When I saw that the first reading for All Saints Day was this passage from the Wisdom of Solomon, I was thrilled. It is one of my most favorite readings, having such a comforting message. Very few Christians have heard this passage, because the Wisdom of Solomon is one of the books of the Apocrypha. I think I came across it about 20 years ago, and I often recommend it for reading at memorial services. It says that God is holding the soul of the righteous person in his hands, and protecting that soul from torment. It says, God found this person worthy, and their soul will be immortal.

With regret, I must tell you that I have had to temper my enthusiasm for this passage. Although the message of God's love and care is true, that truth is embedded in a non-Christian theology. The Wisdom of Solomon was written in Egypt by a Hellenized Jew, probably around 38 AD, just a few years after the resurrection of Jesus. The author has adopted the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul, and has expressed it in the traditional Jewish context of the rewards of the righteous. The Jewish belief was that the dead go down to Sheol under the earth. Some Jews, in particular the Pharisees, believed that there would be a resurrection of the righteous at the last day. So the opening line of the reading: "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God" is really a blend of Greek and Jewish thought.

It is very difficult even for me, to hold onto the distinctive Christian understanding, because historically and culturally, the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul has prevailed. It is even in our Prayerbook! The Biblical authors, on the other hand, assumed that the human person cannot be divided into body and soul. Our selves or our personalities are deeply intertwined with our physical existence, and that is why any life after death must necessarily be a resurrection of the whole, healed person, not just the soul. The Bible affirms that ALL of God's creation is good, including our physical bodies. It is difficult for us, living in the 21st century, to believe this. Although people who have been dead for a few minutes have been revivied, no on has come back from the dead except Jesus (with the possible exception of Lazarus!). All too easily we forget that the word body has several meanings. One set of meanings refers "an organized physical substance" either of plant or animal or human, but another set of meanings refer to the main part of a book, or to a shape, or a fighting unit, or a group, such as the body politic. This means that our doctrine of the resurrection, may have nothing to do with our physical substance, and everything to do with having a recognizable shape, which St. Paul calls "a spiritual body". We don't know eactly what that will be like, but we believe that in some way, the whole person will be resurrected. This is the reason that I have invited you to send these photos, which we have printed in the bulletins. In some way our selves are expressed in our faces, which is why the portrait, the photo and the home video are so important.

The idea of a possible resurrection from the dead came about in Judaism from the disturbing events of the second century BC, in which Jews known to be righteous and devout, were persecuted and killed by foreign rulers. The Jews wondered how a just God could permit such a thing to happen. The book of Job is one answer: God's ways are higher than our ways, and such paradoxes are beyond our understanding. But other authors, Daniel, Ezekiel, and the author of Maccabees, seemed to say that God might give another life to the righteous, in compensation as it were. By the time of Jesus, the Jews who believed in the resurrection, expected both the righteous and the sinners to be resurrected, after which the righteous would go to heaven and the sinners to hell.

In light of this background, consider again what a strange story St. John the Evangelist tells of the raising of Lazarus. It is strange not only because Lazarus had been dead four days; but also because we are not told that Lazarus was a righteous man. In fact we know nothing about him at all, except the names of his sisters. What I see in this significant omission, is a recognition of the love we frequently have for the members of our family, whether or not they are righteous. Many of us have family members in various kinds of trouble, from chronic diseases to chronic unemployment, to addiction, mental illness, anti-social behavior, and criminal activity. As family members we pray for them, we despair over them, and we still love them. Whatever kind of person Lazarus was, Mary, Martha and Jesus loved him deeply, as the human being he was, with his particular talents, and failings. Lazarus was raised from the dead for one reason only: because Mary and Martha and Jesus loved him.

I propose that Jesus was deliberately giving us a demonstration of what was to come in his life, and in ours. The fact that Jesus failed to convert the religious leaders to his way, the fact that he was executed as a criminal, and deserted by his disciples--all these facts are irrelevant to the Father who loved him. St. John tells us twice that Jesus was greatly disturbed by the death of Lazarus, and that he wept over his friend. Is this not a picture of our God, who refuses to accept our death? And is it not a specific demonstration that the love of God is stronger than death? Yes, it is!!

When Lazarus walked out of the tomb, Jesus said to the crowd, "Unbind him and let him go", speaking both of the burial cloths wound around Lazarus, and also, I think, of all that had limited, diminished, and distorted the life of this man whom Jesus loved. God intends that we should have abundant life, without pain or sorrow, or illness. In the Gospel of John that abundant life is usually called eternal life, and it does not begin after we die. Perhaps we each need to hear the words of Jesus as addressed to ourselves: unbind her, unbind him, and ask ourselves, what is limiting or diminishing me, what is distorting my life? For eternal life begins when we believe in the One whom God has sent, Jesus our Savior and brother. It begins NOW, and continues through the transition we call death, on into a new life in the Communion of the Saints.

If these things are true, then it is also true that those saints who are enjoying life with God, are indeed present with us when we celebrate the Last Supper of Jesus. In order to lift up this reality, the Worship Committee recommended that we use the Iona Abbey liturgy for the 10:30 service this fall. It reminds us that we are joined at the altar with the saints who are before us and beside us, including our loved ones "who yet in this mystery are close to us". By putting the names of the saints on the pews, and their photos in the bulletin, we are focussing our attention on their presence.

In our second reading, from Revelation, we have another image which supports this understanding. St. John the Seer described the holy city coming down to us on earth. This is just the opposite of souls going up to heaven. It is the active presence of God coming down to us to dwell "among mortals" in a transformed community where death is no more. This image of the holy city coming to us, is a profound symbol of the goal of our journey. As we walk in the way of Jesus, we recognize that we have our part to play in creating that community of grace and peace. Yesterday our new Presiding Bishop spoke of shalom, which is another name for the peacable kingdom, where justice, harmony, and abundance prevail. Probably these three images, of shalom, the peacable kingdom, and the holy city, all point to the same reality. So although All Saints Sunday seems to be about looking back to those who have gone before us, it is just as much about looking forward with hope to the time when the earth will be full of the glory of God.

I got to meditating on this theme of hope, and decided to tell you some of my hopes as your priest and pastor. I hope that when you come here to worship, you are able to set aside your worries and your problems. I hope that you are able to be truly nourished by the music, the liturgy, the sermon, and most of all, by receiving Communion. I hope that you are so eager to worship that you come to church every Sunday you are in town. I hope that when you come asking God's guidance for your life, you find that guidance. I hope you know that God has already found you worthy.

I hope you are inspired to engage in some kind of service to others, both in the church and outside the church. I hope that you are able to meet all kinds and conditions of people without judging them. I hope that you are able to forgive others, as you have been forgiven. I hope that you are active in praying for peace, for healing, and for reconciliation. I hope you are wise in exercising your responsibility to vote on Tuesday. I hope you will give your pledge principally out of gratitude for God's many blessings. I hope that your neighbors see in you a shining example of Christian love and service.

I also hope you are patient with our diocese in this time of transition, and will pray that we may find a great priest to be our 3rd bishop. I hope you will be patient with the Episcopal Church in this time of controversy, and will pray for Katherine, our Presiding Bishop. I hope that you are quite serious about following Jesus along the way, and have adopted some spiritual practices which bring you closer to him. Most of all, I hope that you are able to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and to obey the word that you hear.