Lord, You Establish Peace For Us

Trinity XXIV All Saints Day (Transferred) - November 6, 2005

Isaiah 26:1-4, 8-9, 12-13,19-21

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day. Actually, All Saints’ Day is on November 1. Concordia Publishing House figures that most people wouldn’t attend another service during the week, no matter how important it is. So, CPH put the readings for All Saints’ Day on the back of a Sunday bulletin, transferring that festival to the nearest Sunday after that. So, today we celebrate All Saints’ Day.

Now, I don’t know that I’d argue with CPH. Let’s face it, how many of you would have come on Tuesday - whether in the evening or the afternoon for another church service? In fact, if we are perfectly honest, there are many who claim to be Christians, who find it a bother to gather with their fellow believers to hear God’s Word, be built up in the faith, to gather at Christ’s invitation at His table, and to join in prayer even one time a week, much less more than that. What have we lost in our understanding of the Christian faith? Don’t we understand that as we gather together, Christ builds us up in the faith? That it is He who comes to us and gives us gifts of eternal consequence? Have we lost all understanding of what it means to be the communion of saints, even as we confess it in our Creed?

In Luther’s day, they gathered at the church every morning and every evening for service. They gathered early, before work for Matins, or Morning Prayer. Later, they gathered for Vespers, or Evening Prayer. And every Lord’s Day, that’s Sunday, they gathered for the Lord’s Supper. This is nothing more than a reflection of what we see in the book of Acts, that they gathered daily in the temple (Acts 2:46) and on the first day of the week for the Lord’s Supper, or as it was called, The Breaking of The Bread. (Acts 20:7)

Maybe they understood their need to be strengthened in faith, that they might live as Christians in a hostile world. Maybe they had a better understanding of the communion of saints. Maybe, because death surrounded them on a daily basis, they understood how short life was, and the importance of being prepared for the end of this mortal life? With the plague and war in that era, I’d be considered a long-lived man. Or, maybe they had a better sense of community? Or could it possibly be that they had a better feel for history, that the community of faith, the mystical body of Christ, is something that stretches both to the past and to the future, even as it embraces the present?

Where is death in today’s understanding of things? I expect to live to a ripe old age, as do you all. We are appalled, angered even at God, if someone under the age of 60 dies. If it is someone who hasn’t even reached the age of 20, you know the comments, “They never even got the chance to live a full life.” And yet, in Luther’s day, few that were born made it past their first year. Have we lost a terror of the consequences of sin, that death will take us all? Do we really understand that death is what we have all earned?

Dear Christian friends, in this, the year two-thousand-five, we have a totally different world-view than did those of the past. In fact, we have a different world-view than those whom we are calling in the U.S., the greatest generation, those who made this nation a force to be reckoned with in the early 1940s. There was always a sense of community.

Today, the individual comes first. When invited to get involved with something, even at church, a popular question is, “What’s in it for me? What am I going to get out of it?” The only problem is, too many want something subjective, good feelings, or even better, some trinket to take home. Furthermore, in regard to things of the faith, many reflect their fierce individualism with comments like, “I know what I believe,” or, “That’s just your interpretation.” And yet, as we gather in Christ for Word and Sacrament, it is all about you, receiving Christ’s live and being made one communion with all the saints.

A couple simple questions would suffice to answer whether you are a person who values community or one who is self-absorbed. Who is the neighbor that lives in the house next door? How about two doors down on your left? Who lives across the street and over three homes? How about this question, who is presently sitting in the pews which surround you?

Did you hear the collect for today? That’s the prayer that comes near the beginning of the service. It is called the collect, for in essence, it collects the thoughts of a specific theme for the day into one prayer, asking God to do something specific for us and to us as we have gathered together in His house.

Today, that collect went like this. O almighty God, who hast knit together Thine elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Thy Son Christ, our Lord, grant us grace so to follow Thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which Thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love Thee...

We prayed in that prayer the reality which God performs in us. You and I, and all gathered here together, are one communion. We are all one mystical body in Christ Jesus. In fact, we are all one with all those who have died in the faith and gone before us - from Adam and Eve all the way down to aunt Heloise who died in the faith this morning. In fact, we are one body with all those who have yet to be born, but who will confess the same hope and faith you and I have.

One of the most intimate ways of sharing fellowship is by sitting down at a meal together. Your family and your best friends are those you invite into your home, to recline at table with you, and to share a meal with you. That sort of table sharing pales in comparison to the fellowship that is shared at the table of the Lord.

Paul says this about that special meal Christ instituted. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Corinth. 10:16-17)

You and I are not simply friends who share a meal. In fact, we are even more than family members who gather for a meal. We are one body in Christ. There is a unity beyond even the unity that blood relatives share who possess the same genes. We are one blood; we share the blood of Christ; His Spirit dwells within us and unites us as one body who gather at His tabl

And so, understanding this, as we look at ourselves, we ought to be ashamed. Ashamed because we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. In truth, we don’t even love the members of our own family of faith as we ought. Do we even know them all. Look around the nave. Can you name every man, woman, and child present this morning? While you are one mystical body with all believers of every age and from every corner of the globe, and knowing them all is impossible, we should at least be familiar with the family members who share the same dining table with us and are one body with us in Christ.

God has called us together, He has written His name upon us in the water of baptism. We are His children. Despite the fact that we may not understand all the things of God, God has gathered us unto Himself as His own people in Christ Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but when I consider those who have died - some tragically, some painfully, some at great age, some before they even reach their prime - I am reminded, all too graphically, of my own sin. There is a day coming when I must make an accounting of the sins I have committed.

God’s wrath is a terrible thing: where there is sin, there will be death. And so, I must answer for why I wasn’t more diligent in seeking God’s face, why so many things came before Him in my life. I must answer for why I neglected my neighbor, why I was so self-absorbed that I didn’t take the time to get to know all those whom He gave to be a part of my life.

Some might say, but you’re a pastor - God is first in your life. Some might say, but pastor - you were there for me in my need. As true as these things are, God knows my heart. He knows my sinfulness, my selfishness and lack of love - even as He knows yours.

Knowing your sins, you should have a bit of fear and trembling. And yet, on this day, you are reminded that you have no need of fear or trembling. You have no need for fear because of Christ Jesus your Lord. You have been knit together with Him into one body through the waters of baptism. You are blessed to follow His saints in all virtuous and godly living, for all that you have accomplished, God has done for you and in you.

Those who have gone before us in the faith are living witnesses to us of God’s grace. Yes, living witnesses. We wept at their funerals, even as we rejoiced in their gain. Today, they are now seated round the banquet feast of the Lamb which shall never end, alive and well, enjoying that which we hope to attain.

We also come to that same meal - it is laid out on the table before us. In that meal, we are given Christ - the peace of God that passes all understanding is established in us. That is what our text, God’s Word to us, proclaims, “Lord, you establish peace for us.” Christ is your salvation from sin, your strong city. He makes you righteous in the blood that He shed upon the cross - His holy, innocent, precious blood - which He gives you in that meal.

As we look around us, just as in Luther’s day, sin and death abound, even though we are often insulated from it. And in the midst of this life, we have peace, a peace that few in the world understand, for it is an eternal peace. Look around you. These are they who share the name put upon your forehead, as spoken in Revelation. Look around you, these gathered here share the same table with you - the table set before you in the presence of your enemies sin, death, and Satan - the table of Christ’ body and blood that establish peace for you.

It is this peace dear friends, that gives you confidence for this life, even as it prepares you for life eternal. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Back to Sermon Archive.

Back to St. Peter's or Zion Lutheran

Back to the main page.