R/ Isa 25:6-9. Ps 26 (27):1…vars. Rom 5:5-11. A Matt 11:25-30 B Mark 15:33-39 (Opt + 16:1-6). C Luke 7:11-17.
C/W A,B,C Lam 3:17-26,31-33. OR Wis 3:1-9. Ps 23 OR Ps 27:1-7,17-18. Rom 5:5-11 OR 1 Pet 1:3-9. John 5:19-25 OR John 6:37-40

Why do we pray for the dead? Some of our Christian brothers and sisters take the view that if the dead are in heaven, they don't need our prayers. If they are in the other place, our prayers can't help them! Some take the view that such prayers are morbid and scary!

But these are not the beliefs of the Eastern Orthodox Church, or the Western Latin Church, of which our Church of England is part. Our service tonight is taken mainly from the Common Worship Lectionary and Propers, authorised by the Church of England General Synod.

ALL of us come to this issue with pre-conditioned mindsets and opinions. As intelligent people, sometimes we need to take an objective new look at the Scriptures, their interpretation, Sacred Tradition and Apostolic teaching.

In addition to the natural human desire to continue our relationship with our loved ones who have gone before us, there are sound reasons from Scripture, Divine Tradition and the earliest Christian sources, which show that it is not only right, but our bounden duty, to pray for the departed.

We are not praying for 'dead people'. Their physical bodies are dead but the people themselves are in the dimension of eternal life to which the whole gospel refers. However we must also be aware of God’s specific injunctions that we must not try to summon up people from the dead, or to consult ‘mediums’ or to dabble in the occult – that opens the channels for the devil and his minions and can cause great spiritual and psychological damage.

Sadly, that is what some well intentioned but sadly mistaken people were doing when dabbling in Halloween on Monday night, thinking it’s just harmless fun! What a thing to expose our children to!! Look up Leviticus 19:31, Leviticus 20:6 and the whole of 1 Samuel 28.

The preacher at today's celebration would normally wish to share a devotional word with his brothers and sisters. His desire would be to deepen their understanding and closeness to the departed; and to offer the Sacrifice of Calvary in union with them. But because of the disparate views rattling around the Christian community on this subject, there is an even stronger temptation to present a theological discourse. It is virtually impossible to do both in the time available!

However, we must confirm the teaching of the undivided church since Apostolic times. We have no authority from the Bible to claim that conversion may be possible after death or that our prayers might achieve that. But we have every right to emphasise the universal love and mercy of God and that it is his will that all people should be saved. Look up 1 Tim 2:3-4 and 2 Pet 3:9. If you would like more on that subject I suggest you listen to the pod cast on our website of my homily for this celebration on 2 November 2009!

But let us look firstly at our Lord's own examples in Scripture. Jesus prayed for the dead son of the Widow of Nain – His words took the form of a command (Luke 7:11-17).. The dead man was restored to life. Jesus prayed for his great friend Lazarus, again with a word of command. Lazarus was restored to life. (John 11:38-44). The souls of both these people, whose bodies had died, had departed and gone somewhere! Both of course were to die again one day.

Who heard these commands? To whom were the words addressed? The men were dead. Jesus was God incarnate, but his Father in Heaven also heard those words which had power. The words weren’t for the benefit of the witnesses alone. In Mark 7:31-37, the healing of the deaf and dumb man in the Decapolis, Jesus took him away privately – they were alone - and ‘looking up to heaven, he sighed’, and spoke the prayer for healing.

The words of Jesus expressed an intention which can only be described as prayer. The specific words were of little importance. Whether the prayer was for physical life or spiritual life is a distinction without a difference! Look at Jesus with the paralytic man in Mark 2:9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic -- "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home."

Jesus also infers the continuity between the dead and the living, referring to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Resurrection, and the God of the living in Mark 12:24-27. This of course gives credence to the passage from 2 Maccabees 12 – referring to Judas Maccabeus, “For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.”

Of course, not all Christians accept the so-called Apocryphal books as canonical, although the Eastern and Western churches have done so in antiquity. It has to be remembered that "official" editions of the King James Version (AKA "Authorized Version") contained the books of the Apocrypha until they were expunged in 1796. The Book of Common Prayer recommends they be “read for example….” [only inferred in preached homily].

There are other incidents which I have not time to mention. But suffice it to say that if Jesus hadn’t wanted us to pray for the dead, either for their physical, resurrected or spiritual lives, He wouldn’t have done so either. John 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father”.

Jesus spent much time in prayer. As our exemplar, we must do the same. He prayed for the living and the dead. So must we, just as he did.

The Apostles prayed for people who had died. In Acts, Peter knelt down and prayed for Tabitha [or ‘Dorcas’] (Acts 9:36-43) who had died and she came back to life. Again, whether the prayer was for physical life or spiritual life is a distinction without a difference! Tabitha was dead! We know that prayer is always answered. But God does not always answer our prayers according to their specific intentions.

We might pray for someone who has been involved in a terrible accident. They might in fact have died before we knew they were dead – and so we would be praying for the dead without knowing it. But our prayer would be answered by God for their benefit anyway.

In the Second letter to Timothy, Paul prayed for Onesiphorus. An unbiased reading of the text clearly shows that Onesiphorus was not alive: furthermore in the final salutations Paul greets the individuals Prisca, Aquila and others, but only the household of Onesiphorus. (2 Tim 1:16-18, 2 Tim 4:19)

Then of course, there is that mysterious verse in 1 Corinthians 15:29 where Paul is talking about the resurrection. He says: “Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?”

Although this practice was not continued in the Apostolic Church, Paul does not seem to condemn it as he is usually very quick to do with other things. It is obvious that the Apostles through the Holy Spirit, realized that there were other theological precedents which made baptism of the dead unnecessary. But as with Baptism, the other sacraments and even more, the Eucharist, these are the highest forms of prayer possible. Paul accepts without comment, that Christians as a matter of course, through prayer and the sacraments can affect the continuing spiritual lives of the departed. It is up to God how specifically He answers that prayer.

We also have to determine the Apostolic teaching which Jesus handed on to the apostles, not all of which is enshrined in holy Scripture but is obviously commensurate with it. (see John 21:25) Inscriptions in the catacombs of earliest Christian saints, contains such phrases as “Mayst thou live among the saints; May God refresh the soul of . . … ; Peace be with them”. The tomb of the Christian Abercius of Hieropolis in Phrygia (2nd century) bears the inscription: “Let every friend who observes this pray for me”.

Early Christian writers Tertullian and St. Cyprian in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, testify to the regular practice of praying for the souls of the departed. This demonstrates that Christians believed that their prayers could somehow have a positive effect on the souls of departed believers.

The Church still teaches that prayer for the dead in Christ, and for those who died as "friends" of God (those of other faiths and none), is helpful to them. Why? Firstly, because we do not always know how God answers prayer – and we cannot impose our limitations or interpretations on Almighty God.

Secondly, because sanctification is seen not as a point-in-time occurrence, but as a process which never ends. The Church looks upon salvation itself as a dynamic process, a continual growth in holiness, purity, and closeness with God which continues even in heaven.

Since we are created beings, and God alone is Uncreated, how can we imagine that men and women will ever fully comprehend God or be totally filled with His Holiness, His Uncreated Life? We can never develop to being identical, totally equal with God, but we cannot know how far we can grow. He is infinite Love and infinite Holiness: those with Him in heaven are blessed to grow in this Love and Holiness infinitely. And our prayers can help them!

Otherwise, when we are in heaven what would there be to look forward to?! Although there is no time as we know it in Heaven, life there has to be sequential as evidenced in the Bible, one thing happening after another. Otherwise, in our understanding, it would be like a perpetual vacuum, a frame frozen on the screen of infinity. At the same time of course, because of heaven’s timelessness, our prayers may even be retrospective, and our prayers can take various forms. A wish can be prayer, our whole lives should be a prayer!

Not only do our prayers help the departed in ways we do not fully understand, but praying for them helps us as well. It keeps their remembrance alive in us, helping our hearts to stay warm and full of love towards them. It gives us a way to experience a sense of their presence, since prayer is far more than simply the making of requests. It keeps them before our eyes as living examples of Christian faith for us to emulate. Prayer for the departed also gives us another way to continue in the awesome privilege of participating in God's ongoing work of the salvation, sanctification, and glorification of every soul whom He draws to Himself.

And a vivid remembrance of those living with Christ in heaven can more thoroughly and deeply assure us that there truly is life after death, which can help diminish any fear of death which we may have. We can see, then, that our prayers for the departed help preserve and increase the unity between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven – which should be model for the unity of the Church in our time, not the scandalous disunity that denominationalism produces.

Furthermore, our bodies are the Temples of the Holy Spirit. Holy things, holy people, holy bodies do not lose their sanctification through death. One day, they will be resurrected! Cementing the ongoing relationship and prayer between the living and the dead is shown in 2 Kings 13:20-21 - Here, a man was raised to life merely by coming into contact with the bones of Elisha. The holiness of our bodies and other created things doesn’t just go away – and come back again on the day of resurrection!!! “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day” (2 Tim 1:12).

In addition, miracles often occur in respect to the earthly possessions of the saints. We are told in the New Testament that even Saint Paul's clothing became instruments of God's healing: “ so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them”. (Acts 19:11,12). The woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak and was healed (Matt 9:20). Similarly, with St Peter’s shadow (Acts 5: 15/16).

The idea that such miracles were limited to the apostolic age is a man made fallacy called “Cessationism” constructed to fit a theological system opposed to the teaching of the Church. If one is in the Apostolic Church, it is still the apostolic age.

So physical things connected with the holy, or ‘relics’ as we call them, of the Saints, are also powerful channels of God’s power, expressing the unity between the Church militant (you and me), and the Church Triumphant, the Communion of saints: and how that unity should be reflected in the Church on Earth as the ONE Body of Christ. Miracles are not only for the biblical age. They still occur today. You only have to look at Lourdes and Walsingham, to name but two.

As a contemporary British theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Bishop Kallistos Ware, says, "Just as (Orthodox) Christians here on earth pray for one another and ask for one another's prayers, so they pray also for the faithful departed and ask the faithful departed to pray for them. Death cannot sever the bond of mutual love which links the members of the Church together".

Let no one criticise another person's prayers. Let no one try to instruct Almighty God how he understands or answers those prayers. Let no one under estimate the boundless and compassionate mercy and love of our God.

And let us rejoice with our departed loved ones and friends with Jesus in the communion of Saints, as we offer His Eucharistic sacrifice on their behalf, and on our own behalf, in fellowship with them – until we meet again.

see also - All Souls Day Eucharist Page