Martha May sat in Parking Lot of Sunny Dale Mall praying for a
miracle while she cried prayed and cried softly.
Martha May had locked her keys in the car again for the third time
that week. Martha’s a proper women... not one that easily cries... especially not publicly...
She’s also a woman of faith... and so she believed that God would forgive her the thoughts she having right now.
In the midst of being mad at herself, at her car, at God... through
the tears she also prayed for help.
She had told herself that she wouldn’t do this again, and she had
made sure that she had an extra key made just in case. She didn’t have the money to keep calling the tow truck... and now... couldn’t imagine facing that tow truck man for a third time in one week.
Martha May’s memory and vision were working against her today. Her memory was perfect, and with 20/20 vision she could see clearly through the window of her 1992 Buick Roadmaster, and see the object of her desire and pain was just a few feet away.
With her perfect vision, she clearly saw the keys dangling from the
ignition.
With her memory she clearly pictured the spare key in the side pouch
of her red purse... it was the red purse that matched the interior of the car perfectly... she loved that purse, it was an amazing find at the thrift store.
Perhaps it was this red camouflage that enabled her to get out of the car and leave her purse behind, sitting comfortable 2 feet away in the passenger seat of the car.
So Martha May sat down to cry... this day couldn’t be any worse.
And as she cried she found herself suddenly sitting in a shadow. At first she thought “Great... now it’s going to rain...” but this wasn’t the case.
She slowly opened her eyes... and beside her she saw a ratty old pair of jeans, unhemmed no less...
She looked up, and there silhouetted against the sun was a rough looking man who stood well over 6 feet tall. In his hand he held what looked to be a club.
Martha was jolted with fear and leapt to her feet and shouting, “I don’t have any money... it’s locked in the car... and I don’t have a key either so you’re out of luck mister!”
Embarrassed the young man took a step back explained that he had seen
her struggling with the door and had come to see if he could help.
Now it was Martha’s turn to be embarrassed... Of course... Flustered...
Martha started to nervously talk as the young man started to work on her car.
“Yes... help would be great... but don’t scratch the paint!.... and
don’t break the window... I can’t afford another one... I don’t have lots of
money and keeping this car on the road costs a lot...”
The man worked... Martha talked... and in few seconds the door clicked open.
“Good night!” said Martha. “That was twice as fast as the tow truck
and without a scratch. Son, you are a saint sent by God. I prayed for help and you came... thank you Jesus for you. You’ve gotta let me cook for you... or repay you somehow.”
Again the man looked embarrassed... “Uh... I don’t know if you really want me to come over... it was really no trouble and uh... and I’m really no Saint. The reason I can do what I do is because I’ve stolen over 200 cars and just got out of prison today.”
“Well praise the Lord” said Martha. “The Lord sent me a
professional!”
---
If I were to tell you to go and look for God... where would you go?
Mountains? Somewhere in nature? Maybe Cathedrals or great wonders of
the world? Golf Courses? Oceans?
If it’s God you’re looking for... you might do well to look big!
But then... like Martha May, you might also think to look small… you
don’t have to wait for the supernatural miracle… you only need faith to see that where justice and peace and new life are, this too is God at work...
...a new born child, the embrace of a family bracing together for the news from the doctor... someone helping open your car door or stopping on the side of the road... maybe the first sprouts in the garden during the spring... maybe in a physics text book that attempts to understand just how complex, beautiful, and amazing life on a cellular and sub-atomic level...
Either way there seems to always be a temptation to look up to God as
if God were watching us from a distance... looking down from some distant heaven where the saints of God reside.
But I have a thought to put to you today...
God isn’t looking down… and the saints aren’t so far away.
That is to say... there is a great temptation to think of God in
terms of some superhero guy in the sky... some great dispatcher of locksmiths to stranded old women, or... some magic genie to make life even better than it is and find you parking spots on busy days at the mall.
...but really... you can’t locate all of God in one time or one place... All we get is little glimpses of the divine reality poking it’s head through life.
And so I invite you to ponder this thought...
God isn’t looking down.
---
And what I’m getting at gets clearer when you think about what we are
doing here today. Today is All Saints Sunday... a day set aside in our church year to celebrate all the Saints of God... it’s a day when we give thanks for those who were baptized this year - the fresh new saints of God. Who better than baptized children with their percoushus ways to show us that all of us are Saints... and sinners.
Yes... the new Saints of God are all of you... all of the recently
baptized... and of course the number is bigger than us… all of the people who have died and are now entrusted to God.
Today is a day when we remember all the amazing stories of God
revealed to us in the saints of the past.
...it’s also a day when we remember the dead... and this is sad...
because there is a certain reality to death that means we enter into the
loneliness of the ones who are still alive... we go on living without the one
that was loved... and that part can’t be celebration.
But... All Saints Day is a celebration. In faith we believe that
Jesus has gone down to the grave and rose from the dead and, joined to Christ in a death like his, we have hope and faith in a resurrection like his...
In faith we believe that at the table of the Lord today we commune with all the saints of heaven, the choir of angels, the host of heaven… that is to say…
We look to that day in the future when all is gathered up. A taste of the Kingdom of reconciliation now… a foretaste of the feast to come.
We have the faith that has been past from saint to saint to saint all
the way down to each of us... the saints of God - the body of Christ.
And... ... it is faith that allows us to do this... it is with faith that
we believe... and not certainty. Faith is trusting in the things that we hope for... believing in what has been revealed to us. Trusting in the signs and promises given to us in Baptism, the church, the meal, and all the places where we have seen the divine and the mundane fuse together and reveal the new Kingdom among us.
---
Our reading from Daniel is a lot stranger if you don’t skip those 12
versus that the lectionary does. In those versus you hear a terrifying detailed description of the 4 beasts. You’ll also hear about the one who comes to stand against them. A vision of a time when a one sent from God will come and be lifted higher than all things. And “the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever - forever and ever.”
Daniel is doing the work of a prophet... he is looking around at
what is, and sharing the vision he sees. Daniel gives us a loud proclamation
that no matter what the political climate is around him, no matter what kings
and powers rise up... there is God who will bring all things together… who is
right now working to bring all things together...
And this prophetic voice is what Jesus is talking about in these
blessings and woes... it’s a description of what truly is and will be.
4 blessings and to counter them, 4 woes.
Jesus gives a description of the Kingdom that is now in reality of
his coming, and has yet to be fully realized.
And the temptation would be to make a bucket list of things to do
to ensure that we are in-line for blessing and dodging the woes.
But these are not curses that Jesus hands out... they are prophetic statements of reality.
Those who put their hope in themselves instead of the Kingdom will
find that their money, and laughter, and hunger, and community standing will come to nothing in the grand scheme of life and death. Nothing that has been built will stand. Today’s treasures are tomorrows land fill. Time moves on... and none of us is getting’ and younger
But let’s not pretend that those of us in the church are any better or different. We play those same games of wealth and status. We have the same thoughts and even say the same words when we lock our keys in the car.
But the difference isn’t so much in current wealth and hunger and
laughter... these things will be gone in the Kingdom when it’s fully realized
and of course we serve our neighbors
as we can with a Christ like love...
Jesus is showing not a bucket list of things to do... but rather...
Jesus is telling us what it is to be fully human... to be fulfilled… Jesus is
giving us a place to put our hope that is not in ourselves. Jesus is showing us
a vision of what life will be like as the Kingdom is fully realized among us.
And this will be a blessing.
Jesus tells us what he is going to do… how he is going to treat all of humanity…
He will love his enemies… bless those who curse him… pray for those who abuse him… give away all that he has… even life itself… and still he will give to any and all who beg more of him.
---
So I said it before… God isn’t looking down…
God is looking up from the lowest places and looking around from inside our neighbors and through all of creation.
On this All Saints Sunday… I pray that we have the faith to believe it…
It’s one thing to trust in a loving God in the good times… it’s easy to see the Kingdom at work when peace and justice reign. When new saints are being made in baptism.
And it is completely another thing to trust when we are hurt, or scared, or hungry or when we are lowering a fellow beloved saint into the ground.
This is All Saints Sunday… and God isn’t looking down… into the depths of death, God is looking up. Joined to Christ in death… we will surely be joined to him in a resurrection like his.
Amen
And now... on this All Saints Sunday... I invite each of you to come forward as we sing.
Please take a candle and light it and if you like... take the moment to say a prayer for the saints that have moved on.
Let us pray:
Lord God... give us faith today. Faith to believe the promises that you make to us in water and Word. Give us faith to see you in the big things as well as the little things - bread and wine - and in each other. May we be signs of your love. Strengthen us now as we remember loved ones who have past on... and give us the courage to believe that in your grace, we will one day be reunited.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Come. Light a candle. Remember the saints. Pray for faith as we sing.
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