Dear All
Today we celebrated All Saints Day, rejoicing with Christians throughout the world we sang some rousing traditional festive hymns courtesy of Harry’s accompaniment on the organ.
A lively children’s corner completed the feast!
Notices for this week:
Tuesday 10am Prayer Group in the Garden Room.
Thursday 10am Said Eucharist followed by coffee in Friendship House
Readings for next Sunday – 3rd Sunday before Advent – Job 19:23-27 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5,13-end Luke 20:27-28
Today’s readings – Daniel 7:1-3,15-18 Ephesians 1:11-end Luke 19:1-10.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus……to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ…..Grace and peace to you from God our Father. These are the opening words from several of St Paul’s letters as he addresses various Christian communities.
So, in the language of Paul, I greet you this morning as the saints who are in Milngavie and are faithful in Christ Jesus! As we celebrate All Saint’s, we remember those who have lived lives of Christian faithfulness and we consider our own calling to be counted amongst the saints.
Today we give thanks for the extraordinary gift of God’s love to us and the work of the Holy Spirit which has been present amongst men and women over many centuries of Christian witness. There was a time when local saints and martyrs were the source of inspiration. People found in their local communities stories from holy men and women of triumph over adversity, acts of glorious heroism in the battles against injustice and examples of hope and goodness in the midst of hardship and the darkness of the world. Often these saints were depicted in stained glass and in intricate carvings adorning places of worship.
But we are all called to be saints and named so through baptism. Many of us may think that that saintliness and holiness are unattainable, but it is worth remembering some of the well-known saints.
St Gilbert of Sempringham began life as a sullen child who neglected his studies and was a disappointment to his Father.
St Francis of Assisi described as physically unattractive, possessing no particular gifts or abilities in his youth.
Or St Ignatius of Loyola who was badly disfigured in battle as a young man taking a blow from a cannon ball ending his great dream of being a heroic knight of the realm.
We must remember God so often chooses the most unlikely individuals as channels of grace and holiness. All of us are the earthen vessels which have the potential to contain the treasures of the Kingdom.
Gilbert of Sempringham in a great journey of spiritual conversion, proving his father wrong, went on to be a radical and inclusive educator of girls and boys, both rich and poor, and the founder of the first and only English religious order in the Middle Ages.
St Francis became one of the greatest reformers of his age.
The gift of St Ignatius to the church was his profound writing on contemplative prayer in his book The Spiritual Exercises – a tradition which speaks and inspires many of us today.
All of them faced tough journeys of soul searching, borne of a growing dissatisfaction about the world they encountered. It led to transformation not only of themselves but the many who followed their stories and found in them a source of encouragement for their own commitment to Christ.
For centuries the acts of the apostles, the holiness of the Saints and the blood of the martyrs fuelled the church with a fervour to follow in their footsteps. It gave them the faith to believe that nothing is impossible for God. That humanity really can soar to the heights of heaven, share in the life of God and make a difference in the world.
With the enlightenment, saints lost their dazzle and it turned to scientists, inventors and explorers to be the great lives that people sought to follow. And in recent times adulation has been directed at more secular targets promoted by social media or twitter.
When it comes to saintliness, we only have to look at the news reports and even perhaps ourselves to be reminded once again of the ability to fall from grace. But we are a people of hope, and it is heartening to know that people still look to holy places and holy people in the search for beacons of light and as sources of inspiration and hope. This was clearly seen and observed at the funeral of her late Majesty the Queen.
Every week we gather as a congregation to offer prayers of thanksgiving in this church to celebrate the love and grace of God in our Holy Sacrament.
Everyday members of the worshipping communities worldwide gather to pray for the transformation of the world and the renewal of lives. And no matter how dark or uncertain life may be, we, as living witnesses to grace and renewal have a powerful message to share.
The Good News enacted in this Eucharist this morning announces forgiveness and the renewal of our lives. It declares that despite our human frailty and our failure to live lives of holiness, every day is a day to begin again with God.
Every day is a saint’s day