Thursday, October 28, 2010
All Saints Sunday
Next Sunday Nov 7 is All Saints Sunday
Bring with you photos of family members and loved ones who have died to place by the columbarium during the November month of remembrance.
"In Jesus' time and sometimes in our own, it was commonly believed that misfortune was a sign of God's disfavor. Here, Jesus says differently: "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled" (Luke 6:21). Just as Mary sings in her song of praise at the beginning of Luke's Gospel (Luke 1:46-55), everything in God's kingdom seems to be upside-down from people's expectations: being rich, full, or laughing now is not a sign of God's blessing after all. Instead, Jesus says, God's kingdom belongs to those who long for it.
"Ephesians elaborates: the kingdom means "the riches of [God's] glorious inheritance among the saints" and the working of God's power to bring new life out of death. In this lifetime the kingdom is not yet fulfilled among us, and our longing for it continues, but in worship we already gather for a "foretaste of the feast to come." In the feast to which Jesus invites us, we gather with the whole "communion of saints," which includes the living, made saints through baptism, as well as those who have died but live eternally. On All Saints Day we remember the good news that even beyond this life we remain united in the body of Christ as ones who share an inheritance: "But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever," we read in the book of Daniel (7:18).
"As part of the communion of saints, we share communion with all the saints, remembering again the hope to which we are called: the hope of God's kingdom of which we experience now only a foretaste. We are sent out from worship knowing that through Jesus, we too are saints as well as sinners, called and empowered to live according to God's kingdom even now, until we too participate fully in the everlasting feast."
(from the ELCA’s website, sundaysandseasons.org)
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