All Saints Sermon: Forever and Ever and Now. November 2, 2025

This sermon was preached on All Saints Sunday at Grace Lutheran Church (River Forest, IL) on November 2, 2025. You can watch the livestream recording and follow along in the bulletin. The picture is from Halloween 2016.

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace be unto you and peace in the name God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. I hadn’t intended to wear a costume for Halloween, but as I sat in the cold wearing shorts and sandals on Friday night, I realized that I’d inadvertently dressed up as a middle school boy. Who else dresses like that when it’s cold out? Cold toes and all, I had a delightful time passing out candy to the hundreds and hundreds of children who made their way down my block. Every once in a while, some Christians get a bit up in arms about Halloween, thinking it has overly pagan roots or ties to the demonic or some such thing. Which isn’t really anything to worry about, of course. But more than that, is there a more Christian holiday than Halloween? A day when children of all backgrounds can dress up however they want; walk through any neighborhood they want; hold out their open hands and reasonably expect to be given something good; and do so without anyone asking if they really need it or to show their documentation or status? Treat upon treat, grace upon grace! After claiming a Kit Kat from my bowl, one child – no doubt a budding theologian – remarked, “This block is the best. They do all the work for you. You don’t even have to climb up the steps!” And it’s true. For a few hours on Friday night, at least in my little corner of the world, everywhere found themselves on the same level.
2. Today, Jesus comes down to our level. Where Matthew tells us of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Luke shows us the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus’ words to us today come from this sermon, given on a level place. But when Jesus comes down to our level, he does not find us with open hands and open hearts, giving and receiving as all have ability and need. Jesus comes into an uneven world of rank inequality. A world in which poverty and hunger, weeping and hatred, hold dominion over too many people. A world in which too few are rich and full, and too many of those are too often content to hoard what they have. A world in which too many live by the golden rule as twisted by the bad guy in Disney’s Aladdin: “Whoever has the gold makes the rules.” Jesus stands in this level place, where we have created such an unlevel playing field, and proclaims that our ways are not the ways of God’s Kingdom. Jesus stands in this place and pronounces blessings.
3. I don’t know if things have gotten worse since Jesus preached that sermon 2,000 years ago, but it doesn’t feel like things have gotten better. The government shutdown drags on, having little effect upon the wealthy but with devastating consequences for those who already live on the margins. SNAP may yet be funded, at least for now, but not without dangerous delay, as the government crassly casts aside those who simply need to feed themselves, their children. WIC is in danger, as is a program that provides utility assistance. Just in time for winter, too. And health care? As one advocate put it in a New York Times piece the other day, “It feels like we’re standing on the shore, and we see a tidal wave coming. But we don’t exactly know how it’s going to hit, where it’s going to hit, because there’s still uncertainty over whether they’re going to be able to fix any of this.” The great beasts of which Daniel speaks are alive and well in our world today, those would-be kings called greed and injustice, suffering and oppression, sin and death.
4. Into this mess steps Jesus, speaking and creating blessing as he goes. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and hated. Blessed are you because Jesus stands with you. And while he speaks woe to those who are rich and full, that’s not the last word. He gives the real golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” It’s really that simple. We work for change in the system, writing letters and making phone calls. And we help those the system leaves behind in the meantime, giving of our food and resources. We do so because Jesus calls us. We do so because that’s what we’d hope others would do for us. We do so because this is how the Kingdom that will one day dawn, forever and ever, breaks into this world even now. And although we will never fully fix things on this side of eternity, we claim the promise that it was never up to us anyway. For Jesus has gone into the most level place of all: death. Out of the one thing we all have in common, the one thing that would otherwise be the end, Jesus makes a new beginning. God in Christ creates new life. But new life isn’t just more life. New life is a new way of life; a life centered in unflagging praise of God and unrelenting care for our neighbors.
5. The day after Halloween is All Saints, of course. On this All Saints Sunday we remember those faithful saints who have gone before us, dressed as we are in the righteousness of Christ given in baptism; dressed now forever in the resurrection from the dead. We remember and give thanks for John, Cathy, Mike, Marlene, David, Jo Ann, Scott, Diane, Pat, Kay, Richard, and all the saints in light. As they live in Christ, so their witness lives on in us. They live in glory, but we too have an inheritance, the fullness of God’s abundance. They live in God’s presence, but God is present for us, too, and our call is to show God’s presence of blessing and abundance to the world. Today, we feel the emptiness, perhaps, of absent loved ones. We come forward with empty hands and find God’s fullness once again. Sin and death have been defeated; forgiveness and life remain. Fed with the life of Christ, we are sent to open our hands and hearts to those in need. You don’t even have to climb up. Christ has come down to you. Amen.

And now may that peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, this day and forever. Amen.