Sermon-Plugging in to a Divine Power Network

Pylons on the Road to Yeovil, Danny Marky, 2021

A sermon given during Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 2nd November 2025 – the Feast of All Saints, based on the text of Ephesians 1.11-end and Luke 6.20-31. We were delighted to welcome the Master and members of The Worshipful Company of Fuellers to the service to mark ‘Fuellers Sunday.’

Today we mark the feast of All Saints, which began as a day to honour saints who didn’t have their own particular feast, but over time has become a celebration of all holy people who have reflected the light of Christ in their lives. This “Communion of Saints,” as the Nicene Creed – our great statement of faith – puts it, is a network that unites us across time and space, earth and heaven, and with Jesus himself, the source of all holiness.

We are joined today by members of the Worshipful Company of Fuellers whose roots can be traced back to Woodmongers and Coal Sellers and was re-founded to include representatives from across the energy industry. Those whose work it is power our world. We welcome some of those who founded the modern Company as well as newer members.

The Company’s coat of arms incorporates black diamonds, representing coal and heraldic creatures adorned with symbols of light and heat. It’s motto: ‘our strength is in carbon’.

A statement of fact - which reminds us of the connection between earth and the heavens. The powerful nuclear furnaces of the stars are the only places in the universe where the element vital for life can be made. Every atom of carbon inside our bodies was once inside a star. As physicist and priest John Polkinghorne was fond of saying ‘we are people of stardust’.

The life force that pulses through each of us – that the Fuellers and their colleagues harness and channel for the common good – is the legacy of creation’s first light.

In our first reading from scripture, Saint Paul has a lot to say about power and inter-connectedness. Writing to the church in Ephesus, he begins his letter by summarising the truth of the gospel – explaining how all of history is connected to and culminated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He then goes on to explain how this truth should affect every aspect of the life of the church. Paul writes:

“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 heart enlightened, 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.”

Paul describes God’s power as a spirit that enlightens our hearts, bringing wisdom and revelation. He sees us as conduits of this divine energy – vessels through which God’s grace – his light – shines. Just as dull and dusty lumps of coal can become roaring flames – or, under pressure, diamonds – so too can the Spirit transform our ordinary lives into something extraordinary.

The Church calls this process sanctification – the gradual work of the Spirit within us, shaping us into the likeness of Christ. It is the process by which we all become saints.

That may sound daunting. It’s easy to think of saints as spiritual superheroes at the summit of holiness - far beyond our reach. The scriptures tell a different story. Reminding us that saints were not perfect people; but those through whom the perfect love of God has shone. Peter – later Saint Peter - denied Christ. Paul – later Saint Paul - persecuted the Church. Yet both became, through grace, instruments of God’s power.

Sanctification, then, is not about perfection, but participation – willingly plugging ourselves in to this divine power network and ensuring we remain connected to it. Allowing its energy to flow through us, transforming us from within.

Our gospel reading takes us deeper into this mystery of transformation and power.

Jesus teaches the disciples what we have come to call the Beatitudes – a sequence of blessings that seem counterintuitive. “Blessed are you who are poor,” he says, “for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” Then come the corresponding woes: “Woe to you who are rich… Woe to you who are full now… Woe to you who are laughing now…”

Jesus’ words reveal that power in God’s Kingdom is different to that on earth. Like a battery plugged in the other way around. And this power is not that of wealth or status or self-sufficiency – but the power of divine love.

This is the power connects the faithful; that drives our sanctification. The energy that binds us to each other and to the network the creeds call the Communion of Saints. Divine, life-sustaining love that flows from God through creation, through us, and back again. It connects even those who seem furthest apart. That is why Jesus says: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” Because the truth is we cannot go off grid and be illuminated by the light of Christ.  

God’s love is the ultimate renewable power source. An eternal supply and one which multiplies the more it is shared.

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Jesus said – and did – and calls us to do the same.

The saints are those who discovered how to do so – by fuelling their lives not by selfish desire or sectional interests but by the power of divine love. They became people of blessing – channels of grace through whom the love of God could flow into the world.

Today, on this Feast of All Saints and Fuellers’ Sunday, we celebrate our connection to this great community. Giving thanks for fellowship and togetherness in all its forms. For the transformation of ourselves and each other that this brings.

And as we gather here in communion, let us pray that our hearts may continue to be enlightened by the power of the Spirit; that we may come to understand more deeply the great blessings we have inherited in Christ; and that, as we go out into the world, we may share those blessings more generously.

And as we continue our journey of sanctification, striving to become more Christ-like, when we slip or fall or blow a fuse – as we certainly will – let us take comfort in the knowledge that we are held by a safety net: that great cloud of witnesses, that divine power network; the fellowship of all those who have gone before us in faith. Their prayers surround us, their example strengthens us, their light guides us.

In the words of the great hymn we will sing at the end of our service today:

O blest communion! fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluya!

Image : Pylons on the Road to Yeovil, Danny Marky, 2021