God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is
ABC: All Saints, Beatitudes and Christian Living. My focus is our gospel. Let
us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said
to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we
rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds
and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most
Holy Trinity. Amen.
All Saints’ Day is a Christian festival celebrated in honor of
all the saints, known and unknown. In Western Christianity, it is celebrated on
November 1st by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran
and other Protestant churches. Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate it on the
first Sunday after Pentecost and others on the first Friday after Easter.
All Saints’ Day stems from a belief that there is a powerful
spiritual bond between those in heaven (the "Church triumphant") and
the living (the "Church militant"). In many historically Catholic countries,
it is a national holiday. In Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden,
the Day assumes a role of general commemoration of the dead, and usually takes
place on the first Sunday of November. Lutherans celebrate All Saints' Day
after Reformation Sunday, and in many congregations, we remember the dead while
celebrating Christ's victory over death.
Lutherans do not believe that saints can receive prayers or
intercede for a petitioner because, according to the Lutheran Church, there is
no evidence to support this in the scriptures. In the Lutheran Church, a saint
is anyone who believes in Jesus Christ, tries to live an exemplary life and is
an example of what everyone else can aspire to become.
The reason that Lutherans do less with saints is Luther’s belief
that in Christ’s kingdom all the baptized are saints. All received the same
gift of grace and are equal and not better than anyone else. Luther was
cautious about a hierarchy where some could be seen as better than others. He was
also cautious about praying to saints as intercessors for us before God,
believing that in Christ we have direct access to God and need no intercessor.
In his essay on Public Worship in 1523, Luther wrote, “All
the festivals of the saints are to be discontinued. Where there is a good
Christian legend, it may be inserted as an example after the Gospel on Sunday.
The festivals of the Purification and Annunciation of Mary may be continued,
and for the time being also her Assumption and Nativity, although the songs in
them are not pure. The festival of John the Baptist is also pure. Not one of
the legends of the apostles is pure, except St. Paul’s. They may either be
transferred to the [closest] Sunday or celebrated separately, if one so
desires.”
Luther made similar remarks in his revision of the Latin Mass, “If
any desire to approve the introits (inasmuch as they have been taken from
Psalms or other passages of Scripture) for apostles’ days, for feasts of the
Virgin and of other saints, we do not condemn them. But we in Wittenberg intend
to observe only the Lord’s days and the festivals of the Lord. We think that
all the feasts of the saints should be abrogated, or if anything in them
deserves it, it should be brought into the Sunday sermon. We regard the feasts
of Purification and Annunciation as feasts of Christ, even as Epiphany and
Circumcision. Instead of the feasts of St. Stephen and of St. John the
Evangelist, we are pleased to use the office of the Nativity. . .. Let others act according to their own conscience
or in consideration of the weakness of some—whatever the Spirit may suggest.”
In general, Lutherans kept the feasts associated with the life
of Jesus, as well as those saints from the Bible, particularly the New
Testament. For example, on June 24th, we observe the Feast of the
Birth of John the Baptist.
The Lutheran Service Book adds a few more feast days for Saints,
including Michael the Archangel, Paul, Barnabas, Joseph, Mary, Mary Magdalene,
Timothy and Titus. It also includes a list of commemorations for Old Testament
saints – Abraham, Samuel, Esther – and other saints from the history of the
church – Polycarp, Lawrence, Anselm, Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz and C.F.W.
Walther.
We do not have strict rules governing which saints we must
celebrate and which ones we cannot. Much of this is left to the discretion of
the pastor. In general, we don’t want to obscure the work of Christ or detract
from the main message of the gospel. We certainly should not spend more time
talking about the saints than we do about Jesus. And when we do speak about the
saints, the focus is still on Jesus. The Apology to the Augsburg Confession
mentions three particular ways that we remember the saints: Thanksgiving – When
we remember the blessing that these people have been to the church and world,
all thanks and glory goes to God alone. Examples of Mercy – In the saints we
see how God used sinners like us as His servants. Moses, David, Peter, Paul and
the rest were forgiven for their many failings, and that gives us hope.
Examples of Faithfulness – God gives us examples to follow through the faith
shown by the saints and by their acts of service. You can remember Saints’ Days
as part of your daily devotions, school chapel services or devotions at church
meetings.
Since the role of the Saints is never to distract or detract
from the work of Christ, but to give examples where we can see Him at work
throughout the history of His Church and today, we move from A to B, from All
Saints to Beatitudes.
We usually consider The Beatitudes as the eight blessings
recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. Each is a
proverb-like proclamation, without narrative. Luke reiterated four of the
blessings in the Sermon on the Plain followed by four woes which mirror the blessings.
In all, Matthew and Luke contain 28 of the 44 beatitudes that appear in the New
Testament.
The Greek word for blessed or happy is makarios.
Beatitudes have roots in the Greek world and in the Hebrew world to connote
praise or the act of blessing.
In the Old Testament, blessedness refers to persons experiencing
the fullness of life because of trust in the Lord, deliverance, prosperity or
justice.
We read in the Psalms, “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord
his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!”[1]
And later, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is
in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who
gives food to the hungry.”[2]
In the New Testament, beatitudes, such as those in today’s
Gospel, focus on the paradoxical reversal of human values. They require
openness in faith, which is the appropriate context for understanding the
challenge of the Beatitudes.
The Sermon on the Mount, the wider context of the Beatitudes, is
a compilation of sayings that Jesus used in different settings. It was also the
basis for his ministry. Matthew adapted Jesus’ Sermon and Beatitudes to the
changing needs of the Church separated from Judaism and the synagogue.
The Beatitudes shed light on the actions and attitudes
characteristic of the Christian life, and are paradoxical promises that sustain
hope in the midst of tribulations. They proclaim the blessings and rewards
already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples.
They respond to our natural desire for happiness. We all want to
live happily. In the whole human race, there is no one who does not want to be
happy. So, what does it mean for us to be happy?
To answer that, and to segue into my third point, Christian
Living, let me tell you about a book I read entitled Reading Scripture with
the Church Fathers by Christopher Hall. While Luther’s Small Catechism
does not cite Church Fathers, all of the other documents in the Book of Concord
do. The first Lutherans quoted the Early Church Fathers against the new (false)
teachers of the Roman Church, in order to show that Lutherans were in line with
the historic creeds and teachers.[3]
They also turned to the Fathers for help in the arguments against radical
protestants – Anabaptists, Zwinglians, Calvinists – who rejected infant baptism
and the Lord’s Supper.
Hall points out that the Ancient Fathers heard music in
Scripture where we remain tone-deaf. Despite their occasional eccentricities,
theirs was a hearing refined through long listening in song, worship, teaching,
meditation and oral reading. And like true masters they challenge and correct
our modern assumptions as they invite us to tune our ears to hear the divine
melodies of the Bible.
Hall writes about the Fathers quoted in the Book of Concord who
offer insight into how Christians today can live the Beatitudes. One of them,
Augustine, wrote this:
We must search out the life of happiness, we must ask for it
from the Lord our God. Many have discussed at great length the meaning of
happiness, but surely, we do not need to go to them and their long drawn out
discussions. Holy Scripture says concisely and with truth: Happy is the people
whose God is the Lord. We are meant to belong to that people, and to be able to
see God and live with him forever, and so the object of this command is love
from a pure heart, from a good conscience and a sincere faith.[4]
I quote Augustine because many people view the Beatitudes as a
guide to happiness. Some even rename these verses as the Be-Happy-Attitudes. In
his succinct analysis, Augustine was correct when he cited Psalm 144: Happy
is the people whose God is the Lord.[5]
We don’t need to seek every spiritual writer or worldly-wise person offering
happiness in a twenty-dollar book or a two-hundred-dollar seminar. Happiness
comes freely for the asking from God.
Happiness comes freely for the asking from God. If you ask God
for happiness, God will give it freely, even in the midst of your greatest
troubles and difficulties. I say that because my friend, Peg Durachko, whom I
have known for more than 30 years, once told me that the two Beatitudes that stand
out for her are Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied; and Blessed are the merciful, for
they will be shown mercy. She said that for her the former stands out
because of how Mother Teresa of Calcutta dedicated her life to serving God, and
the latter because at the beginning of this Millennium, Pope John Paul II
declared the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.
Now, you may be wondering why I am quoting a devout Roman
Catholic’s musings on the Beatitudes in a Lutheran Church, a week after
Reformation Sunday. One reason is because our observance of Reformation Sunday cannot
replicate the Lutheran Church of the 16th century. In spite of those
who remain steadfast, many Lutherans and Catholics live harmoniously in the
same neighborhoods, work cooperatively in the same business, serve the same
community as firefighters and coaches, and sometimes even pray for one another
and with one another. The second reason is because Peg Durachko was married to
Richard Gottfried, the dentist murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in
Pittsburgh, several years ago.
Richard was a devout Jew, a community servant, a loving husband,
a connoisseur of fine wines and full-bodied cigars, a dedicated dentist and a
friend of mine. Through many conversations and activities, Rich taught me
lessons of life and happiness. And when I think of Happy is the people whose
God is the Lord, I think of Rich, for he lived his religion not on his
sleeve, but in his heart and in his home, in his dental practice and in his
community. In other words, Rich and Peg offer us an example of my third point,
Christian Living.
They each studied the Scriptures and their faith. Rich even
leaned Hebrew so he could serve as a cantor. He was the president of New Light
Congregation and chair of its religious education committee.
Rich and Peg introduced me to personal development seminars,
Marriage Encounter and Rabbi Harvey at his synagogue. This led to me leading a
session at their adult education class, and Rabbi Harvey leading one at my
congregation. Ecumenical, open-minded and loving, they prayed for everyone’s
needs. And when people asked Peg what they could do to help her in the days
after Rich was murdered, she replied, “Do not let his death be in vain.
Drive out evil from your own life and help another to drive it out of their
life. The only way to combat evil is with love.”
Drive out evil from your own life and help another to drive it
out of their life. The only way to combat evil is with love. My friends, as you
observe All Saints’ Day, contemplate the Beatitudes and consider how you will
live the Christian Life today, open yourself to those who might offer you a
lesson on the latter, no matter what his or her religion, and then, for others
be an example of Christian Living by living the Beatitudes and becoming a saint
for them, for when you do, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding,
will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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