This sermon is based on-
(Isaiah 25: 6-9)Here in the building as we come to celebrate All Saints Rejoice people of God praise the Lord let us keep the feast in honour of all God's Saints in whose Victory the Angels rejoice and glorify the Son.
Because that's something we're all going to share in together. I promised you a prop I better go and fetch it and I have a handy table. Gets better and better now I don't know how many of you here in this church have been carving these over the past week. We always carve pumpkins ready for Halloween and so we carved pumpkins ready for Thursday evening for Halloween which is of course all Hallow's Eve it's an evening before All Saints Day.
A bit like Christmas Eve it's an evening before when we start to think about these things that are amazing. These things that are amazing in heaven and on Earth. In that Isaiah reading we hear that the Lord of hosts will make for All Peoples a feast. If you've ever been out on the streets on Halloween night you might get just a sense of that Heavenly Feast a little preaster if you like of that Heavenly Feast of the Kingdom.
The streets are dark but the streets are alive, they're alive with families with children excitement with joy running about. The streets for once belong to the people who live in and not to the cars.
We always carve a pumpkin because as I expect you know if you are trick or treating. The houses you're allowed to go to are the houses that have got pumpkins you don't ring on the doorbells of the other ones that's what the rule is.
And you need a pumpkin there shining the light for you so what's that got to do for us for All Saints why have we got these pumpkins shining a light shining a light to this Feast. How is it that we can follow our way to find this heavenly Feast that we hear of in Isaiah this heavenly Feast where it say that God will take away death remove this Veil this shroud from us. It's not for nothing is it that at
Halloween people are dressed up in these things that are quite scary quite dark because here for one night of the year we can thumb our noses at death because we are sure and certain of God's light.
God's light in those dark places that we know that death is not the end we know celebrating today that the whole company of all those Saints who have gone before us are here celebrating with
us how do we find our way to the feast.
Here's my pumpkin and you can see here where it used to be growing on the plant. Can you see this bit at the top that's a bit where it was attached to the plant. I don't know if you can remember. Cast your mind back a few months and we had a Vine going reminding us of Jesus the True Vine of how we need to be grafted in and growing as part of Jesus and that's how we find our way to that Heavenly Feast.
Here we have a pumpkin it used to be part of a Vine but we've got the pumpkin here and if it's wanting to be something useful it's got to be opened up first that goes for us as well doesn't it.
We need to allow ourselves to be opened up to God's love and to God's light. It's an uncomfortable thing being opened up isn't it. I'm sure all of us have stuff inside us that maybe we would rather wasn't
seen maybe we would like to keep these things hidden these slimy unpleasant things inside us these things of jealousy of hatred.
There goes a seed pick that up later slimy bits unpredictable slimy bits get all over the place don't they. Times that we are less than loving the times that we are jealous the times that we're impatient with others. The times that we want to do the things for ourselves and not for other people opening ourselves up to God's light and to God's love is a dangerous proposition because it means getting rid of these things inside us.
Allowing God first of all to see them because God doesn't come rashly bursting his way into our lives God has to be invited we have to allow God in before we can let God change us.
God is the good Gardener these slimy disgusting bits of ourselves these bits that we don't really want to share these bits we want hidden away don't just get disposed of in the rubbish. But God the good Gardener makes compost these slimy bits that have been given over to God can be broken down can be turned into good soil ready to grow maybe some more pumpkin Vines.
Another year so once we have been cleared out God sorted us out and filled with God's light and God's love it's not something that we have to keep for ourselves there's a light in this pumpkin.
Because actually God's light and life inside of us is something for us to share and so we need to allow our light to shine to shine to others so that other people can see it.
I don't know if you've been there to be able to make their way to our Feast our Feast of sweets our precursor to that Heavenly Feast. We needed a light to show them the way so that they would know where to come.
And that's why we have our pumpkins lit. They're a bit like you know when you got a plane coming into land and they have the landing strip we kind of almost had a landing strip of pumpkins to show the way.
That's what we are called to be here today All Saints Day we are called to shine like this with God's light. God's love shining out of us and to remember those people who have gone before us who have allowed themselves to be opened up to God and God's love inside them.
To allow themselves to be cleaned out of all those things inside them that are bad the slimy bits the unpleasant bits and to be filled with God's love to share it and to light the way to us.
I wonder who it is who has been like a pumpkin shining for you who has who is it who has lit the way to you to show you that way to the heavenly banquet. Where death is no more one day in what ways we can shine this light for one another to show one another the way to God's heavenly banquet to this feast.
