I encourage you to read Holy Scripture, whether you use Taking Faith Home or use the daily lectionary I have in the Sweet Feet Messenger Newsletter, or you just pick up the Bible and start reading. The Bible is not a novel that you can read easily from beginning to end; it can be done, but it is not necessary to do this to gain an understanding of what God’s plan is for us and how we have come to understand it. Holy Scripture is not necessarily black and white - it is multi-hued and varied in tonal shading. There are time when I read scripture and color it black and white and paint myself in the white portion. The truth is I am as multi-hued in my life’s experiences as the Bible is in telling me of God’s relationship with us.
Our Gospel lesson from Luke is such an example. This is a very multi-hued text. We read of those who are blessed. As I look out over this congregation, I would imagine there have been times when any one of us have been so blessed. There may have been times when we have been poor - not just poor in spirit, but monetarily poor; when we have been hungry, and not just for the Word, but physically hungry; and there have been times when we have been in deep sorrow. For any rational person this does not sound as though it is a blessing. But Jesus tells us we are blessed and that what afflicts us will change.
Yet we can be included in the woes as well. Any one of us can say: Yes, at any time I have experienced blessing and woe as Jesus defines it in the Gospel of Luke. Life is a continuum, life ebbs and flows, it never really remains static, changes occur - sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse. How are we to make any sense of this scripture?
Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday. We honor the saints who have gone before us, who from their labors rest. They led lives not too much different than ours. They had their share of “blessings” as defined by Jesus, and they experienced their woes as well. We are both Saint and Sinner, at the same time. This is the paradox of life. We are all capable of very saintly activity and also very capable of satanic activity. Usually, we do not swing to such extremes, our swings are milder, but we still oscillate between saint and sinner. We are not blessed unless God is a part of our life. Even when we have experienced the darkest moments of our life, God was with us.
We may not have been able to experience it, but when it is the darkest for us, God is with us.
Back in Baltimore, I spoke with a woman who was originally raised Greek Orthodox, but married into the Lutheran Church. She was telling me of a time when she had returned from a troubled family visit in West Virginia and on her return she came to the pastor and specifically requested communion. She needed to have the physical experience of God’s presence and promise that she could sense in the bread and the wine. We are blessed when God is with us, and God walks with us in the darkest times of our life. At such times we need God’s love and care the most.
And when are we the richest in our life? The text from Ephesians tells us, our riches are the hope to which we are called, the glorious inheritance of the saints - saints with us today and saints who now share the Glory of God at the feast that has no end. This is the glorious inheritance the saints who have gone before us now receive and this is the promise of us saints who reside here waiting and working for the Kingdom of God each and every day. We are blessed by the saints in our lives today. The ones who are a witness to this hope and inheritance Jesus offers and promises to us.
Jesus tells us: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. And blessed are you when you are there to be with those who are hated, excluded, reviled, and defamed. You are the face of Christ to those who are hurting, when you are able to be there with them in their darkest moments of despair, when you share and take on their pain, loss and hurt. This is the territory where saints are made, and where those who are afflicted are blessed.
When ever I am feeling down and discouraged - for what ever reason - I make the effort to go on a pastoral visit to parishioners who live this promise out in their lives. Their witness of faith strengthens me and lifts me up. These are the saints among us who quietly, yet faithfully live their lives. Their faith shines through. Their strength nurtures me when I am weak. We don’t have to be perpetually jolly to lift people up. We just have to be ourselves and offer ourselves as a blessing to others, and we will be blessed, as they are blessed. Amen.
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