Blessed
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Matthew 5:1-10
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Matthew 5:4
Let's just be honest, it's been a tough year.
We're finally rounding the corner toward the holiday season and we're looking for hope.
We hope next year will be better
We hope the pandemic will end
We hope political tensions will die down
We hope we can be reconciled with those who have hurt us and those we have hurt.
We hope that the final sun of 2020 will not set on our anger and pain.
This year has been a year filled with death.
When nearly 3,000 innocent people were killed on September 11, 2001, our entire nation stopped and grieved. When over 1 million innocent people around the globe, including nearly 230,000 in our own nation, die in less than a year from an invisible enemy, we turn against each other and manipulate statistics to reinforce our own political agendas.
In 2001, lives lost were people with real faces, real lives, real families and friends, and real hopes and dreams. In 2020, lives lost have become nothing but numbers on a graph.
We have seen so much death and destruction we have become numb.
Those who have died, regardless of the cause, have become a great multitude, but we are quick to forget the real mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and grandchildren who are now facing their first Thanksgiving and Christmas without someone they so dearly loved. It's likely that you or someone you know are among those preparing for a difficult season ahead as you grieve the loss of family and friends. In some ways, this painful reality is true every year, but in others, 2020 has magnified our pain.
We are the only species aware of our mortality. Think about how traumatic and paralyzing that awareness can be. That's why we try to hide death. We do everything we can not to think about it. We grieve at funerals but we expect people to move on from their grief quickly. We may be ready to move on, but someone is still going home to an empty place at the table even months and years later. Grief does not have a timetable.
That is why we take time today to celebrate the Saints.
On All Saints Day we remember all those—famous or obscure—who are part of the "communion of saints" we confess whenever we recite The Apostles' Creed. We tell the stories of the saints "to glory gone."
Alongside the likes of Paul from the New Testament, Augustine, Martin Luther, and John and Charles Wesley, we tell stories of the grandmother who took us to church every Sunday. We remember the pastor who prayed with us in the hospital, and the neighbor who changed the oil in the family car. We give thanks for the youth leader who told us Jesus loved us, the kindergarten Sunday school teacher who showered us with that love, and the woman in the church who bought us groceries when we were out of work.
Retelling these stories grounds us in our history. These memories teach us how God has provided for us through the generosity and sacrifice of those who have come before us. The stories of the saints encourage us to be all God has created us to be.
- for more on why we celebrate All Saints Day, check out the full article here: All Saints Day: A holy day John Wesley loved
Let us not allow those who have died to become a faceless mass. Let us faithfully carry on their legacies in our lives as we seek to live into who God made us to be. Today we read the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In this reading we learn what it means to have the heart of mind of Christ.
Dominican Sister Theresa Fox reminds us that these beatitudes are exemplified in the lives of the saints whom we celebrate today..
"This great multitude also includes people unknown to us – the innocent victims of war or violence, faithful parents who raised their children to live authentic lives, and then lived to a ripe old age, those who died of disease before living a full life, and so many more. The list goes on and on...
...This great multitude are those who took the beatitudes seriously. In one way or another, they lived them.
Some were known to be meek – slow to anger and quick to forgive.
Others hungered for righteousness, marched and wrote letters to change unjust situations.
Still others were peacemaker in his/her family.
Many were persecuted for the sake of justice. Their attitudes and the way they lived during their lives on earth may not have made headlines.
But God knew of their mercy or peacefulness or justice seeking. God called them to their reward of the fullness of heaven."
As you reflect on the Beatitudes below, consider how you will be remembered when you pass through the veil of eternity. When you prepare to breath your last breath, will you be able to say that your life was "blessed", not because of your possessions or accomplishments, but blessed because you lived a life filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because you embodied the character of Christ in these teachings, and because you know that you and all those you love will be called children of God?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
Video of the complete worship service available at http://asburyumc-huntersville.com/live
Below is the music video used for our time of remembrance for all the saints who have gone before us.