Glory to the Church
Rev. Stephen E. Stults
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
All Saints Day
November 1, 2015
Revelation 7:9 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and
all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm
branches were in their hands;”
Today we observe a great feast of the Church, All Saints Day. Today affirm several things: our identity, our true family and
the nature of our fellowship both with Christ and one another.
That sounds like a lot to affirm in one brief address! It would be, if one was to consider these items piece by piece, or in any
other manner other than the organic whole in which they reside. Instead, our affirmation becomes a profound, yet
dynamically simple, and extremely powerful reality.
What dynamic, eternal, yet earthly “whole” are we talking about? How can it be powerful, yet invisible; finite yet eternal,
while being tangible, yet spiritual?
We are, of course, referring to the living Body Christ left when He ascended into Heaven, the Church. Similar to the Holy
Trinity, it too has a tripartite nature to it: the Church Militant, the Church Expectant, and the Church Triumphant. These
three make up a glorious totality, in which we affirm who we are now and who we will be eternally.
Considering the earthly part of the Church, the Church Militant, we acknowledge that it is a worldwide “web” of believers
consisting of all those who profess the basic truths of Christianity. Obviously, one has to believe certain things to be a
Christian: the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection of Christ, and the necessity of Holy Baptism. We know that different
groups believe in these key doctrines in different ways, but their essential truth must be affirmed to be considered a Christian.
We who are alive on Earth now make up the visible Church for the world to see. Sometimes, like the Great Awakening in the
latter 1800’s, the Church is glorified. The Gospel is spread throughout the world. Other times, when one group fights
another, as during the so-called Hundred Years’ War when Protestants and Catholics persecuted each other, the Church’s
witness is not as splendid. Despite these struggles, there is a mystical communion that connects all parts of the Church.
Despite man’s sinfulness, this can never disappear.
This communion, however fragile or damaged it is at any given time, is a critical aspect of our identity as Christians. If we
believe in the essential truths of Christianity, we are united in the essential nature of the Body of Christ. St. Paul mentions
this several times in his epistles. How we sinful men have done damage to this Body through zeal, that often manifests itself
in uncharitable acts, words and deeds towards fellow Christians. Yet, how glorious is God’s forgiveness How glorious if we
could all be one Church again! Someday, in God’s sovereign Will, it will be that way again. In the meantime, we must work
to edify the Body and not detract from it.
Perhaps one of the most mysterious and unknown parts of the Church is the Church Expectant. This is that group of faithful
believers who have, quoting Hamlet, “shuffled off this mortal coil”, and who await the Final Judgment. This state is
mysterious to us, as Anglicans affirm. Yet God is in control and that is all we really need to know about it. We bow our heads
and give thanks for those who have gone before us into that part of the mysterious and eternal Church.
The third and most glorious part of the Church is the Church Triumphant, or those who reside in heavenly bliss with our Lord
in Heaven. These blessed souls have fought the good fight, persevered in righteousness to the very end, and are now
reaping the benefits of their labors in Christ.
Although we cannot earn our way into Heaven, there is something we can do after we have been enlightened in Christ. Once
we have been washed in the waters of Holy Baptism, we should engage in a full life in Christ through the Church. We
receive the life-giving sacrament of Holy Communion, we participate in the worship of Almighty God, and we grow in love and
fellowship with each other. In so doing, we will find something else: a change in how we regard the World and ourselves.
We will change in subtle but wonderful ways that show us to be Christians. We will love more, hate less and be more
tolerant of the failings in others, chiefly because we are increasingly aware of how God graciously overlooks our own failings
and shortcomings.
This is how we persevere in righteousness. In so doing, we will find the blessed culmination of our journey in Christ, where
we will rest in the Lord forever in contentment and bliss.
Yet, beloved in Christ, we are not there yet. We still have a job to do. We still have the job of building up the Body of Christ
here, on earth, now. We still have the blessed obligation to help bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We still
have the obligation of preserving an orthodox expression of historic Christianity that glorifies God and edifies Man. In short,
we still have the glorious obligation to work, pray and give for the spread of the Kingdom.
That brings us back to today’s celebration of the Feast of All Saints. Today, we affirm our common heritage with the all the
saints: those alive on Earth, those alive with God in the Church Expectant, and those most fully alive with God in the Church
Triumphant. Perhaps this is the hardest to understand. How can it be that some members are glorified, while other members
have yet to come to their Final Judgment? Isn’t that supposed to happen at once? How is it possible?
The answer lies in the finitude of man and the eternality of God. Those who have passed from this realm into eternity are no
longer bound by the constraints of linear time. In eternity, events don’t happen in sequence. In fact, they don’t happen at all.
They, like God, simply are… There is no past, present, or future. There is simply the eternal Now of God.
Today, we affirm that reality. Today, we affirm our earthly relationship one to another in the Church Militant. Today, we affirm
our membership in the Church Expectant, as we look toward our eternal home. Finally, we give thanks to God for our place
in the Church Triumphant, a place prepared for us in Christ Jesus our Lord and sealed with His Holy Blood for ever. AMEN.