Sermon - Advent 1 - 2010

The time is near... the pressure on everything is rising... the curtain is about to be pulled...



And I know you know what I’m talking about... because you live here in Edson... you watch the same news I watch...you see the same things that I see...



I’m talking of course... about the Holy Redeemer Highschool production of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Pretty much sold out now... but callaround... scalp some tickets if you have too... because nothing could be more Advent than this play.



And it’s going to be good... Not just because we have members of our congregation in it... and running it... but because it tells the story of this Advent season in a way that cannot otherwise heat it. It brings it to life.



An evil grips the land of Narnia... a winter that never ends... and good and hardworking people are taken.

And evil queen rules and friend and foe alike are turned to stone at her whim... it seems so pointless.

Two are working and the unlucky one is turned to stone, and the other left... Only a small remnent remain faithful remnant left alive are waiting and watching for the signs. Only one hope... the return of the King... Aslan the not so tame pretty scary but awe inspiring lion... the son of the Emperor across the sea can bring about a time of new life... end this hopeless, cold winter.

I won’t ruin the ending for you... but I will say that we have spent our last three confirmation classes talking about this very topic... the parallels of the coming of Aslan to melt the winter in Narnia shattering the old deep magic, and the coming of the Christ to save us from sin and death. Both bring hope in a season of cold.



Don’t miss that play...
---

Let us speak of the great truth of Advent... the truth of the people who were waiting for a Messiah to come, and instead received a baby in a manger.



And dropped into the middle of human history is the Christ child - Emmanuel - God with us. Born among the poor to a people that were oppressed. Living most of his life as a refugee on the run from the law. Getting into trouble with temple authorities and making promises while dying on a cross... promises that we hold to today.



And this Advent of Christ is marked in our very Calendar of years. I’m reminded of a TV show I saw called Dinosaurs... it was about this middle class suburban dinosaur family that was tackling much of the same problems that we deal with today... And in one episode, the Teenage dinosaur is looking forward to their New Years party... it was something like the year 65 million and 22... and next year it would be 65 million and 21... and the son 


asked:

Why do the years count down dad?
I don’t know son.
What happens when the years get down to Zero?
I don’t know son.
Well... does it all end? Do we start counting up? Why are we counting backwards anyway? Are we waiting for something?
I don’t know son.



And... of course we know that we’ve imposed the dating system backwards onto history... there was nobody literally counting down to Zero...



But we also know that they were waiting and watching and hoping for a Messiah. The fact that we have dated our history the way we have shows the importance of this event.



And in the Christ event we are told of God’s Kingdom has come and is all around but not yet fully realized. We are the people that hope for the Kingdom to be fully realized with us.

---

Jesus tells his disciples to not worry about the day or the hour of end things. You won’t see that day coming and there is no point in speculating... it’s known only to God.



Jesus picks some harsh metaphors. The great flood of Noah... the breaking in of thieves... the disappearance of co-workers. They are harsh metaphors and they need to be... because life is harsh. As time moves forward... people die... nations rise... wars continue to happen... and the Kingdom of God can feel so far away. You have to listen closely to hear it.



In the rest of Matthew’s Gospel we are given glimpses of what it might be like - what it might be like on that last day when the one who was executed on a cross, who rose from the grave, who ascended into heaven and will come again... For now we live with the Spirit of Christ that is with us always... and in the end... it is our hope that we will live with the Christ.



And so we wait... and in waiting we watch and prepare... and we’re invited to start living as if this future were fully realized now... to live into the Kingdom that is already here and let God worry about the last day.\


---



So let us dwell on this Question... what does the Kingdom  look like for us today? What would it look like if everyday were lived in full Advent mode... if everyday we celebrated the reality that Emmanual, God is with us means that God will really be fully realized to be fully with us.  

What does Advent smell like?

         Sound like? Look like?



According to Jesus today, it sounds like people listening hard for what God is doing... and then getting involved where they hear God active. Advent looks likes like active waiting... You can hear neighbors asking to help out neighbor... you can smell the casseroles being delivered all over town to people who hunger... who are suffering. I think you would see efforts to ensure human ights and justice for all on a scale never evened imagined.



Paul’s letter to the Romans talks about how it looks too. It looks like a deep Advent blue... the sky slowly beginning to lighten as the night is ending and the morning is coming. The blackness of light replaced by the blue of the pre-dawn... a hint of red on the horizon signaling a light so so bright that you will not be able to look at it directly. It looks like people putting on hrist... that is... forgiving and being forgiven... using the whole of their beings to heal and help and show love and compassion to everybody... friend and foe alike. For God is what God demands. God does what Jesus shows us.



And the psalmist is crying out for us all to live in the house of the Lord. To live each moment and interaction as we were doing it in the full presence of God right now, right here.



But in all our readings it’s Isaiah that gives us the sharpest sound. In full Theater THX surround sound we hear what Advent sounds like... it doesn’t sound like sleigh bells... or crowded malls... or pre-Christmas Carols...  or fighting families forced into awkward family gatherings...



It sounds like this: (Strike the Anvil 3 times)
(((Special thanks to WorkingPreacher.com for the anvil idea)))



It sounds like the roaring
         of fires being stoked to unbelievable temperatures...
         punctuated by the sharp strike of the Blacksmiths hammer.
         (Strike Anvil 3 times.)



Advent looks like Beating Swords into Plowshares... it looks like spears becomingpruning hooks.



Good news for all who deserve the wrath of God... for what God demands of people, God also demands of himself.



This is Good news for all ofus who carry the swords of hatred, wrath, vengeance, past hurts, guilt... Advent is about blunting all the swords and spears... putting away the ways of war and revenge... andturning tools of death and destruction into tools that feedand nurture and support life. Taking the gifts of technology and chemistry to make food for the world instead of innovative death machines.



Advent is about forgettinghow to fight... it’s about the reality that Christ has come,the night is almost over, there is hope of new life soclose... just like the first hint of dawn.



And so it is in our waiting... in our Advent longing and hoping...  we are saved by the Christ whoes Kingdom is now... and will be forever


Daniel Barrington 
(((in Testimony: The Word Made Flesh)))
         writes this Advent Creedo:

(((Hammer throughout)))

It is NOT true... that wemust accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty,death and destruction
THIS IS TRUE: (Christ has) come that (we) may have life, and that abundantly.

It is NOT true... that violence and hatred should have the last word, and that war are destruction rule forever.
THIS IS TRUE: Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the councilor, mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of peace.



It is NOT true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil who seek to rule the world...
THIS IS TRUE: To ((Christ)) is given authority in heaven and on earth, and know that I am with you, even until the end of the world.



It is NOT true... that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are the prophets of the Church before we can be peacemakers...
THIS IS TRUE: Christ will pour out his spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall have dreams.  



It is NOT true... that our hopes for liberation for human kind, of justice, of human dignity of peace are not meant for this earth and for this history
THIS IS TRUE: The hour comes, and it is now, that the true worshipers shall worship God in spirit and in truth. Swords will be beaten into plowshares... and Spears turned into pruning hooks.



Let us give thanks to the Lord of the Advent... for promising our deepest hope... and for the Kingdom reality that we are enabled to live into today. AMEN.

Sermon - Luke 23:33-43

Luke 23:33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[ Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Well... we made it... Today we retire another Church year. Year C of the three year cycle is complete, and next week we begin a new year... year A where the Gospel of Matthew will take centre stage.

Luke’s narrative for the long march towards Jerusalem comes to a head today... and for the next 7 days we wait for the coming of Advent. We wait for Advent so we can start waiting for Christmas... the coming of the light.

But today... we end the church year and strangely we find that our lectionary has us remembering that Good Friday event... the Crucifixion... and... it is good that we end with these words from Jesus... “Truly I tell you... Today you will be in Paradise with me...”

---

For 24 weeks we have lived in the Season After Pentecost and listened to this Journey to Jerusalem... all while staring at green vestments and alter furnishings....

We’ve heard: Discipleship notes... Parables... a story of a demoniac... taken long walks... heard of a few healings, mini-mission trips for the 70 followers... it’s been a wild ride.

And our own seasons have changed from beautiful summer days to rainy fall and now... there is no arguing that winter has gripped us... the long summer days are replaced with long, cold nights.

And so today... let us take a moment to think about where we are at... all of nature seems to have died in the icy grip of winter... and we know that the spring and new life is coming but... for now we do the work of complaining about the dark... and the cold...

Let us stop and breathe and think of where we have been and where we are going... lets take stock of where we think we might end up.

---

Christ the King Sunday... the last Sunday in the church year... is often the time when you’ll hear a sermon about how Jesus was a different kind of King. For those of us who for 24 Sundays travelled with Jesus through Luke’s Gospel narrative, we knew this day was coming. We could see in the shocking things that Jesus did and said that he was getting into trouble. The religious elite and those with political power were threatened by him and he just never backed down.

And now... Wearing the ironic crown of thorns... dying on a cross... not taking vengeance for what has been done to him but rather... praying for the forgiveness of those who persecute him... in fact... in this dishonerable state Jesus is shockingly making another promise...

… it’s the kind of promise that only the God King could make...

a ridiculous promises considering it comes from the lips of a dying man who is nailed to a piece of wood... he is is struggling just to breathe and there is nothing majestic to behold now.

But the words he breathes echo throughout time... and I wanna focus on these dying works from the God King. The word we translate as ‘today’ carries the sense of an event, but it also carries the sense of “always.” And sense of what has always been. So it could be read this way:

“Amen, I say to you, always you will be with me in paradise.”

Good words for the condemned to hear....

On this day you will be in that place where there is no divide between the loving God and you...

Now... for the first time what you could not see will be made very clear.

And for us... Picture that day you felt closest to God, or felt love for the first time... and multiply by a million.

These are Grace filled words for the one who knows that he has no hope or right to demand anything of Jesus... just like that tax collector a few weeks ago who stood back and beat his breast and begged that God would have mercy on a sinner like him.

And I think we can assume that this crucified criminal believed Jesus... that the words spoken by Jesus are preserved over all these years and are so powerful because they can be trusted and they are believable. These are the promises of the one who died, rose, ascended... and will come again.

---

Advent is only 7 days away... it is the season of waiting but this year... I would challenge us to wait strategically. Waiting in a biblical sense does not mean to sit around bored... but to prepare... to wait is to watch... to wait is to get in position to see.

Long ago most of us learned that Christmas shopping... and Christmas baking needs a plan... it would be foolish to sit around until Dec. 23rd and then ask... “What should I get my spouse for Christmas...” or “I wonder what I should make for the Christmas feast...” or “I wonder who I can invite over for supper tomorrow...”

No...

These things require strategy. And at the break neck speed that our lives tend to run now a days, it’s good to have some strategy... to get on these things early and... maybe... just maybe... with a little luck... their might even be some time to enjoy the season that we are so urgently preparing for. Maybe if the important things are done early, we won’t be overwhelmed by the urgency to do and be all that the next 5 weeks are going to demand of us.

---

And so hear we are... Christ the King Sunday... the end of the long gospel retelling of the life of the Christ... a life of discipleship... And Jesus is just one phrase away from dying... and so the narrative takes on an end point here as does our church year. The promise of resurrection and new life is what Easter is all about... and each Sunday is a mini- Easter...

we stand on the precipice of a new year... of a new Advent... the time of waiting and hoping for God’s next move - not just in the story of God come in the form of a helpless baby... but in our lives now... in Edson... in year end taxes... in the choices we make for the new year.

Jesus words carry the sense of right now … as it has been …  and as it will be... a full revelation of things seen only dimly.

And the promise made to that thief on the cross rings true for us as well... the things only hoped for now will be shown to have always been.

And in this good news revealed to us by the dying God King, let us fully know and believe these words to be true as well.

---

And I want you to hold onto those words... “Amen, I tell you, always you will be with me in paradise.” Don’t let go of these words because that is the promise made to us... even though we are as helpless and as undeserving as the criminal next to Jesus on the cross..  Hold onto this promise first and foremost because today... I want to challenge you to live deeper into these words.

New-years eve is the time of new years resolutions... for taking the time to look at what has been and what we think is coming... it’s all about strategy.

Before we talk strategy let us agree to forgive ourselves. New Years resolutions are hard... and we will fail in small and large ways the whole time... but that is why we hold this promise.

In the newsletter coming out this month I write about the tyranny of the urgent... that is... the ability of all the little urgent things in our lives to run our lives to the point where we are always working, scampering from one urgent thing to the next... but none of the important work is getting done as all the urgent things get in the way.

Sortof like getting a newsletter out... there is always something else that is more urgent for me than the newsletter, but if newsletters aren’t produced than the important work of drawing this community together in a common dialog is left undone.

So... with the truth that is held tightly in this hand... that always Jesus is with us, or we are with Jesus, and that Christ the King is reigning in Christ’s kingdom that is all around for those with the eyes to see... with this truth it’s time to strategically push back the urgent things of life, and make room for what is important.

Important things aren’t often urgent.

You can ignore the check engine light in your car for awhile before it really become urgent...

You can ignore healthy food and fitness for a long time before it becomes urgent.

You can put off learning about God and spiritual things... learning about the bible... learning about how we are called to live... these things aren’t urgent and can be neglected... but as I have seen at many funerals lately... people don’t have the depth to process what is happening... they are spiritually out of shape and have nothing to grab onto during the moment when it really counts.

By letting the urgent rule our lives we will one day find space to look around and wonder how it is we got to where we are at...

Strategy is what we do based on what we know in an attempt to align ourselves with what we believe to be true. (x2?)

So since Christ has made promises and we are in this hand holding onto this promise that Jesus gives to the lowliest of criminals that there is a place at the table for us... that this paradise... this place of fulfillment known as salvation where the divide between us and the sacred is gone...

... then we have the opportunity to use some strategy to help us see what really is happening now. We can live more fully in the joy of the promise. We can be in good shape for the challenges of life to come.

Bishop Susan Johnson in the latest Canada Lutheran says it this way... and many of you are doing many of these things... and this is a challenge... not a command... the 6 things are:

1. Regular  attendance at church.
2. Daily Prayer and scripture reading.
3. Yearly involvement in a program of study.
4. Regular acts of service in the community.
5. Regular and proportional giving.
6. Commitment to sharing the good news we have.

And I have resources... I want to be like the trainer on the team... Jesus is the coach... and I want to be a trainer to help you out. The coach leads and guides... I want to tape your stick and sharpen your skates...

---

And that is what this sermon needs now... a really solid sports analogy so that it makes sense. I’m thinking... this is just like a minor hockey team that is playing in a competitive league but has a policy that everyone plays every game no matter what.

And there are no tryouts for our team but still... our coach Jesus has made the promise that no one gets benched or kicked off. No matter how good you are... no matter how much you’re paying attention in practice or in the dressing room... you’re going to play when it’s your turn.

And you can take this opportunity to play to go out and lie down on the ice and stare at the roof as the ice melts through your jersey, or you can spend your time chatting with the fans and ignoring what is going on...

or you can do more thinking about the game. You can listen to what Coach Jesus has said... try to play the game the way Jesus says and engage what with the team and the strategy on how to play the game... Jesus doesn’t want us all chasing the puck... you gotta think the game and position yourself strategically.

In the end... like all coaches, Jesus watches us play, he will probably say “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” and... at the end of the game as Jesus takes us out for bottomless beverage and  nachos, he will say “Today you are sitting here and are fully with me.”

---

Of course God is drawing near... of course we know that it is Christ’s action alone that save us... of course... but it’s under these promises that we live and work and play and make mistakes and have good days and bad days... and we are assured that we can use our gifts and talents to live life secure in the promises made to us. In this security we strategieze what we will do and learn and be. That is our work for this new year. For this new Advent... watch... listen... think... strategize... become.

---

At the place of the skull... at the place where Christ is mocked and beaten and crucified we hear him say, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

It’s the ultimate safety net really... for those who are abusing their power or abusing others, for those who try but still make mistakes and to those who have made all the wrong choices... the Christ forgives and seeks reconciliation and wholeness... Christ shows mercy... and more than mercy, Christ makes promises too. Promises of Grace and Paradise.

And surrounded by a great crowd of Witnesses, the Saints of the past and the living saints here... surrounded by signs in the church, bread and wine, water, crosses, banners, songs... let us have faith and live in the promise made to us by the Christ... let us live as a community reflecting the truth that has been revealed to us. Have faith... for truly I say to you,  Amen, always we are with the Christ.

10 - 11 - 07 All Saints Sunday

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.