Sermon for All Saints Sunday
By The Rev. Christie Webb -
I'm a sucker for transformation. I just love watching it happen, witnessing it happen. That usually comes through in my life by my deep love of HGTV home improvement shows. I watch them all, was hooked with Fixer Upper, wait with baited breath for new Home Town Episodes, and like Good Bones and whatever else I can find. I love how transformation happens in the course of one episode. A house starts one way and ends completely differently. Truth be told, sometimes I can’t wait the 45 minutes for the transformation to be revealed, so I watch the first part, then skip ahead to the big reveal. I love transformation.
Recently I encountered something that rivaled perhaps even surpassed the joy of transformation I experience in a home improvement show. I was invited to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting here at Mt. Olive to see what they are like, to connect with that community. It was a beautiful thing to witness. All these people shared their deep stories of transformation as they read from the Big Book. Raw and real and awe inspiring. It was an honor to witness and to listen to these stories. They stirred within me such hope.
I think that is what transformation is all about. The living out of hope, the becoming of what is hoped for. What we are now is not what we will be. What we will be is not yet here. But it will be. Someday.
There is this hope for transformation in the Beatitudes from our gospel reading today. In each of these blessings there is the naming of how things are, a real life recognition that things are hard. And there is a will be, what will come, what transformation will be.
4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
What is now will not be in the future. Transformation will happen. Beautiful, awe-inspiring transformation.
We hear it in our second reading as well. 1 John 3:2: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” Right now, we are God’s children. We were since our baptism. We will be tomorrow. But what that means tomorrow is not yet known. We are becoming.
This hope for transformation, this expectation is a cornerstone of Christian faith. One of the commentaries I connected with to prepare to preach today said this: Congregations are the people we gather with to rehearse hope. Rehearse hope. I like that. Like we would practice a play or a musical piece to perform, we rehearse hope. We do it each week as we gather on Sunday. We practice, we rehearse hope, we expect and wait and watch for transformation together.
Today as we celebrate the Saints, as we remember, as we honor, we do so as people of hope, people waiting and expecting transformation. The saints who have gone before us we trust, we hope, have been transformed, as they now live in eternity with God. Our reading from Revelation paints a picture of it: the saints stand together, from every tribe and place, and they praise God. And they are transformed as they are now in a place where there is no more thirst, no more hunger. Where, it says in other places, there is no more pain, no more sorrow. In this place God wipes the tears from their eyes. Transformation has happened. They have become what they will be. It is a beautiful and comforting picture. It is the transformation we all long for as well.
But transformation is not just reserved for heaven. God doesn’t wait until then. We are always, us beloved children of God, being worked on by the God who loves us. We are always becoming, being made new, being transformed. We can witness it in our own lives. We can witness it in the lives of the saints we celebrate today. For example, today I celebrate my mom Carol. She died almost 13 years ago. I miss her dearly and I am deeply comforted by the trust that she is living the transformation of life eternal. And when I look at her life I see transformation playing out here on earth. She was wonderful. A wonderful mother. A goofball full of silliness, creativity and love. And her life was not always easy. There were parts that were quite difficult. It was not easy to have a front row seat to some of those challenging times. But it meant that I also had a front row seat to her transformation. I can look at her life and see how she was transformed by God’s love, how hard that was, but also how beautiful. My sister and I witness with our lives and who we are the beauty of her transformation. I’m so thankful I got to see a glimpse of what she will be in that place where there is no more hunger or thirst. Because of her witness, I know that I too can be strong and courageous as God works transformation in me.
Transformation is not reserved for heaven. And it isn’t reserved for individuals only. Communities can also be transformed by God’s love. We, as this congregation of Mt. Olive. are also in the process of transformation. We are what we are right now. But we do not yet know what we will be. We know that we are children of God, and that we will be children of God, but what that looks like and how we live that out is ever evolving. Consider 3 years ago, or 5 years ago, or 10 and how this congregation was, who it was, how it was living its mission, and how it has been transformed since then, always at work to liveGod’s love in the world. This work is not easy. It is challenging to let go of what we have been to become what God is transforming us to be. And yet, with God’s love and God’s help, we too will be transformed. There is deep hope in that, and deep joy.
As I said as I began, I’m a sucker for transformation. I’m excited to witness as you all live out your lives in Christ, to see how God’s love continues to transform you. I’m excited to witness and to work and to be of good courage with you as God transforms us, this community of Mt. Olive. I think this story we are living is going to even better than an HGTV transformation. I look forward with joy to celebrating and giving thanks to God for our transformation. Thanks be to God for what will be.
Amen.
The Rev. Christie Webb
Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
November 4 & 5, 2023
