November 5, 2017 (All Saints Sunday) – Joshua 3:7-17, Matthew 23: 1-12
Joshua 3:7-17; Matthew 23:1-12
Community of Saints
Lectionary 31A – All Saints Sunday – November 5, 2017
First Lutheran Church
Today we are gathered together with the saints, living – and dead.
It’s why we lit candles for the dead among us at the beginning of the service.
To remember that they are in the presence of God, right now – just as we are.
And that we are gathered together with them in God’s embrace.
And that we are in communion with them.
We remember today that they are being cared for by God just as we are.
That together with them, we are all held in the embrace of God.
Our purpose with them now – as it has always been – is to be blessing in the world.
As a communion of saints, that is our purpose – to be blessing.
All of us together, to be part of God’s mission to love bless and heal this whole world and
every person in it.
Today we remember those who were part of this mission with us,
and who in some mysterious way still are, cheering us on, guiding us by their example.
The saints are those who are baptized –
and when each of us is baptized we are baptized into God’s mission.
They were – we were: our purpose in being baptized was to be part of God’s loving mission.
Today in the first reading from Joshua we have one of my favourite of all
Old Testament moments: it is graduation day for the Israelites!
After having been in school for 40 years! Yes! 40 years! I know, right???
After having escaped slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were schooled by God in
a new way of living and being.
They had to unlearn the old way of being – the way of Pharaoh’s Egypt,
which was the way of exploitation and violence, the way of big deals and little deals,
the way in which the strong devour the weak.
And in its place they had to learn the way of manna sharing and mercy giving.
They had to learn that they each had something to contribute to the welfare of the community.
They had to re-learn their purpose: that, just as God had blessed Abraham long ago in order to
be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth, just so: God would bless them in order to
bring blessing to all the peoples of the earth.
That is their purpose, and as children of Abraham that is our purpose: to bring blessing.
So on this day, we hear the story of how the Israelites move from learning to doing.
They are to take what they learned about being blessing in order to live it in the real world.
They go through a boundary to do this: the boundary of the Jordan River,
which they pass across and through and so move from being learners to being doers.
Its graduation day, and when they pass through the waters,
they become part of God’s loving mission.
Now one of the great things about the biblical story is that
we get to see how this works out for them.
And the thing is: it doesn’t always work out so great.
Sometimes they are great at being blessing, and a lot of the time they really suck at it.
But here’s the thing – and for those of you looking for the good news – the gospel – here it is:
God never ever gives up on them and God never stops blessing them.
God never stops loving them and God never stops hope hope hoping that they will pass on
that love to every single person on the planet – and on to the planet itself.
God says to Joshua: “I will be with you.”
And God remains with Joshua and God remains with the people through thick and thin.
God remains with them when they fail.
God remains with them when they are persecuted.
God remains with them when they are taken off into exile.
God remains with them when they doubt God is with them: God remains with them.
God remained with those we lit candles for this morning – and God remains with you.
And God binds us all together in order to bring blessing to the world.
This morning Jesus has some harsh words for those religious leaders who do not
practice what they preach – those who haven’t taken graduation day seriously,
who do not live what they have learned.
But then he turns to those who follow him – he turns to you and says –
you are to be a servant people, who serve one another and who serve God.
That’s your purpose as a people and as a community.
You are blessed – in order to be blessing.
And the last words he speaks in Matthew are the same words God says to Joshua this morning:
I will be with you, always, to the end of the age.
And continue to bless you so that you can be blessing.
Like the Israelites, like 2000 years of Christians, we are invited by God to be
servants and lovers of the world.
We are invited to be blessing.
Like all those people, we and the people we remember this morning are sometimes good at
being blessing and sometimes not.
But when we are, what a thing it is.
Ordinary people, shining with the love of God.
Ordinary people, shining with the light of Christ.
Bound together in one tremendous amazing purpose: to be blessing.
This morning I think of Tom and his volunteer work at our Food Bank.
I think of Curtis and his volunteer work with International Development Enterprises.
I think of Alfred and his coming to a new country to find a place here and
be such a blessing to family.
I think of Kathy and the light and beauty she brought into so many people’s lives.
I think of Jo and her loveliness and I think of youth minister Diana’s grandfather who
made a long trip to Canada as a young man to bring blessing to a new country.
With them and with Joshua and the people of Israel we are standing on the banks of the
Jordan River this morning, on the brink of a new day and a new world – so with them
let’s keep moving toward it – together.
These people brought such blessing – and so can we.
We give thanks for them, and give thanks that they now rest in the presence of God,
having finished their labours, as we await with them the day of resurrection.
With them, with the people on the shore of the Jordan River long ago,
and with the disciples of Jesus on that day in the temple long ago,
we have been incorporated into God’s story of bringing blessing to the world.
We are all saints – all capable of bearing the light of Christ
And together we are a community of saints, dedicated to the service of the world.
God is with them – and God is with us. So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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