November 9 2025 Sermon
As my days as priest-in-charge of St Barnabas wind down, I find myself doing things for the last time. Last parish council meeting, last Corporation meeting, some last were also firsts – Evensong, Taizé both of which were appreciated by those who attended. On Wednesday I attended my last Queenston neighbourhood roundtable – proud of the presentation that Marion and Stephen offered and the way in which St Barnabas is reclaiming its missional work in the community. On Tuesday will see my last Remembrance Day as Padre for Branch 24 of the Royal Canadian Legion at the Cenotaph.
These “last time” events are bittersweet. They bring with them a mix of emotions, happiness of good memories, a few regrets – I could have done more, done things better, some sadness that they will not happen for me again. I’ve been doing lot’s of looking back, reminiscing, remembering events but chiefly I find myself remembering people. The prayers and readings from last Sunday and today have offered spiritual depth to my rememberin of people.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the feast of All Saints – I stated that saints are Christians who in various ways, often against great odds, showed an extraordinary love for Christ in word and deed. Saints can inspire us by their deep faith, their steadfast hope in the midst of adversity, their ability to love even while they themselves are despised. We learn of the saints through reading and hearing stories of their lives. On this remembrance Sunday we again might be inspired to greater faith, hope and love as we remember those that we have known but who have died, as we remember the faithful departed.
Let me provide you a few moments to bring to mind persons you have known who have died. These memories may well be bittersweet.
Book of wisdom, written roughly 50 years before the birth of Jesus the Christ. A funeral favourite. But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them.
That human instinct that death is not the end, that God receives those who have live lives of good works.
The author of the the first letter of St Peter tells offers more than reliance on human instinct of God’s reception of the faithful departed when he writes “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
It remains a hope – a confident expectation of future good based on the promises and character of God, particularly in Jesus Christ. Hope is a theological virtue that serves as an “anchor for the soul” during difficult times. Hope provides strength, enables perseverance, and a firm belief in the resurrection of the dead and the coming of a new creation.
Hope is what gives faith the strength to be sustained, especially in times of suffering or doubt. Hope of faithful people as they approach death has strengthened my faith.
My mother believed Jesus’ words when he said I should lose nothing of all that the Father has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
Not a long distant hope reserved for some future moment but something we can experience in our daily lives. Open ourselves to receiving and giving God’s love. When we practice the presence of God throughout our day – not just on Sunday morning. The fruit of our prayer. On Tuesday nights as a group of us sit in silent meditation, God who speaks in silence assures us that we are loved. At Friday’s Taizé service God was made known as we chanted The Lord is my light, my light and salvation: in God I trust, in God I trust. But perhaps most fully when we gather for the holy Eucharist and receive the Blessed Sacrament. We hear this in the words of the post-communion prayer – as God of love, may the death and resurrection of Christ, which we celebrate in this eucharist, bring us, with the faithful departed, into the peace of your eternal home.
May this remembrance Sunday, as we remember and pray for the faithful departed, nurture us in faith, hope and love. +