1st November 2026
Reflection with readings below
All Saints is a celebration of the community of God’s people. It is not just a peek at what it might be like in heaven, but a reminder that we are already part of God’s kin-dom here on Earth, and are called to be part of that movement of gospel living and working that will make God’s kin-dom a reality for all. It is a reality built on God’s healing and redemptive power.
The reading from the Book of Revelation is a reminder that to be active as God’s people is not a ‘get out of gaol’ card: the work of the gospel may well require not just effort but sacrifice too. The work of the gospel requires us to speak truth to power and to oppose practices that are contri to the kin-dom of God.
The kin-dom of God is not to be found in economic and business practices that say profit can override the wellbeing of others, nor caring for the wellbeing of the planet. Nor can profit override making good any damage caused. We heard in last Sunday’s readings the assertion that God’s law can be summed up in the twofold command that we should both love God and love our neighbour as ourself.
This command does not sanction merely looking after number 1. This command does not sanction accumulating wealth at the expense of others. It does not sanction seeking out high pay packages when others do not even have a sufficiency to get by. To work for the kin-dom of God is to be poor and dependent, is to suffer grief, to hunger and thirst after what is right, to be merciful and generous, to accept disrespect and persecution. It is to share our wealth and our income, to focus on the needs of others, and to shape our lives to care for the Earth.
Groups such as Christian Climate Action, Fossil Free London, Greenpeace, and many others are challenging Shell – and other oil companies – and the government. The latter for their acquiescent stance towards this oligopoly-style industry.
How can it be acceptable for companies, who know that their business is destroying the safe climate that we have enjoyed for at least 10,000 years, to continue to operate?
How can it be acceptable for them to do this knowing – from their own scientists and advisers – the harm they are causing?
How can it be acceptable for them to continue to expand this destructive line of business – including engaging in the creation of even more new markets for their products?
How can it be acceptable for them to make ever-increasing profits from their business – increases that are currently the direct result of war? And how can it ever be acceptable that they can make these profits without being required to pay compensation and reparation for the historic and ongoing damage they are causing? And how can it be acceptable for them to receive tax breaks and subsidies from the government in order to enlarge their business?
Surely the Government’s responsibility is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both people and environment? To ensure that businesses and business models do what is good for both people and environment? To ensure that what businesses do now doesn’t adversely impact future generations?
Let us seek to do what is good in God’s eyes, to follow the teachings of God’s law, so that God’s kin-dom becomes a reality for all. Let us accept persecution and opposition, if that is what needed to challenge businesses and business practices that are contri to God’s values. Let us accept that we may need to be more generous in sharing the wealth we have to ensure the equal wellbeing of our neighbours. Let is accept that we will have to adjust our lifestyles, reshape our expectations – but do so knowing it will be for a better, kinder future for all. Let us accept that we must be willing to show loving kindness – ie mercy – to everyone, including government ministers and those who run fossil fuel companies, as well as to those who are victims of climate change, of pollution, of profit-driven extractivism, and of wars etc.
Let us rejoice in living together as God’s community of saints.
Revelation 7:9-17
After this I, John, looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honour
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
“For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Psalm 34:1-10,22
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; *
his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
2 I will glory in the Lord; *
let the humble hear and rejoice.
3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *
let us exalt his Name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me *
and delivered me out of all my terror.
5 Look upon him and be radiant, *
and let not your faces be ashamed.
6 I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *
and saved me from all my troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, *
and he will deliver them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; *
happy are they who trust in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you that are his saints, *
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger, *
but those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good.
22 The Lord ransoms the life of his servants, *
and none will be punished who trust in him.
1 John 3:1-3
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
