How are we all doing? How do you folks feel right now?
How’s the anxiety level?
Some of us, I know, have been trying to fast from the news media,
but for me that hasn’t worked so well,
so today I need to speak to you from what I am feeling,
what I observe and what is close to my heart as most important spiritually
for us here and now.
Now I know that a lot of us have mailed in our election ballots days ago.
But it’s more than the election that is generating anxiety.
Currently we are seeing a world wide migration taking place,
refugees from Syria, Africa, Central America as well as elsewhere.
Life has become so untenable in these areas, in so many places,
because of wars over religion, control of the drug market,
or simply a struggle for power and dominance.
And economic sustainability collapses for the populations in so many areas.
Then there is a resurgence in racism that brings into question
all the advancements that we thought were made
by the civil rights movement of just a few decades ago.
Also currently we are seeing another “war” – a gender war,
after a period of a growing women’s movement
post WWII and especially
during the 1980’s and 1990’s,
which was a period of tremendous visionary release.
Now we are encountering a massive push back
and upsurge of what could be called male dominance behavior.
Yes, I know, what I am saying has a political ring to it.
But my position is essentially not about the tension between
the candidates running for president,
but instead about the tension between
the way of life that generates these terribly wasteful conflicts
and getting in touch with the reality of Jesus
and the wholeness of the Kingdom of God.
I say these things to distinguish between
what we call, in biblical terms, the “kingdoms of this world,”
as opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Every single Eucharist and, I hope, daily for all of you
we pray the Lord’s Prayer.
We ask for God’s kingdom or reign to come,
to come within us,
to come with greater recognition of the reality within the midst of us,
just as Jesus declared.
This “kingdom” is not a political system like what we live in;
it does not have borders drawn out on a map,
nor treaties and foreign policies and laws governing commerce and all that.
The Kingdom of God is an entirely different paradigm.
The economics of God’s Reign is about an irrepressible abundance
and an upside down use of power,
where love is the currency and serving is the expression of power.
Today we are commemorating all the saints
and we fold into that remembering those who have died
those who are near and dear to us, whose loss we grieve.
Now we may not apply the trait of being a saint
to all those who have died that we want to remember.
God knows that Uncle Filbert could have benefitted from a little repentance,
that Aunt Hazel was in need of more grace,
that the whole family tree was a little nuts.
But what do we have for the Gospel reading for All Saints Sunday,
but the Beatitudes?
And this implies that there is a connection between
saints and those who are blest by God.
This year we have Luke’s version of the Beatitudes,
and when you look at the list, the categories of those who are blest,
it’s hard at first to think of these people as the first saints that would come to mind.
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
"Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you
on account of the Son of Man,” who was also excluded, reviled and defamed.
Blessed are those who are poor,
who are economically devastated,
those who can’t make enough on minimum wage
to keep a roof over their heads
who pitch tents beside the freeway.
Blessed are those who are hungry,
who do not have food stability,
those who use up their supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits before the end of the month
and need to take a trip to the food bank,
who stand at busy intersections with cardboard signs.
Blessed are those who weep,
who are overwhelmed by their losses,
whose pension plans got raided by the companies they worked for,
those whose spouse died or left,
those who lost a child
those whose rent sky-rocketed
and forced them out of the neighborhood
where they had lived for decades
away from all their support networks.
Blessed are those
who are scapegoated, barred from immigration or are deported,
who have their treaty rights broken,
who are verbally maligned and are subjected to bullying,
those who suffer discrimination and seemingly innocuous micro-aggressions
from people who do not even realize they are doing that.
These are the ones with whom our Lord Jesus identifies himself.
These are the ones who get the blessing,
the ones who are most open to discovering
how God pours out mercy, grace and compassion with the greatest of love.
These, the ones deemed of little value, those thought to be a drain on society,
are the ones who get invited to the table in the Kingdom of God,
who get their feet washed by Jesus himself,
and experience more clearly than most of us
reconciling and healing love.
Well, are we now feeling more uncomfortable, not just anxious, but disturbed?
Please know that I have a deep yearning for us all to turn to Jesus.
We are sitting here in a Christian church on a Sunday morning,
while most of our neighbors are either sleeping in
or off doing all sorts of activities,
that frankly we too might enjoy doing ourselves!
But we are here, because Jesus has got hold of us in some way.
We bring what is disturbing us, what is making us anxious,
what causes us lost sleep.
And we hunger and thirst for such words as we hear in the liturgy,
such as:
The collect for today –
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect
in one communion and fellowship
in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living,
that we may come to those ineffable joys
that you have prepared for those who truly love you…
And the words of the Gospel – Jesus said:
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also;
and from anyone who takes away your coat
do not withhold even your shirt.
Give to everyone who begs from you;
and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Words just the opposite of any campaign speech you have heard
or are likely to hear.
But you know in your heart, these words are true,
they are words of life,
they are the foreign policy and social welfare policy
and homeland security policy of the Kingdom of God.
We hunger and thirst for these words from the Eucharistic Prayer –
It is truly right, and good and joyful, to give you thanks,
all-holy God, source of life and fountain of mercy.
You have filled us and all creation with your blessing
and fed us with your constant love;
you have redeemed us in Jesus Christ and knit us into one body. Through your Spirit you replenish us and call us to fullness of life.
And we find our hope and mission plan
that will sustain us back out there in the kingdoms of this world
in the words of the post-communion prayer –
God of abundance,
you have fed us with the bread of life and cup of salvation;
you have united us with Christ and one another;
and you have made us one with all your people in heaven and on earth. Now send us forth in the power of your Spirit,
that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world
and continue for ever in the risen life of Christ our Savior.
So I pray for you, yes, I do,
daily in my prayers of intercession.
I put my prayers for you into the words of St. Paul
that we heard in his letter to the Ephesians this morning:
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation
as you come to know him,
so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened,
you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,
what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who trust him, who have faith.
So here I have poured out my heart sharing with you what is real to me.
It’s not the kingdoms of this world, the political systems,
that would provide the solutions to all that creates such anxiety around the globe.
They are looking for solutions
within their own structure and power systems,
but that can’t be found where they are looking.
Jesus is the Way, the living example of the Kingdom of God,
and by the power of the Holy Spirit that he would breathe into us,
we can live a new life in him,
a life which is full of love and mercy.
We can stop watching the political systems run out their own self destruction,
and we can turn the eyes of our hearts to Jesus
and have our fears and anxiety brought to peace.
