The Sunday of All Saints
Sunday 5 November 2017
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Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSV)
I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
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This is a beautiful reading for us to hear as we remember, commemorate and commend those who have gone before us to the eternal mercy of God. It is especuially powerful because in this great multitude we find persons we have known and loved dearly in this life. Today is a powerful reminder that for us life is changed, not ended, when our mortal bodies lie in death. Resurrection wins! This and every Sunday we proclaim life and Resurrection. This is an Easter moment. Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tomb bestowing life. We proclaim this for all who have gone before us marked with Christ's cross and claimed by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father. And as we proclaim, we place our hope in God, trusting that when our mortal bodies lie in death, we too shall be numbered among that great multitude who live forever with Christ in the Kingdom of God in which death has died and sin is no more.
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Fr. Timothy Alleman
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