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Ephesians 1:11-23

All Saints, November 2, 2025 (translated)

Holy Trinity Cathedral

 

“Death and Life”

Most people, I have found, do not like to talk about death.  We don’t want to be reminded of our mortality or that of those we love.  Each of us are born, live, and die once on this earth.  But without a clear idea of anything other than this brief span of existence, it is easier to deny or defy the end of life than to face its reality.  It takes courage to believe in something more: in resurrection.  This, however, is the “hope to which God has called you” (Ephesians 1:18).

How many of you have written wills?  Arranged power of attorney or guardianship of children?  How many of you have even had conversations about your wishes for care or funeral arrangements with your family?  Our societal norms don’t make this easy.  Have you noticed that we don’t even like to say that someone has died?  Someone “passes away” or will be “laid to rest”.  We say that we have “lost” a loved one, as if they were a misplaced piece of luggage.  Other than a funeral home or a lawyer’s office, there are few places where it is considered appropriate to bring up these indelicate matters.  A good family doctor will engage in medical considerations but given their workloads, they are often too busy to spend in-depth time. Hence the creation of opportunities such as “last things” workshops, chat-groups, or death cafés where people can voice their questions and needs.  But there are still not many venues considered safe in a death-denying culture.

Our wider context is not only death-denying.  At the same time, it is death-defying.  Breakthroughs in medicine and technology push the boundaries of what we even consider as the end.  With treatments available to prolong our mortal frame, there come new moral choices for individuals and their families.  Do we choose an intervention that will give more time on this earth?  And what are the consequences for quality of life versus quantity of days or weeks or months?  Sometimes we are responsible for painful decisions on behalf or with those we love.  We have more control now than in any previous generation regarding the management of pain and time, including the consideration of medically-assisted dying or M.A.I.D.. The natural course of living and dying has changed radically.  There will be individual circumstances regarding whether or how to stave off death, or whether we ought to even if we can.  If we believe that this life is all there is, and that our earthly relationship with others is all we have, it is understandable why we want to hold on at any cost.  But even with all the tools at human disposal, we can only defy the natural order up to a point.  Death comes for each of us, and not always at a time of our choosing.

Here is a hidden strength of the Christian Church for the world!  We are not death-denying.  Neither are we death-defying.  Rather, our community of faith is countercultural in that it is willing to face the big theological and moral questions about death.  Our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).  Here is the keystone of faith:  We believe in both death and resurrection.  We can’t deny or defy the one to get to the other.  Rather, death is embraced as the beginning of something more. 

Twice in the calendar year this is expressed in the festivals of the Church.  In the spring comes the triple festival of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.  Together these three days are called the Triduum.  The mark the events of the holy week leading to the Sunday of the Resurrection.  They make present the suffering, death, and burial of Jesus, while all the while pointing to the reality of resurrection at Easter.  Jesus truly died.  But in him, God’s power breaks sin and even the gates of death and hell.  All those who die may rise into the new life through his saving work.  We celebrate Easter as the culmination of the good news.  But in the darkness of late autumn, there is another triple festival that mirrors Holy Week.  Sometimes it is called the Dark Triduum.  This consists of All Hallows Eve (or Hallowe’en) on October 31st, All Saints’ Day on November 1st, and All Souls’ Day on November 2nd.  We are in the middle of this liturgical time.  In a spiritual sense the veil between this life and the next is extremely thin right now.  We may feel closely touched by the souls of those who have died and are waiting for us to enter into the resurrection.  Whether we think of ghosts or angels, the communion of saints or the souls of the departed, there is around us a great company to which we are connected on the other side of this life.

Perhaps you are feeling the pain and the poignancy of this awareness.  To each of us come reminders of those we have loved who have died.  It may be a favourite food, an anniversary, a piece of music, or an image posted or shared.  We never know when we will feel a pang, but somehow at this time of the year death is more present.  This is not a bad thing.  It is better to remember with sadness or even regret than to forget.  Hearts that feel are hearts that are vulnerable and still open to love.  When Jesus spoke to those whom he named blessed, he included those who know what it is to love and say goodbye.  Blessed are the poor; blessed are the hungry; blessed are those who weep.  To go on living when you know you are without.  To acknowledge that there is joy in spite of pain. To rejoice and be glad for reward in heaven awaits.  To think on the company of saints to which we in turn are called to join.

In the Letter to the Ephesian Church, the writer encourages Christians with the following prayer:

“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance amongst the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.”

(Ephesians 1:17-20). 

That working is the death and resurrection of Christ.  Through that one, particular death by crucifixion, the way through death to life is opened for us.  We don’t have to be afraid of death or fight against it.  When it is our time, we will step through that doorway trusting in Jesus’ hand waiting to take ours and lead us into resurrection.  Until then, we are called to live with courage and love as saints, knowing the blessing and pain of love.  Amen