All Saints Service 2011
The ongoing financial crisis in Europe reminds us sharply of our interdependence. Though this country was not directly involved, our Prime Minister cancelled his planned visit to Japan last week. He did so in order to be at the emergency meetings in Brussels. He quite rightly felt, that he needed to be alongside other European leaders as a solution was sought. The future of the Euro will affect our economic future too.
Phrases like: “No man is an island,” have a new poignancy in the times we are living through. Interdependence is now a clear reality, and a necessity. Interdependence is the binding theme of all the major issues of our day; be they discussions about finance; climate change; population growth; the control of terrorism... or whatever. The future of our planet depends on people working together. There is no other way.
This is something the Christian church has long proclaimed. We speak, for example, of being brothers and sisters in Christ. We refer to the church, as a family; in other words, a group of people who are bonded together by something bigger than themselves. We here today, are a gathering of people, who in some way, can depend on each other. This means we also have a responsibility towards one another. There’s always, both the need, and the potential for this sort of relating to grow deeper and to spread wider.
If one of us is suffering, then the whole body suffers. If one of us is rejoicing, then the whole body rejoices. Worship on a Sunday morning takes us, beyond ourselves, reminding us again that we cannot live for ourselves alone, or we will die alone.
The themes of death and dying are central during this season of the church’s year when we celebrate both All Saints and All Souls.
A wise elderly priest I know well, and sometimes visit, said to me quite recently: “one of the things I most regret is that I didn’t preach often enough about death.”
The late Lord Coggan had a memorable phrase. In response to the sentence: “If anything should happen to me...” He quickly responded: “My dear of course something will happen to you!”
The non-negotiable reality, is that we will all die. Someone wisely commented: “it’s only when we begin to take on board, and accept, the truth that we will die, that we become truly free; free to live this life in all its fullness.”
Death and dying is a most serious subject, but it need not be a gloomy one. Indeed we need an appropriate pragmatic, and if possible, joyful approach. I recall giving a lift to a funeral at Basingstoke Crematorium, to an older couple from our parish. In the car on the way home the conversation turned to their own funerals. She asked him: “Do you want to be cremated or buried?” He replied: “I don’t mind, go on, give me a surprise!”
Together part of our shared interdependence and caring of one another, comes from a shared conviction that death is not the end. This is absolutely central to our Faith. To be Christian, is to claim, and to proclaim, the resurrection of Jesus Christ . Jesus died and was really dead. He wasn’t pretending to die, there on the cross.
Resurrection, was not, and is not, resuscitation. Jesus lived again after his death in a way that expressed continuity with his life before death. There was continuity, and yet radical qualitative difference.
This is good news indeed: not least in relation to our physical bodies. Life after death will be free of arthritis and cancer and heart disease. Hip and knee replacements and teeth implants, have no place in God’s purposes for you and me beyond our dying.
When we’re feeling strong many of us will say that we’re not afraid of death; but of the way we might die. All of us would prefer to, slip away, in our sleep, than to die painfully or violently.
What we can say to one another, with the confidence of faith, is that, somehow, by God’s grace, we trust he will give us the courage we need; whatever it is we have to face.
We’ve acknowledged together before that the ethical and practical issues, as well as the financial implications, surrounding dying and death, have become very complex indeed. Words like: “health rationing” are comparatively new. They urgently need an ethical sense of direction.
I believe passionately, that when you and I die God will care for us. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, we need to fear; not least the nature of God. When we die, we will come face to face with what God is like. When we reach this joyful point in our pilgrimage, we will be completely and utterly overwhelmed; overwhelmed, in the best way possible, by a sense of just how precious we are, and of how very much we are loved.
We will be welcomed into heaven by the enduring melody of the prayers of a countless number of people. Prayers offered to the wonder and majesty of our glorious God. Prayers offered by both the saints of heaven, whom we celebrate today; but also by our loved ones. From the moment of their dying, however long ago it was, our loved ones have had an ongoing relationship with us. In some mysterious and inexplicable way, the new life of heaven is intimately and intricately linked with this life. You and I, are upheld, and uplifted, and supported, by the prayers of heaven; not just when we die, but every day of our lives.
When we die we will be judged. We need, I believe, to understand judgement in a loving way, indeed, in a Godly way.
The act of judgement belongs to God alone, because it is only God who both fully knows, and fully loves us.
There are hints as to what this might mean. For example: “Judgement” has been described as “big forgiveness.”
Or: “Judgement is, whispering into the ear of God things we’ve never been able to say to another human being.”
If we can but believe it, there really is nothing to fear.
Jesus puts it this way: “Peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”