Christ the King Epiphany Church, Wilbraham

The Rev. Martha S. Sipe

November 1, 2026 / All Saints (Year A)

Revelation 7:9-17

Have you ever read a book and been tempted to skip ahead to the last page to see how everything turns out?  Or when you’re watching a series on Netflix, have you ever read the summary of the last episode to see if a favorite character makes it to the end?  I have.  Maybe you’ve “cheated” because you’re trying to decide whether you want to invest the time to keep reading or watching.  Maybe you’re just impatient, or don’t like surprises.  But I think we all just have this natural curiosity to know how things turn out.  We just want to know if we’re going to feel satisfied or disappointed by the ending.  Maybe that’s even a little bit of why we like reading books and watching movies – because we know that we always have the option of sneaking a peek at the ending.

Unlike real life.  In real life, no matter how much we might want to know how things turn out, there’s no way of getting a sneak peek at the ending.  How will my new job turn out?  Is this the person I’m supposed to spend my life with?  Will my kids and my grandkids grow up to make me proud?  What will be the end of my life story?  There’s just no way of knowing in advance whether we’ll feel satisfied or disappointed by the end of the story.  The end of our lives – the when, the why, the how – these are all unknown. 

But only our earthly life is unknown because, as Christians, we know that the end of our earthly life is but the beginning of our eternal life.  I like the way Mary Hathaway expresses that thought.  She writes:

In you, Lord, there are no endings, only beginnings.  Many times in my life I have felt I have come to the end, but I did                             not understand then that you surround all things.  Sometimes it feels as if I am dropping into an abyss, but the abyss itself is in your hands and even death, the most final ending of all, will become a new beginning.

I can never move outside you; I can never go beyond you.  You are the heartbeat of the universe and you are alive forever.  While you live nothing can truly be the end.  You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  In you, Lord, there are no endings, only beginnings.

In God, there are no endings, only beginnings.  This is the wonderful truth of our faith.  When we make mistakes, it is not the end – God forgives us and gives us the chance to make a fresh start.  When our relationships fail, it is not the end – the love of God helps us to start over again.  When we fall down, it is not the end – Jesus lifts us up and puts us back on our feet.  And even when we lose our loved ones to death, it is not the end – the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ lifts them from the grave and gives them another new beginning.

As we celebrate All Saints’ Sunday, we may feel sad as we think about the earthly endings of those whom we have loved.  And that’s okay.  It’s only natural that we should miss those whom we no longer see.  But think of All Saints’ Sunday as a sneak peek at the end of the story.  And I guarantee that we won’t be disappointed in this ending.  At the end of this story, there will be no more hunger.  There will be no more thirst.  At the end of this story, Jesus will still be with us, and he will still be our shepherd, just as he has been through all our lives.  At the end of this story, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.  And best of all, the end of the story will not really be the end, because in God there are no endings – only beginnings.  In the end, we will once again see those who have preceded us in death – and when we do, it will be just the beginning of forever.