Saints before us, old St Cyprian’s on Sutter and Lyon
Thinking about the Saints, St John, and the Love Commandment
You may recall my expressing how much I relish in the realm of the saints. I had a Roman Catholic school background that included the saints of the church everywhere: pictures in the classrooms, feast day masses during school as well as the coveted days off. My throat was blessed in the name of St Blaise, St Francis’ statue in my room in high school, and a St Christopher medallion in the glove-box of my Volvo 142s. When I became an Episcopalian I was pleased to learn the Saints of the Church followed me across the Thames and their numbers grew; my understanding of who were the saints expanded beyond requirements of miracles performed to include the faithful people who lived into the challenge of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, to be like Jesus.
While praying over the readings for All Saints Day the image which returned to my mind was the saints gathered in glory – the martyrs, workers, evangelists; children, women, men – strengthened in faith to do the hard work of following the way of Jesus. He asks us to live into an upside down word of ending the divisive existence and instead live as part of a community strengthened by mutual love for each other as well as love of God. In our world today we can easily be alone, isolated, in our home, on crowded #5 bus, in hospital or at work; alone in the crowd. To be followers of Jesus is to come together in common worship and mutual support. ‘I am the vine and you are the branches…’ (Jn 15:5) is our model, ‘Love one another as I have loved you (Jn 15:12) our commandment. We are connected to each other. To follow in the way of Jesus, to do live like Christ is the calling of the saints.
Eat Share Pray 16 November
Come join us on Weds Night for a light supper, conversation and prayer. On November 16 we’ll continue our conversation about ‘Radical Jesus’.
We will take Nov 23 off for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Join us again on Nov 30 for Eat Share Pray – the Advent Edition.
see you around and about,
eric
Sermon for 6 November 2011
Feast of All Saints (Transferred)
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34
1 John 3:1:7
Matthew 5:1-12
Happy All Saints Day! On the feast of All Saints, which we celebrate today, we might ask the question What is a saint? Per the Dictionary of the Episcopal Church:
Saint: a holy person, a faithful Christian, one who shares life in Christ.
Shares the life of Christ. What is that? Are we speaking changing water into wine? Cleansing lepers? Healing the blind with a touch? Suffering, on the cross?
Yes, some of that – healing the sick, though not so much the wine. Suffering - yes, and we need help knowing how. We do have a guide on how to share in the life of Jesus Christ.
Here is a hint: a new commandment we received – from the Gospel of John
‘That you love one another, as I have loved you.’ Jn 13:34.
Simple words, seems like a simple commandment. But the followers of Jesus it is more than that, it is a rule of life. To be one with God is to hold each other as close as we hold onto God,
Share in the life of Christ. Love one another as I have loved you.
In the early church the faithful gathered in homes to read scripture, sing hymns, pray together, shared their lives and their work. The deacons went out to share their lives with the homebound, the widows and orphans and ensure the poor given succor. These house churches were centers of following in the way of Jesus. Because the early followers shared their faith in Christ Jesus, worshiping God not the Emperor / God of Rome they became enemies of Rome, it meant many of the faithful suffered terribly, even death, during waves of persecutions in the first four centuries of the Imperial rule.
Staying true to the faith was important to John of our epistle. As the early followers struggled with dissent he encouraged them to hold on as Christ followers. He wrote to in this letter it the community remain faithful:
See what love the father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. (1 Jn 3:1)
Children of God. Faithful to God. Living the New Commandment, following the way of Jesus and we will be pure with him.
Love for one another brings us together, the gift from God which sets us apart. Love for one another brings us the strength to live out the love commandment in the world, who share the life of Christ, live the way of Jesus.
Two stories of the saints called together to live the way of Jesus.
In the 1790’s St George’s Church was build in Philadelphia by black and white hands, hands united in worship of God. But one Sunday during worship, the ushers insisted the black Christians leave the church floor and move to the slave gallery upstairs, segregating the worship space. Abasalom Jones and Richard Allen lead the black worshipers out of St George’s. They formed the Free African Society, lead worship there, and Jones founded African Episcopal Church of St Thomas. It’s the mother church of Black Episcopalians.
In the late 1850’s emancipated Blacks in Washington DC came together to build a parish where they could worship freely. During the Civil War they wanted to raise funds for their church and Sunday school. The saints of St Augustine’s RC parish sent two of their members, Gabriel and Marie Coakley, to approach Marie’s employers Mr and Mrs Lincoln for permission to hold a bake sale on their lawn. The Lincoln’s happily gave permission and the bake sale was held July 4 on the White House Lawn. St Augustine’s is the mother church of Black Roman Catholic’s in Washington DC
Two churches, St Thomas. St Augustine. Two congregations founded where the faithful could worship God and follow the way of Jesus outside of the persecutions of the world, and in their Church. They are not alone: Buen Samaritano, Our Savior, True Sunshine, Christ Church; these, and other churches established by the saints before us to make that community of love, following the Way of Jesus.
My sisters and brothers, when hear the Beatitudes, do not hear them as ‘blessed are poor, blessed are the meek….’ These aren’t words mumbled for the shy, throwaway verbs and sounds without meaning, they are words Jesus gave us for courage to live as followers in his way. Listen to them spoken boldly, like this,
BEHOLD! Blessed are the poor…
BEHOLD! Blessed are they who hunger for justice…
BEHOLD! Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness sake…
BEHOLD!
Let me tell another story. A church is founded in San Francisco where Episcopalians, told to find someplace ‘you’d be more comfortable,’ a place they could worship freely. A church whose founders and their children had a vision, left their original home on Sutter Street and moved up the hill to Turk and Lyon, raising money with bake sales and bbq’s and green stamps and hard work, whose Christian love inspired them to build Saint Cyprian’s. This house of God that turns to the world outside and invites them in – see what we are doing. See the concerts, the Village Project, the 12 step programs, the kitchen that feeds us and the simply sandwiches. These saints before us, their names on the walls around us, who built the community in this church and the saints among us that make St Cyprian’s the church that with us still.
The love God gives us, that makes us one with God which the world does not know. That’s the community of saints we belong to, where love is revealed and continues to build this community of love, on Eddy and Divis, on Turk and Lyon, on the corners of the Western Addition and Panhandle, goes forth in love to Occupy at the Fed, to feed the homeless on Division St and be the sick at General Hospital and across San Francisco…
To the Saints before us, the Saints among us, and the Saints yet to come:
BEHOLD! Today is the feast of ALL SAINTS! Blessed are The Holy People of God, faithful Christians, living their lives, sharing the life of Christ!
When God’s presence is revealed among us, we will know we are followers of Christ Jesus and will sing:
‘The saints of God, are folks like us, that we want to be them too’!
-sermon by Eric Metoyer
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