Archbishop Stephen preached on All Saints Day at St John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong(link is external) as part of his visit to the Province. This follows in full.

Dear sisters and brothers, I bring you greetings from your friends and fellow disciples in the Church of England, from Sarah, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and from the Province and Diocese of York where I serve, and particularly today, from the Diocese of Leeds from Bishop Arun and from Bishop Toby. It is a joy for me to be here today to celebrate the partnership between this diocese and the Diocese of Leeds.

Thank you, Archbishop Andrew and dear friends, for inviting me. I’ve been in Hong Kong now for a couple of days, and I’ve been so inspired by what I’ve seen and experienced. Your vision for worship, for education, for welfare and social outreach is so beautiful, and I’ve seen something of its fruits in visits I have made in the last two days here.

There are so many good people serving in this diocese wanting to bring in the kingdom of heaven here in Hong Kong.

All Saints Day provides an opportunity to remember all the saints who, not on the liturgical calendar, don’t have a day of their own and don’t get remembered. Except by God..

So, for instance, we remember St Paul the great Apostle to the Gentiles, but what about Ananias who had the unenviable task of visiting and laying hands on the recently struck blind persecutor of the infant church.

And we remember St Stephen and St Philip, the first deacons, martyr and great evangelist of the church and their great deeds, but what about Prochurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmena and Nicolaus.

We remember St Luke, but what about Theophilus to whom he wrote his gospel?

Or the unknown and mysterious elect lady to whom St John wrote his second epistle?

Or those unnamed disciples who walked from Rome to greet St Paul as he arrived in the city?

Or in my city of York, Paulinus its first bishop in the year 627 – who actually only stayed for a few years, but left behind a deacon James who kept the flame of faith burning amidst apathy and persecution.

Or what about the missionaries who brought the Christian faith to China in the 7th century? Most of their names are known only to God.

Or John Stanton, who planted the foundations of the first Anglican church here in Hong Kong and who is, I’m sure, remembered here, but not really well known about elsewhere. Or Bishop Ronald Hall who guided the Church here through war and re-construction. Or Lo Sam-Yeun, the first Chinese Anglican Deacon. Matthew Fong, the first priest. Or Li Tim-Oi the first female priest in the Anglican Communion.

Or what about forebears who did so much to build the church, not just here in this diocese, but in your province, who planted the church in Kowloon. I heard about Mr Ku Kai Tuk on Friday.  He was a person where there wasn’t a church building who opened his home for worship in Kowloon, becoming the foundation for Holy Trinity Church. Or what about Mr Leung Wing Yu whose family took the beautiful processional cross and buried it in a huge basket of rice for the duration of the occupation during the Second World War, so that it could be saved. Or what about Alice Moore? Alice Moore paid for the beautiful gardens at the Providence Gardens in the New Territories, where you are doing such amazing work to support those in great need.

Today is the day we remember them all; all Christian men and women who down through the centuries have witnessed to Christ and prepared the way for the gospel.

And they all had one thing in common – be they the apostles Peter and Paul, Saint Augustine, Paulinus, John Stanton or the countless saints of God that are only known to God and especially those who brought the Christian faith here to Hong Kong: they were poor in spirit.

All of the beatitudes were, I’m sure, the hallmark of their lives; and we cannot and must not pick and choose between the beatitudes, but the first one, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit theirs is the Kingdom of heaven,’ is, I believe, the gateway into all the others.

For being poor in spirit means being rich in the goodness and mercy of God. It means knowing you need resources outside yourself. It means knowing you are not in charge. It means knowing your need of God.

This is the foundations of our life in Christ. But also its fruit. For when we are poor in spirit – and therefore rich in the goodness and mercy of God – people see Jesus in us.

And this is how the gospel spreads. It is how the church was established in York and in Hong Kong. It is  how the church grows.

We are called to holiness. We are called to witness. We are called to poverty of spirit and then – and only then – we are citizens of God’s Kingdom.

St Paul’s letters often begin with words like “To the saints in Christ Jesus who are also in Philippi, or Colossae – or as he says to the Romans and the Corinthians “Who are called to be saints.”

Today, in this great Cathedral Church, I speak to you who are ‘In Christ Jesus and in Hong Kong  and who are called to be saints.

All Saints Day is the feast of the potential saint. It is the day we remember our vocation to holiness of life, to be witnesses to Christ and to follow in the footsteps of those who followed Christ so faithfully that we can learn from them today and honour their commitment and devotion

Through their poverty of spirit, the saints teach us about the power of the gospel to change lives. Their lives – ordinary, fragile and broken like ours – were changed and empowered by Christ. Through the Holy Spirit at work in their lives they did great things.

This can happen to us too. Our lives can be changed. God can do great things in us. We can be his saints. But like all the saints, famous and known only to God, we have to say yes to God and, poor in spirit, enter his kingdom.

Let me finish with a story –

When I was a young man, and I burned with passionate ideals, my prayer was: Lord, help me change the world

When I was in middle ages, and the worlds wasn’t much changed, my prayer was: Lord help me to change the people around me, the people I can influence.

Now I am an old man and the world seems more confused, more broken, and needier than ever. And my prayer is this: Lord help me to change myself.

Maybe if this had been my prayer from the beginning the world would be changed.