After we are born as Christians the first words we hear are of welcoming, we hear, “We receive you into the household of God.” We are not met by an empty doorway or an empty house, but rather a full household with people waiting eagerly at the door to welcome us.
The second thing we hear is a three fold statement of command.
We are told to “Confess the faith of Christ crucified”, to “proclaim his resurrection” and to “share with us in his eternal priesthood.”
That is a great deal to hear, it is also a great deal to say, because we say these words of welcome and command at every baptism.
We spend the rest of our lives living into that welcome and into those commands. Receiving, proclaiming, confessing and sharing are the verbs of Christian being, a mighty river that carries the Body Christ in the bodies of all the saints, the communion of saints.
The resurrection fire of Jesus is the bright flame that brings light and warmth and life passed down and spreading through out history, a holy wild fire, a burning contagion of love.
We live in that water right now.
We carry that flame right now.
Grace Church exists for one reason, to live in these waters, and to spread this fire.
When we forget this, when we lose the vision of the body Christ moving through our lives and spreading his arms into the world, then we slowly shrivel up, we stagnate, we become overly content, smug, we settle for less, we are held down by inertia and excuses.
The life of faith then becomes just one more thing to fit into our busy American lives, just another thing we should do, just another recreational option.
When faith becomes like that, then nothing ever really comes of it.
So it is essential that we remember The Waters that we are born from, The Waters that hold us up, and that we fan The Flame that burns through us and that is passed along through us, bringing light, and warmth and life to a world that is dark, cold, dead and distracted from what really counts.
Is Church just one more thing? Is it a drain? Or a bore?
Then swim in these waters, then kindle this flame, the body of Christ has risen into the flesh and blood of each one us, and there is a whole world out there waiting to meet us.
This isn’t just one more thing of interest. BEHOLD! The Saints of God marching throughout time, terrible in their glory, beautiful in their hope, burning in their embrace of God’s world, God’s Kingdom, bright with love!
They bring not destruction but rather restoration.
They bring not death but birth.
They bring not scorn but hope.
They bring not despair or hate, not a pit or a blow but rather love, the love that builds up, that builds up each other, that builds up the world.
Something amazing and wonderful is happening to this world, to these physical bodies, Jesus is rising up and we physically carry Christ in our bodies. Be the Body of Christ, be the gift of Jesus to the world, receive, confess, proclaim and share in this return of life to a dead place.
When we lose these waters, when we let this flame die out, it is a dreary world.
We have a mission. No more excuses.
It is time for this parish to become a bright light.
There is a story about a holy man named Abba Lot who was missing something. He went to see another holy man named Abba Joseph and said to him, “ Abba, as far as I can I say my prayers, I fast a little, I meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?’ Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, ‘If you will, you can become all flame.'”
We now remember those in our parish who have moved on to the larger life since last All Saints Day, who we will see again, in whom we have received and known Christ.
All Stand.