The Upside-Down Kingdom of the Saints
November 2, 2025
Opening Thought
When we hear the word "saint," what image comes to mind? For many of us, it’s a serene figure in a stained-glass window, robed in light, perpetually perfect, and impossibly distant. We think of spiritual superheroes, giants of faith whose lives are more legend than reality. On this All Saints' Sunday, it's tempting to think we are simply observers, celebrating a history that has little to do with our own messy, complicated, and imperfect lives.
But this Sunday, our lessons and our music radically challenge that assumption. They tear down the stained-glass barrier and redefine sainthood not as a status of perfection, but as a posture of the heart.
The Gospel, in particular, presents us with the Beatitudes—a great "upside-down" kingdom where the blessed are not the rich, the full, or the powerful, but the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the hated. This is a jarring and beautiful truth: the saints of God are not who the world expects them to be. They are the ones who, despite their suffering, lived a life of counter-cultural love, and in doing so, inherited an everlasting kingdom. This isn't just a day to remember them; it's a day to recognize them as our family and to find our own story in theirs.
Engaging the Word
Our journey into the Word begins with the revolutionary proclamation from Luke's Gospel (6:20-31). Jesus, looking at his disciples, bypasses the powerful and comfortable to bless the marginalized. "Blessed are you who are poor... Blessed are you who are hungry... Blessed are you who weep... Blessed are you when people hate you." This is the great reversal. The reward for those who suffer for righteousness is not on earth; it is "great in heaven." And how do these blessed ones live? In the most counter-cultural way imaginable: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." This is the very definition of a saint—not one who is perfect, but one who, empowered by God, lives this upside-down life of love.
Psalm 149 sings this great reversal into being. It is a "new song" of victory. Who are the triumphant? "Let the faithful rejoice in triumph... For the Lord takes pleasure in his people and adorns the poor with victory." Once again, it is the poor and the faithful—the very ones Jesus calls blessed—who are adorned with God's glory.
Ephesians (1:11-23) then gives us the "why." Paul prays for the "eyes of your heart [to be] enlightened," so we can understand the hope we are called to. And what is that hope? It is the "riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints." This is a crucial line. The saints are not just people we admire; they are our inheritance. Our hope is bound up with them, guaranteed by the "immeasurably great power" of God that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the heavenly places.
Finally, Daniel (7:1-3, 15-18) gives us the cosmic picture. The world is full of frightening "beasts"—visions of chaos, empires, and worldly powers that rise and fall. But this chaos does not have the last word. The vision culminates in the promise that "the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever—for ever and ever." This is the ultimate triumph that the poor, the weeping, and the hated will inherit.
A Journey in Song: Our Musical Guides
Our music today is a magnificent tapestry, weaving together remembrance, victory, and the joyful hope of the Communion of Saints.
Our Opening Voluntaries set a perfect tone of solemn remembrance and gentle hope. Florence Price's Little Pastorale offers a moment of simple, earthy beauty, while Gerald Near's Requiem aeternam ("Eternal rest") is a direct and tender prayer for all the faithful departed.The Entrance Hymn, "For all the saints" (#287), is the quintessential anthem for this day. We sing with triumphant "Alleluias" for those who have "fought the good fight." The very tune, Sine Nomine (Latin for "Without Name"), reminds us that we are singing not just for the famous, but for the countless unnamed saints whose lives of faith, like ours, bless the world.
The Sequence Hymn, "I sing a song of the saints of God" (#293), beautifully answers the question, "Who are the saints?" It demystifies sainthood, reminding us they were "soldiers, and priests, and kings," but also "doctors and queens," and ordinary people who were "brave, and strong, and true." It connects directly to Luke's Beatitudes, making sainthood a path we, too, can follow.
The Anthem, "And I Saw a New Heaven" by Malcolm Archer, is the musical fulfillment of the visions in Daniel and Ephesians. It is a glorious, soaring depiction of the "new heaven and new earth," the place where God "will wipe every tear from their eyes." It is the promise of the heavenly reward, sung into our hearts.
The Presentation Hymn, "Ye watchers and ye holy ones" (#618), is a magnificent hymn that unites the Church Militant (us, "ye watchers" on earth) with the Church Triumphant ("ye holy ones" in heaven) in one, single, cosmic chorus of "Alleluia!"
Our Communion Hymns are a perfect pairing. "Jerusalem, the golden" (#624) is a hymn of deep longing for that heavenly city, the "home of the elect." Then, "I come with joy to meet my Lord" (#304), brings that future hope into the present moment. As we come to the rail, we "are joined with saints" and "find our home," tasting the heavenly feast even now.
The Post-Communion Hymn, "Who are these like stars appearing" (#286), brings us back to the beatitudes. It asks who these glorious, robed figures are. The answer: "These are they who have contended / for their Lord's reward... now, victorious, / they appear in robes of light." They are the ones who were poor, weeping, and hated, now adorned with victory.
Our Closing Voluntary is a brilliant and joyous stroke of liturgy: John Weaver’s celebrated fantasy on Sine Nomine (1937–2021). This is not just a standard arrangement; it’s a virtuosic and witty postlude infused with the unmistakable spirit of a New Orleans Dixieland band. Weaver masterfully combines three "saintly" tunes: SINE NOMINE (which we sang as our opening hymn), SARUM (another historic tune for the same text), and the beloved American spiritual, "Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In."
Hearing the majestic SINE NOMINE re-imagined with jazz harmonies and dotted rhythms is an exhilarating surprise. The piece sonically bridges the worlds we've been celebrating: it draws a direct, joyful line between the saints of the ancient church (SARUM), the saints of the Anglican tradition (SINE NOMINE), and the saints of the American spiritual tradition ("Oh, When the Saints"). After a virtuosic pedal cadenza, all the themes combine in a grand, "crowd-pleasing" finale. It brings us full circle from our opening hymn, but with a joyful shout. It’s a final, resounding "Alleluia!" that sends us out not with quiet solemnity, but with the unbridled, jazzy joy of the entire, diverse, and triumphant communion of saints, marching in together.
A Closing Note on Our Journey
All Saints' Sunday is not a memorial for a few spiritual giants. It is a family reunion. It is the day we remember that we are "knit together... in one communion and fellowship." The saints are the "Sine Nomine"—the unnamed ones. They are the poor, the weeping, the hungry, and the hated who, by God's grace, lived the counter-cultural, upside-down life of loving their enemies. Their story, and our story, does not end in suffering. It ends in victory. Today, our liturgy gives us a glimpse of that victory and commissions us to live that same faithful, courageous, and loving life, confident that our reward is great in heaven.
A Prayer for the Week Ahead
Let us pray for the Church and for the world.
For the Church, that we may be a "new song" of praise, boldly living the blessed life of the Beatitudes and serving as a beacon of hope to the world,
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For all who are poor, for those who are hungry, for all who weep, and for all who are hated for righteousness' sake, that they may be comforted by your presence and know that their reward is great in heaven,
Lord, in yourd mercy, hear our prayer.
For our enemies, and for the grace in our own hearts to love them, do good to them, and break the cycles of hatred with counter-cultural love,
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For all the saints, named and unnamed, who have gone before us in faith, that we may be inspired by their witness and follow in their steps,
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
That the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened, so that we may know the hope of our calling and the riches of the glorious inheritance we share with all your holy ones,
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting.
Am
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