Remember--An All Saints' Message

We have forgotten who we are

*** Image: Confused man. Imagine waking up in life one day and not remembering who you are!

But the truth: We don’t do much better in real life!

*** Image: We conduct our morning routines, wash our faces and brush our teeth, eat something quickly, go to work or exercise, watch TV, go to sleep, and repeat. But the question is deeper, more significant: Who are you, really?

*** Image: Passport. I’m not talking about the name and statistics on your driver’s licence or passport. I’m talking about the name written on our hearts

We have forgotten who we are

*** No slide: I’m not talking about a kind of amnesia that needs medical attention. I’m talking about at the deepest level we have forgotten who we really are, our true identity. And I don’t mean you or I have forgotten it.

*** Image: Busy street. I mean the whole human race has going around conducting its business in oblivion. The world has forgotten that we have value, purpose. But listen to our text this morning.

Ephesians 1:11–14 NRSV

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

We have forgotten who we are

We share a divine inheritance through Christ

We live to praise Christ’s glory

We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit

We are claimed as God’s own

We are God’s Beloved

Song of Solomon 6:3 NRSV

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

Song of Solomon 8:6 NRSV

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

*** Image: Jesus. People of faith, you are God’s beloved. God is not out there, somewhere, watching the world spin and counting its revolutions around the sun. We are loved by the Lord, created for that love.

Augustine: Thou hast made us...

We have forgotten who we are

We have God’s Holy Spirit as a “down-payment” for the glory to come

We are to live to the praise of his glory

You (plural) have the distinct invitation to live “with the eyes of your heart enlightened, [so that] you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the work of his great power.”

In moments of sheer joy, we sometimes forget that we’ve forgotten.

Live remembering