A BEAUTIFUL BIRTHDAY IN HEAVEN

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON NOVEMBER 4th, 2007

Revelation 7:14 "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."

Most Sundays here at All Saints' at the end of the service, people volunteer to admit that they have got a year older and it is their birthday. They come forward to present a number of coins in an offering plate and we pray God's blessing upon them for their birthday.

Have you ever thought about the words of the birthday prayer that is said week after week? The second half says: "May God in His mercy prepare you on earth, for a beautiful birthday in heaven". When I first heard this at the school I thought how macabre! Reminding children on the day of their birthday that they had better think of dying.

It's an interesting thought isn't it. Can we be sure that the day we die that we will go straight to heaven? Who amongst us is actually worthy to see God face to face, and to enter His heavenly kingdom? Of course none of us IS worthy. But our entry into heaven is not due to how good we are - but entirely to God's grace, and because of Jesus' victory on the Cross.

That is the meaning of our Epistle reading today, particularly Revelation 7:14. It's not that our clothing becomes white when washed in blood - I know the result will always be red clothing. No, this image of robes washed in the blood of the Lamb is an image of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Particularly that Jesus' death on the Cross has gained us the victory of heaven. Through the blood of the Lamb we have admission into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

At our baptism we entered into the death and resurrection of our Lord - therefore it is when we were baptized that we first entered eternal life. It is not when we die. We are already living eternal life because we are baptized Christians, and have been baptized to the death and resurrection of Jesus. It's logical that if we are baptized into His resurrection, we already share His risen life. That life continues after we die.

As the preface for a Requiem Mass says, life is changed, not ended. We trust that the eternal life which remains with us will enable us to enter the heavenly kingdom. The alternative - life without God - usually called hell, is too much for us to contemplate. Even now we have a foretaste and a vision of life with God. Thus from the beginning of Christianity the day you die was called your heavenly birthday.

Obviously when it comes to the moment of death some people are better Christians than others. In every age there have always been people whose lives were so good, were so holy, that they fulfilled what Jesus presents to us in the beatitudes - in particular "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall she God". I'm sure I am not the only person here this morning who wishes their heart was more pure - so pure that I might eventually see God.

So in every age there have been these wonderful Christians, these people the Church calls saints.

In the first three centuries, when the Church was still under persecution - when to admit that you followed Jesus was to risk torture, pain, and death - the first people designated as holy were the martyrs. Those who were actually prepared to die for Jesus. The word martyr is a Greek word meaning witness. They were those who would not recant their faith in Jesus even when faced with the threat of torture and death. They witnessed to Christ by their very deaths. The early Christians honored these martyrs and their memories in two ways. Firstly they designated the day that they were killed or martyred as a celebration of their heavenly birthday.

Secondly, after their bodies had been dealt with, the faithful would gather the remains - usually burnt bones - and honor them as relics and would give them places of honor when they came together for the Eucharist. So they would have a sense of the presence of this wonderful martyr - a presence of heaven.

Once Christianity was no longer under persecution and churches could be built, they were often dedicated in memory of a local martyr. In memory of someone whose life was still remembered with much love. The relics that they had handed on were placed in the altars in those Churches. This is the origin of the tradition of the priest kissing the altar at the beginning and end of Mass - the kiss, of course, being a symbol of love.

In its new found freedom the Church drew up an official Calendar, and many dates were assigned to martyrs on the day they died - their heavenly birthday. However, there was a problem. What about all those martyrs in the first persecutions whose names and dates of death were unrecorded, perhaps even over time forgotten? They could not be included in the calendar because often their names were not known, and also the date that they suffered their glorious fate. So it was that November 1^st, was set aside as the day to remember all those saints, those wonderful people. All Saints’ became a very popular dedication for Churches after the popularity of our Lord and his Holy Mother.

So to San Diego.

How did this Church become dedicated to All Saints'? Why should we, of all people, be so blessed to have all those saints praying for us? It was because on November 1^st 1897 the first service was held in a little Episcopal mission chapel on the corner of Fifth and Pennsylvania.

Therefore today All Saints', San Diego is exactly 110 years old as a community! In the context of honoring all the saints in heaven and rejoicing in their patronage and prayers for us, we also celebrate the earthly birthday of the community of faith which worships here at All Saints', San Diego.

This, of course, calls to mind the other biblical meaning of the word saint. In the New Testament epistles all baptized Christians are often referred to as saints: the saints in Corinth, the saints in Rome, the saints in Ephesus, etc. Even when they are sinners Saint Paul calls them saints - as he does in his first letter to the Corinthians 1: 2. The Corinthian Church was divided and notoriously sinful, but he still called them the saints in Corinth. Because, you see, they were made holy in baptism. In effect Saint Paul was telling them: become what you already are.

Similarly, despite all the scandals and failings of the Church in every generation, the Creed has always stated that it is the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

This building is called a church, because it is the home of All Saints' Church. We worship in this church, we laugh in it, we cry in it, we come here for pastoral services and ministry, we become All Saints' Church in it. And yet, we could do all those things in the parish hall, in the fireside room, even on the patio, given our glorious weather.

Ultimately the true purpose of a church building is not to provide a place for all those things - because they can be done anywhere. The true purpose of a church is to provide a home for the altar, which occupies the most important part in the whole Church, and also a safe place for the tabernacle which stands upon it. Indeed, the tabernacle is another house within this house of God. It is a house of bread - where it contains the Eucharist.

House of bread is a translation of the word "Bethlehem". Thus the tabernacle reminds us that here in All Saints' Church Jesus dwells amongst us, as surely as he did at Bethlehem in the Incarnation.

Consecrated Churches are not only a home for an altar, and a community of faith like ours - but because of that, they are endowed with symbolism and meaning. Because a consecrated Church itself is a symbol of the heavenly home, the new Jerusalem. And when we offer the Eucharist, we are doing something symbolic of what is described in the book of Revelation - we are worshipping the Lamb in enthroned in heaven.

On June 10^th 1912, the cornerstone of this Church was laid. The laying of the cornerstone is the most significant thing in the erection of a Church. It is the dedication, and the beginning of its life - representing as it does He who is the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. So the laying of the cornerstone on June 10^th 1912 was a very significant event then - and for us who are their successors. In 2012 we will celebrate the centenary of the laying of the cornerstone of this Church, our spiritual home. That centenary must be an occasion of celebration.

My dear friends, my dear brothers and sisters - we have five years to prepare. I can tell you from experience that time will pass very quickly! So we must start preparing now.

Today I launch a five year season of preparation, so that we may fittingly and with great joy celebrate this centenary of our church.

But as we look to the future, and with some excitement - at the same time we must have at the back of our minds our eternal future, and our mortality.

And so, I conclude with those familiar words:

May God in his mercy prepare you on earth, for a beautiful birthday in heaven.