and founded the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (“SPG”).  I mention him because his ideas helped influence James Oglethorpe to start the colony of Georgia.  The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel provided priests for Christ Church, Savannah and St. Paul’s, Augusta.  I was recently in St. Paul’s, Augusta for an ordination, and they still have a baptismal font given by the SPG.  It’s in a display case, of course.  Tonight we give thanks for Thomas Bray.   

We also give thanks for The Rev. Anson Dodge and others who have founded churches in Georgia.  We give thanks for Alice Hubbard and Vann Platter, whose efforts helped to found St. Margaret’s.   

            Charles and John Wesley were Anglican priests.  John’s followers organized as the Methodist Church after his death, but that’s another whole story.  Charles died in 1788 and John died in 1791.  They came to Georgia with James Oglethorpe and served at Christ Church, Frederica (St. Simon’s Island) and Christ Church, Savannah.  John Wesley was a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.  I wonder if you would like to have the same Sunday schedule here at St. Margaret’s that John Wesley set at Christ Church, Savannah.  He expected everyone to be present for Morning Prayer at 5:00 a.m., then they had another service which sometimes included Communion, then they prayed the Litany at 11:00 a.m. On Sunday afternoons John taught catechism classes.  Is it any wonder that he got sent back to England?     

I mention the Wesleys for another reason – the hymns.  They both made huge contributions to English hymnody, but Charles Wesley wrote more than 6,000 hymns.  Many of them grace our own hymnal.  When we sing their hymns, we remember that they, too, are in the communion of saints with whom we gather around this altar.  One of my favorite Charles Wesley hymns is “O for a thousand tongues to sing.” Or what about that fabulous Advent hymn, “Lo! He comes, with clouds descending.”  We’ll take an evening and study more about the Wesleys and their influence on the church at a time when churches were being established in Georgia.   

            I would like to go through the entire list of Georgia saints this evening, but time will not permit.  However, there is one more I would like to mention -- The Rev. Bland Tucker, who is closer to our own time. Like John Wesley before him, he served Christ Church, Savannah.  And Like John Wesley and Charles Wesley, he also wrote hymns.  But there is another contribution he made that I would like to point out.  He translated ancient hymns out of the Greek and Latin so that we can enjoy them in English.  My favorite is probably his translation from the Greek of the evening hymn, “O gracious Light.”  This hymn dates back to the early days of Christianity.   

I think of Bland Tucker because at Sewanee one of my professors had fond memories of sitting on the Hymnal 1982 text committee with Dr. Tucker.  This was when Dr. Tucker was in his eighties.  He had also served on the committee that gave the church the 1940 Hymnal.  He was re-called to service because the 1982 Text Committee desperately needed his help.  We’ll take an evening sometime and talk more about his life and sing some of his hymns.  You already know a lot of them.    

I bring these dear people to our attention because we will see their names from time to time.  But there are many faithful Christians whose names are lost to earthly history.  God knows them all by name. 

Additionally, we all have our own list of saints.  There are people in our lives who have exhibited the qualities that Jesus names in the Gospel reading for this day.  We come to celebrate the lives of these people.  They help to populate the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us as we continue on our Christian pilgrimage. No doubt I will be reading some of their names at the celebration of Holy Eucharist this evening.   

In reading our scriptures for this day, two principles stand out to me:  (1) Heaven is life in our afterlife with God; and (2) Although we’re not there yet, we can be preparing for it by worshiping God as we go through this life.  You will notice especially in the reading from Revelation that the main occupation of the inhabitants of heaven is that they “worship [God] day and night.”   

I think it would be impossible not to worship God if one were within the nearer presence of God.  When we get glimpses of God’s holiness here on earth, our natural impulse is to worship God.  So, if the veil between us and God were lifted through death, we would not be able to help ourselves.  We would worship God constantly.  It’s good for us while here on earth to worship God often and heartily so that heaven won’t be such big a transition for us.   

As to a more complete answer to the question, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”  God knows.  And, as we grow together as a church and study our saints, I hope that we, too, will get to know more and more of them.