16 min
Encountering the Communion of Saints Sermons at St. Dunstan's
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- Christianity
“I believe in the Communion of Saints.”
That affirmation in the Apostles’ Creed has been repeated by billions of Christians for nearly 2000 years.
The Communion of Saints encompasses not only linear time but also two additional dimensions of reality—physical and spiritual. You and I became part of the Communion of Saints through our Baptisms. As today reminds us, we are ALL saints, not by spiritual accomplishments, but by God’s grace.
What does the Communion of Saints mean to us?
We probably understand best the PHYSICAL expression of the Communion of Saints.
Why? Because we physically see, hear, and touch each other. We regularly worship, study, fellowship, and minister with and to each other. In the physical dimension of reality, we are tangible to each other.
One purpose of All Saints Day is to give thanks for our corporate life together. One can only imagine how empty our lives would be if we didn’t have each other.
This, of course, raises the question, “What happens to us when we are no longer physically visible to one another?” That time will inevitably come to each one of us. Death separates us from the physical world that we now occupy.
Does this mean that we are no longer in the communion and fellowship of the Church? Does death have the power to break our fellowship with one another? The answer is emphatically “NO!”
How can we affirm this truth? We affirm our continuing fellowship beyond death because we stand on the most basic truth of the Christian Faith.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead! Because He lives, we live also!
But how do we live? What is our relationship with each other after death takes place? Do we continue to be in community with each other as we are at present?
When we consider that the Living Jesus Christ is the basis of our community with one another, the answer is “YES!”
Regardless of whether we function in this life or the next, our common foundation of community with each other is Jesus Christ. In this world, as well as the next, Jesus stands as the recipient of our prayers of praise, intercession, thanksgiving, and petition. We are also the focus of His prayers of praise, intercession, thanksgiving, and petition. This reality expresses an unbreakable bond between Jesus and us. What a beautiful affirmation of our eternal security!
To affirm this bond, we can turn to today’s reading from Revelation. John has a vision of God’s heavenly community being united with His earthly one. The first part of John’s vision is set on earth as the 144,000 are sealed from the coming worldly disaster. These 144,000 represent the Redeemed Israel.
Since this is a vision—and visions are usually symbolic of a greater reality– we can interpret these people as the vanguard of a perfectly complete EARTHLY communion of Saints encompassing every race and culture. How do we see this biblical truth symbolically in the vision of the 144,000?
First, 12 is interpreted as the biblical number for community. We are given in this vision the square root of this number (12 X 12=144). The square root of this biblical number 12 symbolizes the perfection or completeness of this community. We can recall the 12 apostles or the 12 Israelite tribes, which point to the symbolic completeness of God’s community in biblical language.
Finally, 144 is multiplied by 1000, which is a biblical way of symbolizing the great worldwide extent and inclusivity of the Communion of Saints.
This great number is being redeemed from the suffering of this earth. They include literal Israelites—since the 12 tribes are mentioned—and spiritual Israelites because the Church is often called the New Israel. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans (2:29), speaks of this New Israel when he says, “He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men bu
“I believe in the Communion of Saints.”
That affirmation in the Apostles’ Creed has been repeated by billions of Christians for nearly 2000 years.
The Communion of Saints encompasses not only linear time but also two additional dimensions of reality—physical and spiritual. You and I became part of the Communion of Saints through our Baptisms. As today reminds us, we are ALL saints, not by spiritual accomplishments, but by God’s grace.
What does the Communion of Saints mean to us?
We probably understand best the PHYSICAL expression of the Communion of Saints.
Why? Because we physically see, hear, and touch each other. We regularly worship, study, fellowship, and minister with and to each other. In the physical dimension of reality, we are tangible to each other.
One purpose of All Saints Day is to give thanks for our corporate life together. One can only imagine how empty our lives would be if we didn’t have each other.
This, of course, raises the question, “What happens to us when we are no longer physically visible to one another?” That time will inevitably come to each one of us. Death separates us from the physical world that we now occupy.
Does this mean that we are no longer in the communion and fellowship of the Church? Does death have the power to break our fellowship with one another? The answer is emphatically “NO!”
How can we affirm this truth? We affirm our continuing fellowship beyond death because we stand on the most basic truth of the Christian Faith.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead! Because He lives, we live also!
But how do we live? What is our relationship with each other after death takes place? Do we continue to be in community with each other as we are at present?
When we consider that the Living Jesus Christ is the basis of our community with one another, the answer is “YES!”
Regardless of whether we function in this life or the next, our common foundation of community with each other is Jesus Christ. In this world, as well as the next, Jesus stands as the recipient of our prayers of praise, intercession, thanksgiving, and petition. We are also the focus of His prayers of praise, intercession, thanksgiving, and petition. This reality expresses an unbreakable bond between Jesus and us. What a beautiful affirmation of our eternal security!
To affirm this bond, we can turn to today’s reading from Revelation. John has a vision of God’s heavenly community being united with His earthly one. The first part of John’s vision is set on earth as the 144,000 are sealed from the coming worldly disaster. These 144,000 represent the Redeemed Israel.
Since this is a vision—and visions are usually symbolic of a greater reality– we can interpret these people as the vanguard of a perfectly complete EARTHLY communion of Saints encompassing every race and culture. How do we see this biblical truth symbolically in the vision of the 144,000?
First, 12 is interpreted as the biblical number for community. We are given in this vision the square root of this number (12 X 12=144). The square root of this biblical number 12 symbolizes the perfection or completeness of this community. We can recall the 12 apostles or the 12 Israelite tribes, which point to the symbolic completeness of God’s community in biblical language.
Finally, 144 is multiplied by 1000, which is a biblical way of symbolizing the great worldwide extent and inclusivity of the Communion of Saints.
This great number is being redeemed from the suffering of this earth. They include literal Israelites—since the 12 tribes are mentioned—and spiritual Israelites because the Church is often called the New Israel. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans (2:29), speaks of this New Israel when he says, “He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men bu
16 min