A sermon by the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, written for and delivered at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Tybee Island, GA, on Sunday, November 3, 2024, a celebration of All Saints' Day (RCL Year B).
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Primary Bible Reading
Revelation 21:1-6
1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”
God Moves Toward Us (Soon and Very Soon)
By the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, Program Manager for New Starts, ELCA
Soon and very soon we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon we are going to see the King
Alleluia! Alleluia! We are going to see the King
On All Saints Day and All Souls Day, we honor the memory of all those who have preceded us in death, great and small alike. We remember our loved one who we see no longer. And we remember those we never met but who inspire us to live more faithfully as followers of Jesus.
But we remember the departed knowing that death is not the end. It is one step on the Christian journey toward resurrection and eternal life. Because God does not abandon us when we die. God is with us now in life, and God is also with us in death.
The hymn I just sung, written by Andrae Crouch, has become a very popular way of singing about our Christian hope for the afterlife. It is featured in The Episcopal Church’s Lift Every Voice and Sing II: An African American Hymnal (1993) in the Advent section. We interpret it as a hymn about the “Second Advent” of Jesus. It points us toward our hope that Jesus will “come again to judge the living and the dead” (Apostles’ Creed). Jesus’s loving judgment will set the world right; it will put an end to our suffering and sorrow; it will transform the relationships between all creatures from violence and strife to unity and peace. And this text from Revelation (21:1-6) was part of the inspiration of Rev. Crouch’s song.
But there is something really important to pay attention to in this text, especially as we remember our dearly departed loved ones. The song says that “we are going to see the King” Jesus (my emphasis). This might imply that we have to move toward heaven, that we are the initiators. It might imply that we can only see the King after death or after the great Day of Judgment.
But the vision of eternity shown to us in Revelation 21:1-6 is a little different. The onus is not on us. We don’t have to move all the way toward God because God is moving toward us. Obviously our wills matter, but God is not static. God is not just sitting there waiting for us to choose life and love. God moves toward us. God makes the invitation. God tries to make it easier for us to experience the joys of eternal love, belonging, and abundant life. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them’” (21:1-3).
God is coming to us. Our salvation and our sainthood are a lot more about God’s goodness and mercy toward us than they are about you and me being especially holy. We cannot earn our way to heaven. We cannot out-try and outwork sin. But we can trust that God is with us in good times and bad. We can trust that God is going to move toward us to close the gap between our fallen nature and God’s perfect love. We can trust that God is making a new heaven and a new earth and bringing us into that new creation. And in light of that hope, I think the song means more that we are going to see the King, like it’s certainly going to happen, not because of us but because of God.
Today’s Gospel story helps understand this too. God promises to raise each and every one of us like Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. God will give us new, transformed lives. Then, we will overcome tears, pain and sorrow. Jesus wept when he learned that his friend was dead, but Revelation 21:4 says, “he will wipe every tear from their eyes.” As God makes all things new, we will experience a depth of comfort and healing from our grief beyond all that we can imagine now.
No more crying there, we are going to see the King!...
But the promises do not end there. Then, God will heal and protect us from the forces of evil. Sin will lose its power and death will lose its sting (1 Cor 15:55). Death will not be able to afflict us any longer. We will live in peace and harmony together, even with those who used to be separated from us by death. All the Saints and all the souls of the departed will be reunited. God is building a bridge over the chasm of death so that we are able to come together. “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new’” (21:4-5). God makes the first move toward us, so that we can be with our King Jesus.
No more dying there, we are going to see the King!...
Today might be a difficult day. We put a special emphasis on remembering our departed loved ones. We all come with some kind of grief, whether or not it’s about someone’s death. That time of resurrection and reunification is not fully here yet. We are still allowed to grieve. Our mourning now is a sign of our love and the separation between life and death. That loss is real and we should never begrudge ourselves or one another for working through grief. But it is all also temporary. Just as death is real, God’s movement toward us is real. Resurrection is real. God invites us to hope for something greater: that God will heal and restore the world, making all things new (especially you and me).
In funeral services featuring Communion, during the Eucharistic Prayer, the presider says that Jesus Christ “rose victorious from the dead, and comforts us with the blessed hope of everlasting life. For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended; and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens” (BCP, 382). So as we think of our loved ones and the witness of the Saints across the ages, let us keep praying for that transformation. Let us pray for resurrection. And let us remember that none of it depends on us, but on a God who takes initiative and moves toward us first. Because God will do it, no matter how close we might be to the end of this life, we can all sing together:
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King!
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