The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
November 4, 2001

With the Eyes of Your Heart Enlightened
Ephesians 1:15-23

The power of positive promotion rules. Multimillion-dollar ad campaigns put the name of some product on the tip of the nation’s tongues all at once. No one seems to have the machinery of PR and advertising down quite like Hollywood. As the 100-million-and-more-dollar epics roll off the movie studio lots, multi-million dollar promotional campaigns are already kicked into high gear. There are television and newspaper ads, the posters and trailers at movie theaters, tie in promotions with toys, games and fast food, and the ubiquitous star interviews on all the morning TV shows where the new movie is hailed as the stars greatest work, most fun project, or whatever the studio thinks will sell it. Yet, all the promotional publicity in the world cannot buy the buzz that can make or break a movie. 

A basement-low budget film like The Blair Witch Project can ride the tide of major buzz to the bank, while high profile, big budget movies like Waterworld tank when the buzz was bad. Word of mouth carries a lot of weight and buzz is the hard to generate excitement carried from excited person to interested listener. Buzz is the word of mouth promotion that advertising and promotion can affect, but no one can really buy the buzz. As the buzz builds, the power of the promotional machinery hangs in the balance, waiting to see if the buzz will make or break the picture. 

Yesterday morning, I was at St. Richard’s Church, which meets in the Methodist Church on Jekyll Island. I had been asked to speak to the Southeast Convocation Sharing Day for the Episcopal Church Women. Though I was the one signed on to present, I too learned from the gathering. After my talk on the Stories of Communion, a question and answer time went on for longer than my scheduled talk as the women wanted to hear about King of Peace first hand. Many of them had heard through the grapevine from one or more of the 35 visitors we had a few weeks ago who were attending a retreat at Honey Creek in the north end of the county. Or they had heard from one of the other now and again visitors we have had come from another Episcopal Church in the Diocese. 

What I learned from their questions and informal chatting with participants is that King of Peace has good buzz around the Diocese of Georgia. Folks who have never been to our church have heard that the new mission meets in a house that feels like a church. The buzz is that King of Peace has a sweet spirit about it that you can feel when you walk in the building. As the gracious gossip goes, King of Peace is an exciting church growing steadily as more people discover for themselves that you can’t judge the authenticity of this church by the outward appearance. I’m not completely sure what the buzz about King of Peace is like around Camden County, but the buzz in the Diocese is good. 

Our reading this morning from the letter to the Ephesians, tells that the buzz about Ephesus was good. Their good reputation had also spread among churches close by and further afield. Paul writes, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.” The buzz about Ephesus is that they have faith in Jesus and love toward all the saints. Notice that the love toward all the saints is not love for long ago faithful Christians memorialized in stained glass. Paul uses the word saints, in the Greek hagio meaning “Holy Ones” to describe Christians. Paul equates saints with fellow Christians.  

Today is All Saints Sunday and Paul shows us that the term saints does not just apply to saints of the past. Christians who you know, live with, work with, go to school with, and play with are saints too. When we say that it is All Saints Sunday, we are part of those saints. Each Christian is included in that “all.” From Stephen, the first person killed for his faith, though all the apostle’s, the great early Christian writers like Augustine, Saint Francis and a seemingly endless saints up through our time with saints like Mother Teresa and Logan Beck. What, you haven’t heard of saint Logan Beck?  

In just a moment, it will be my privilege to baptize Logan Beck, and welcome him officially into the rolls of the faithful. Logan will become Saint Logan, though he will almost certainly not always act like it. You see if you reflect on the fact that you are saints, it won’t take you long to conclude that one can be a sinner and a saint at the same time. Don’t despair, Paul wrote to the Romans that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” He hadn’t forgotten that detail when he called all Christians saints. You are holy ones, not because of your personal holiness, but because of the holiness of the one you seek to follow. And the more you follow the Holy One, the more you will act like the saint you already are. 

It may seem like a big burden to label Logan as a saint. How can this young boy live up to that name as he heads out to school or to the playground. What does he, a mere child know about the faith? 

I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Before I answer what Logan knows about the faith, I want to consider Paul’s prayer for the saints in Ephesus whose buzz was so good among other churches. Paul prays that Jesus will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation as they come to know him so that with the eyes of their heart enlightened they may know the hope they were called to. Paul prays that the saints in Ephesus will learn more about what it means to be saints. So, to be a saint is not to have all the answers, but to know that the answers flow from knowing Jesus. 

As I was preparing this sermon, I was reminded of a story from when Victoria and I did a children’s church at St. Peter’s in Rome, Georgia. Cliff Knight was a four-year-old in the Children’s Church. Cliff’s Mom proudly reported a Christmastime conversation she and Cliff had had about God. 

Cliff said, “Mom, Jesus is in my heart.”

His Mom replied, “Yes, that’s nice isn’t it Cliff?”

“Yes Mom, and God’s inside my heart too.”

“Isn’t that good Cliff?”

“Mom?”

“Yes, Cliff?”

“Mary and Joseph are in my heart too. I think they’re real small.” 

Cliff was right about some things, but the details of some others were a little fuzzy for him. Now, I was reminded of this story because I know from talking to Logan that Logan knows that he has Jesus in his heart. Logan has already had the eyes of his heart enlightened to see that God is not just somewhere beyond us, but God is here with us and in him. Jesus is not in Logan’s heart because Jesus is small. Jesus is in Logan’s heart because Jesus is BIG. Big enough to be in the hearts of Christians everywhere.  

God loves little boys and girls as much (maybe more) than the rest of us. The eyes of a child’s heart see so much more clearly. Their hearts are open to being enlightened. That’s what Paul wanted for each of us. 

We are all already saints as much as the great saints of the past are. We will likely never be memorialized in stained glass, but we are already etched on God’s heart as God is on our own hearts. Regaining a child like faith that sees immeasurable power in the hope we are called to may be the key to acting like it. 

When someone is ordained as a priest, it is traditional for the sermon before the ordination to end with a charge to the person about to be ordained. In baptizing Logan today, we will be proclaiming him a saint in God’s kingdom and charging him as a minister of the Gospel. All baptized Christians are saints called to ministry. As all the Christians here will soon have a chance to reaffirm their own baptismal vows, it seems like an appropriate time for everyone to stand as I end this sermon with a charge to you all. 

[all stand] 

The closing charge is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. “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. Amen.