The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The Sunday after All Saints’ Day, November 6, 2011, All Saints’ Church Smyrna

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).

Several weeks ago I went through the International Concourse at the Atlanta airport; I was coming back from a meeting in Ecuador and it was now time to return to the United States. I had to make sure I had the right travel documents with me: a customs’ form, a Homeland Security form, and above all my passport. It’s an anxious time, early in the morning in this case, with long lines and a long wait. What I was looking for was recognition and a way home. Would the agent look at my picture on the passport and recognize me as a citizen? Would he recognize my right to be here? Would I be welcomed home or turned away?

Citizenship is our subject today, along with the question of where we belong. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel gives an answer for Christians, who are citizens of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven is the place we belong, the country where God’s rule is established and where Jesus is king. As the Gospel suggests, it’s the poor in spirit who qualify for residence, the peacemakers who are part of the household. Those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake will be recognized, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. It’s the pure in heart who will see God. Christianity provides our citizenship, issues our passport, and the kingdom of heaven is our true home.

This citizenship, however, is not a ticket out of this world. Remember what the Gospel says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). Jesus is reminding us that the kingdom of heaven will be established on the earth. It is here that we are called to be humble, to be patient, to be righteous in the sight of God: a mandate we have in our Gospel today. Poverty of spirit and purity of heart are qualities we need now so that God’s rule can be established. This is our home, our inheritance from God; this is our place, the world that he has made. It is this world that will be redeemed and transformed, that will become our country. The Revelation of John shows the heavenly Jerusalem as a city that comes down out of heaven from God in order to be established on the earth. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15), as it says in Revelation.

We are citizens of that kingdom. As Paul the Apostle says in the Letter to the Philippians, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). “From there”, not “to there”; Jesus is coming to establish a kingdom in our midst. God’s issuing the passports, and our names are on them. We are citizens of that kingdom. God is claiming, and will claim us, as his own.

The liturgies of Holy Baptism and Confirmation which we celebrate today are all about that kingdom and our membership in it. All of us were issued our passports when we were baptized, and we became instantly recognizable as citizens of the kingdom. So it is that new passports are being issued today for some new citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and we are seeing the kingdom extended before our eyes. Those who are being baptized and confirmed today honor us by your willingness to become a part of this community.

This is a very important day for All Saints’ Church, for people who know what it is like to be a refugee. Christians all know the refugee experience in some sense, whether we were born in Burma or Thailand or not, because we all know what it is like to pass from one world to another, to cross the border between sin and death and the kingdom of heaven that’s on the other side. But what we discover in Baptism is that we are no longer refugees but citizens, “fellow citizens with the saints” (Eph. 2:19) as the Apostle Paul says somewhere. We all discover that we are recognized as God’s sons and daughters, as Jesus’ brothers and sisters. We are all welcomed home as citizens to the place where we have always belonged.

- The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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