God's always "hooking us," pulling us back: back to the Word, back to the Meal, back to the Font...back to the community.

This blog is for the purpose of sharing around each Sunday's Bible readings & sermon at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church.

Get Sunday's readings here. We follow the Narrative Lectionary.
(In the summer, we return to the Revised Common Lectionary' epistle or Second Reading here.)

So, what's been hooking you?

So, what's been hooking you?


Here you can...

Monday, November 5, 2012

November 4 -- All Saints Sunday


Something stinks.  Can you smell it?  Something stinks, and it’s all around.  Sometimes we don’t even have to smell it, like Martha said at the tomb, “Don’t go in there there, Lord!” We know it’s there, the stink. 

6th century mosaic
DEATH stinks.  The deaths of our loved ones.  It sucks.  It stinks.  There’s no other way to put it.  How we long to have our friends, our lovers, our parents, our children back in our arms…just once again.  To hear their laughter, or ignore their advice, or feel their touch.  But we can’t have that.  Death stinks.

And that stench of death isn’t just about our dearly departed: It’s about our culture, our traditions, our memories.  Sometimes it can seem as though everything we hold dear is going away.  Maybe someone’s taking it away, or maybe…it’s just dying. 

And we find ourselves, like Mary, Lazarus’ grieving sister, crying out, “If only, Lord!” – If only!  If only my grandma hadn’t died!  If only I had more money!  If only we had more space!  If only we had a better pastor! 

If only Lord…then this never would have happened!

Sometimes we can get so bound up with our wishful thoughts and hopes and dreams, with our constant “if only’s” that it’s almost as if we’ve climbed into the tomb and sealed the door.

What was that mirror in Harry Potter?  The Mirror of Erised?  Harry discovers this Mirror of Erised (desire spelled backwards) that shows whoever looks in it their heart’s deepest desire.  Pretty cool.  Harry can see his parents who he never knew; Ron can see himself as the greatest athlete…
“But beware,” warns wise Dumbledore, “for many have wasted away sitting in front of the mirror of dreams, forgetting to live.”

The tomb in this story, the bound up, dead body – how we, even in our lifetimes can become so bound up with our “if only’s” that we can’t even see the light of day.

And Christ weeps at our deaths, at our idle longings.  See how much he loves us?  Christ doesn’t just quick fix our issues.  We have a God who mourns our deaths, and our inabilities to break away from our desires.  That’s significant…before we move on to what happens next.  The tears of Christ are precisely what bring us to the mountain (described in Isaiah) where weeping and sorrow shall be no more.  The compassion of our God is what drives this resuscitation!  Not just merely power (like a father who just quickly buys his son whatever he wants).  This is not just power, but it’s love, compassion, justice, the peace that passes all human understanding.

Christ approaches our tombs too.  Orders the stone to be rolled away, and says in a loud voice:  “Mark, come out!  Lois, come out!  Helen, come out!...”

This day isn’t just about our dearly departed.  It’s ALL Saints Day…and that means you too.  God has raised them, praise Jesus, but God has raised us too!  Already!  God calls you by name, and out you come.  Maybe you even stink a little bit – know what I mean?  Maybe you’ve done things you regret, said things you wish you could take back, acted carelessly, judged unfairly, under prepared...You’re mine, even if you stink, Jesus says today, and that’s all about to change!  Because now you’re free, bound by nothing, to live the life that God has created you to live.

So, how then shall we live outside the cave of death, away from the mirror of dreams?  Where will God send us next?  What does got have in store for you, stinky as you once might have been; for me, stinky as I once might have been.  God sends us now into the world to love and serve both friends and enemies.  What will that look like for you, for us as a congregation?  It’s a little scary to come back to life.  Can you imagine how Lazarus felt? “What am I supposed to do now?”    

And it’s not a gentle invitation to live anew.  “Uh, Margaret, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind joining me out here with the living?”  It’s a command, albeit dripping with love divine, it’s a command!  “Come out!”  It’s a declarative statement.  “I am the way, the truth, and the life: and because you are joined to me through water and word and wheat and wine, then you are alive in me…right now, not just after you die.”  You are saints of Jesus Christ, friends.  (Introduce yourself to the person next to you as St. [name].  Go ahead, come out and say it!)

Because Christ lives, we too live anew, with all the saints.  Thanks and praise be to God, this day and into eternity!  AMEN.

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