November 2, 2008
(All Saints Day)

Blessed Are You

Joe Behen photo by The Rev. Joe Behen, Clergy Assistant

Revelation 7:9-17  •  Psalm 34:1-10, 22  •  1 John 3:1-3  •  Matthew 5:1-12
(From The Lectionary Page)

Today’s gospel reading forms a series of blessings that begin what we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount.  I find it useful to think about this passage in terms both of what is being said by Jesus, and to whom it is being said.  These blessings are too often read as instructions to be followed in order to achieve God’s blessing.  But they are not directions for Christian ethics.  Most biblical scholars would have us hear this passage through the lens of verses 10 and 11:  “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…” and, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you…”  These were simply the realities of those to whom the gospel of Matthew was written.  The characteristics of those that Jesus blesses describe the experience of his followers.  So, we don’t have to look far to wonder who it is that these verses point towards.  It is, among others, us.

Knowing this, then, sort of changes what is actually said, doesn’t it?  It isn’t meant to leave us looking around and guessing who is blessed.  Likewise, it is not really even exhorting us, at least at this point, to go out and do these things.  This series of blessings precedes all instruction.  As Fred Craddock has pointed out, they come “before there has been time for obedience or disobedience.” [Craddock, Fred.  “Hearing God’s Blessing.”  From The Christian Century, Jan 24, 1990, p. 74]  “If the blessings were only for the deserving,” he writes, “very likely they would be stated at the end of the sermon…, prefaced with the clause, ‘If you have done these things.’  But appearing at the beginning, they say that God’s favor precedes all our endeavors.” [Ibid.]    We so often live our lives primarily in doubt of our ability to live our discipleship such that we will achieve God’s blessing.  And we should doubt this, because it can’t be done.  But doubt is not the goal of this word.  God has already blessed you.  This word of blessing in today’s gospel not only describes those whom God blesses, but in speaking the word of blessing, Jesus actually confers that blessing upon his followers.  That blessing is renewed once again in our hearing of it today.

So, what is changed, then, by reading these blessings as such, rather than simply as more instruction from Jesus?  It implies that “all our efforts at kingdom living are in response to divine grace, motivated by ‘because of,’ not ‘in order to’” [Ibid.]  Do we understand our own discipleship to be a long term effort to achieve God’s blessing at the end of our life, or do our works simply flow out of God’s freely given blessing, a blessing with no strings attached?  We can certainly choose not to internalize God’s gift.  But it can’t be earned.  It’s already given.  That’s very freeing.  It can change dramatically the way we see the world, the way we live.  Our guilt at not being able to live up to the gospel is washed away.  Repentance is our response to God’s blessing, not our punishment for having failed.

I wonder if that’s perhaps how those people live whom God would think of as saints.  We’ve all met those people.  Their whole life proclaims freedom, freedom to hear again the blessings that God would have us all to hear; freedom to live that blessing in the boldest and most powerful way.  That freedom begins now, with our hearing once again God blessing real human living.

“It is always more difficult to hear and receive a blessing than to attempt to achieve one.” [Ibid.] And since we can never achieve it, we always doubt our own place with God.  We can now take that doubt out with the trash, and with it our fear that God has not blessed us.  “Blessed are you people… Rejoice and be glad …”

Amen.


God's Children

by The Rev. Carol Sanford, Priest Associate

Greetings on this Holy day, the Feast of All Saints. And greetings on this Sunday before our national elections on Tuesday.

Most people I know are really looking forward to Wednesday, the day when, if all goes according to plan, the political ads will finally go away and, regardless of who is elected, there will be a lot less chatter on the airwaves, unwelcome text messages and insistent items in print, at least of the paid variety.

If we are responsible citizens, we have been reading or listening to at least some of the seemingly endless material put before us these last months, and we may be thinking, “Enough, already!” You may be glad to learn that my homily this evening will be relatively brief. I want to suggest that instead of hearing a lengthy sermon, we listen more carefully than usual to the concepts that bring us together week after week, year after year, age upon age. Regardless of our voting intentions, presidential preferences, or opinions on ballot issues, we are ultimately all on the same side by virtue of our baptism into the body of Christ. Throughout our country’s history, political campaigns have hinted or said outright that God is on their side. That is not the point. What is important is that we be on God’s side, the side of justice, peace and dignity for “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages [Rev.7.9].”

Tonight let us hearken to what we may often repeat or hear without much thought. In particular, hear the words of our Baptismal Covenant, of our Confession and Absolution. Pay attention to the prayers that are said and to how we respond. Hear our Great Thanksgiving to God in the Eucharistic Prayer and notice how we are blessed and sent forth. When we really, really hear the words said and sung over and over again in this place, we learn much about being Children of God, being Saints of God, and, well, being voters of God.

When Presiding Bishop Katharine was with our diocesan clergy and clergy spouses during her visit here last week, someone asked her what qualities she would you like to see in the winner of the election. She immediately responded, “Concern for the poor, the least among us, those who have no one to advocate for them.” When she was asked, “How do you want us to pray?” she answered, “That the church claim its vocation and live up to its calling; doing justice and walking humbly.” I may not have perfectly recorded every word, but I was deeply touched by Bishop Katharine’s responses. I always am when I hear the truth of the Way of Christ, a truth which cuts through not only any current political posturing but through my own fearfully limited vision and attitudes.

As we remember the Saints of God tonight, the many whom we have loved but see no longer, the many whose names live in our minds and hearts from ages past, and those whose names we do not know, we do well to remember that, as First John says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now [3.2].”

Let’s try that phrase with a slightly different emphasis: We are God’s children now.  We are surrounded by the Saints of God from ages past, but we are the members of Christ’s body now on earth. We are the ones here who watch with and for Christ. We are the gospel message in living, breathing form, walking among all the children on earth. At least, that is who we declare ourselves to be and, on our better days, who we want to be and strive to be and are willing to be.

Some All Saints’ Day in the future, our names will be spoken at the time of remembrance. Some Feast of all Saints our names will be the names entered into books. For what will we be remembered? As we listen to the words of our covenant with God and ponder how we will manifest our responses in everyday life, as we make our confession that we, together and as individuals fall short of that covenant, as we hear God’s forgiveness proclaimed, as we share God’s love in the Eucharistic feast, and as we give thanks and go forth, let us remember that we go forth as children and saints of God, and let us act, and vote, accordingly. Amen.