A strong young man at a construction site was bragging that he could outdo anyone in a feat of strength. He made a special case of making fun of one of the older workmen. After several minutes, the older worker had had enough.
“Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is,” he said. “I’ll bet a week’s wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that outbuilding that you won’t be able to wheel back.”
“You’re on, old man,” the braggart replied. “Let’s see what you got.” The old man reached out and grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding to the young man, he said, “All right. Get in.”
I haven’t noticed even one wheelbarrow at our construction site, but have you been surprised to see the fast progress of the new building over the last couple of weeks? When the fences went up, expectations were great that we would see evidence of that new building, but week after week went by, and even a couple of months; still there were no walls being built.
That didn’t mean that nothing was happening. In fact, a great deal was happening. Negotiations with the city had to take place; then the ground had to be prepared. Seventeen truckloads of dirt had to be removed and replaced with good dirt. The underground support system had to be poured, so that the building would have a solid foundation. The plumbing system had to be put in. Finally, the slab could be poured, and after that the walls began to go up; in just a matter of a couple of weeks the walls for the first floor had been erected and in just a week they’re going to put in the second floor.
We’re really in the exciting phase now, when we see things happening quickly. All that’s happening now could only take place, however, after a good foundation had been laid.
What a great metaphor for the Christian life! So much of what we do in our regular prayers, attendance at Mass, seeking to follow Christ in our daily life, giving of our time, talent, and treasure, is laying a foundation, for ourselves and our families, that the building of our life may be a beautiful, lasting structure to the glory of God.
On this Sunday after All Saints’ Day, we celebrate the saints of the Church. Think of the great heroes of the faith: Mary, mother of God; Peter, the rock upon which the Church is built; Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles; Alban, an English saint who gave his life in order to save a priest from execution; Augustine, Ambrose, Teresa of Avila, Joan of Arc; and countless others whose names are known and unknown.
Let’s update the list and use an earlier definition of the word saint to include all Christians. So we can add to that list John Hamilton Gillespie, the founder of this parish; George and Mary Ann Bloodworth, departed; Charly and Suzi Shugg, Ann Stephenson-Moe, Beth and Ernie Cave, Margaret Barnes, Kevin and Mary Pat Radford, John and Cathie Meyer; Linda, Malacy, Kate, Molly, and Lydia: there’s a special kind of sainthood for the wives of clergy! The list can go on until everyone in this parish has been named, for every Christian is a saint in the sense that he or she has been made holy by God, because he made us a part of his family through baptism.
All of the names I’ve mentioned—names of the great heroes of the faith as well as names of ordinary Christians—have two very basic things in common. We’ve all been washed in the waters of baptism, and we’re all nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ. What this means is that by the grace of God we know that we need him, we know that no matter how self-sufficient we like to be at times, we really aren’t self-sufficient; we need the forgiving love of Jesus Christ as much as we need the air we breathe. We need the Church, his Body. We need God so much that without him life would be without purpose, without meaning; without him, in fact, life would not exist. We know that through our baptism we have been saved from death in sin, and we know that God is bringing us to perfection in Jesus Christ.
At the same time that I know this, I still tend to lose sight of the fact that this is what the Church is about: the salvation of souls; the sharing of the Gospel with others. We get caught up in the details, going to meetings, wrestling with the budget, making sure that everything goes well in the liturgy if we’re on the altar guild, the usher corps, or the acolyte crew. Every ministry in the parish: Vestry, Sunday School, Women’s Book Club, Men of Redeemer, and so on are all for the purpose of bringing us closer to God, yet how often we forget that purpose as we get involved with the details.
The saints remind us of what the true calling of the Church is. They remind us, many of them by their actual dying for Christ, that we were baptized into his death and are called daily to die to sin. On this feast we not only gather to honor them, but also to hold them up as examples that, like them, we might give our all for Christ.
As we watch this beautiful building go up, we must always keep in mind that “if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
Sunday after All Saints’ Day
4 November 2018