Preachers and teachers have a choice, this weekend: to use the readings for Advent 21, or to belatedly explore the lessons for All Saints’ Day. I’ve always liked the liturgy for the Communion of Saints, so I’m opting for that. Besides, November 1st is my birthday, and I get to choose… Congregations need a bit of good news in the midst of Things that Go Bump in the Night; perhaps worshipers will find some affirmation here, especially after the procession of weird characters that have recently trouped from door to door.
I never know what to do with Daniel. In today’s story, 7:1-3,15-18, Daniel had a troubling dream about four sea-creatures that thrashed about fiercely and disturbed the status quo. He asked a friend what he thought about this, and he said that the thrashing beasts were kings who would turn the sedate into chaos. We also are threatened by sea-beasts and you can fill in the blanks of their current names–I’d include racism, dishonesty, materialism and selfish pride on my own list. What divine revelation would make them quiet again?
HAGIOI is used often in the New Testament, meaning the “holy ones” or saints. The term isn’t limited to only those who’ve accomplished miracles, but extends to the entire family of believers in Christ. The author of these verses prays that those who read them may know “the riches of [God’s] glorious inheritance among the saints”–not only as an intellectual exercise, but especially as an experience of “the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
The Gospel lesson in Luke’s collection of four Blessings and four corresponding Woes, 6:20-31. Perhaps strange affirmations, yet they reflect Luke’s unique understanding of the complete reversal of the social and economic order (see 1:50ff; 4:18-19). No cutting corners, here Jesus sets up the bad news with the good, a reminder to the DISCIPLES–and thus the whole church–that blessings come to the needy and that woes come to the complacent. “To be blessed is to have a special place in God’s heart, not merely to be happy.” (E. Elizabeth Johnson in FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:239) Knowing that we are blessed requires that we realize that we’re living precariously on the edge.
I’ve heard it said that you can’t really appreciate the Spring unless you’ve come through the Winter. The most blessed are ones who’ve put themselves in jeopardy for their faith or to help the outcast and the persecuted.
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My suppositions about scripture for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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