November 2, 2019 - All Souls

Lectionary Readings

O eternal Lord God, who holdest all souls in life: Give, we beseech thee, to thy whole Church in paradise and on earth thy light and thy peace; and grant that we, following the good examples of those who have served thee here and are now at rest, may at the last enter with them into thine unending joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

            Dearly beloved, we gather here in the name of our loving God to seek comfort and hope in the face of death. Last night, on All Saints, we remembered and celebrated the saints of God throughout the generations, and that is a good thing to do. The tone of All Saints is often one of festivity and victory, as it should be. But when the saints that we are thinking about lived not 500 years ago but maybe 50 years ago or 5 months ago, there is a much more nuanced set of feelings.

November 2, 2018 - All Souls

O eternal Lord God, who holdest all souls in life: Give, we beseech thee, to thy whole Church in paradise and on earth thy light and thy peace; and grant that we, following the good examples of those who have served thee here and are now at rest, may at the last enter with them into thine unending joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

November 2, 2017 - Feast of All the Faithful Departed

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            When I was in Israel a few years ago, I saw many memorable archeological and religious sites. But of the things that most stuck in my mind was a modern exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. They have a 1/50^th scale model of the city of Jerusalem as it stood in the 1^st century. At over 20,000 square feet, it provides an incredible way to visualize the ancient city. As our tour guide was using a laser pointer to show us different aspects of the city, he came to a part of the city wall and said “Now, ignore that wall; it wasn’t there during Jesus’ lifetime.” But yet, as we stood there looking at the model, that wall was very clearly there.