CEC News & Father Riley's homily from Christ Episcopal, Bastrop November 24, 2019

CEC News!

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th, 10am, to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.
… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist December 1, 15; 24 !!!
…The crèches will go up the first Sunday in Advent, December 1^st.  If you want to help put the outside crèche together, see or contact Sam (318-766-0998) or corsonsam@gmail.com .  The outside crèche was planned and given by Mrs. Allein Watson.
… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.


(Father Riley's homily from Christ Episcopal, Bastrop, November 24, 2019)

LAST PENTECOST, PROPER XXIX - C - 19   LUKE 23. 33-43

“When they came to the place that is called the skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.”

This is not the scene one would expect to hear of this time of the year. Nor is it the last scene in the gospel that belongs to Easter. Our thoughts and plans are elsewhere these days. Thanksgiving is next Thursday. We just finished Halloween. Don’t know about you, but I still have bowl full of milky ways left?

Black Friday is on the horizon and Christmas Eve is a mere 4 weeks away. However, on the Church’s calendar today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday and with it, we close out the church’s liturgical year and stand on the threshold of Advent.

All three of today’s lessons, as well as the collect, speak of kingship, but not the kind of kingship we normally think of or have seen depicted in the movies. In our first lesson, the prophet Jeremiah predicts that one day God will raise up for David’s righteous branch…a king who will execute justice and save Israel. His name will be called The Lord of Righteousness.

St. Paul writes to encourage the young Christians at Colossae by reminding them that they have been rescued from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins…who has made peace through the blood of his cross.

Which brings us back to the scene St. Luke is presenting to us this morning, the crucifixion of Jesus. There was an inscription over the head of the dying Jesus that read, “This is the King of the Jews,” however it was only written in mockery.

Luke describes the crowd that gathered to watch Christ die as one made up of the religious leaders that scoffed at him, and the soldiers who mocked him. There were others present, Luke reports that merely stood by in silence. Then there were the two thieves that were crucified on either side of him. Even one of those railed against him. But the other thief rebuked him, admitted he deserved what he was getting, but that Jesus did not. He was the only one that day, according to Luke, who confessed that Christ was king when he asked to be remembered by Jesus when he came into his kingdom.

The latter way is the path to paradise. Jesus has stood on its head the meaning of kingship, the meaning of the kingdom itself. He has celebrated with the wrong people, offered peace and hope to the wrong people, and warned the wrong people of God’s coming judgment.

Now he is hailed as king at last, but in mockery. His true royalty shines out in his prayer and promise. Jesus prays for his tormentor’s forgiveness. Jesus promises a place of honor and bliss to the one who requests it. Forgiveness and reconciliation to God brings the life of the kingdom into the present.

Only in Luke do we find the story of the two thieves and their different behavior towards Jesus. Yet throughout the gospel of Luke, the author has reminded us of life’s two ways: the way of fearing God and the way of taking care of self.

The people of Bethlehem, for example, turned their backs on Mary and Joseph, but the shepherds rejoiced and believed. Ten lepers were healed of their terrible disease, but one returned to give thanks to Jesus. Two men went into the temple to pray; one paraded his achievements before God, while the other could only beg for mercy.

All the way through Luke, many ignore God and court disaster, but a few heed God and find mercy and blessing. Even at the cross this human pattern of choice, of alternative paths, continues. But there is another aspect of the scene Luke is holding up for us this morning.

That is, Satan’s continued temptation of Jesus that occurs even on Calvary. “If he is the messiah of God, his chosen one,” the leaders scoffed, “let him save himself.” To which the soldiers added their own mockery, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Satan speaks through their voices.

The “if” resonates, doesn’t it, with the scene from the wilderness where Jesus was tempted by Satan to surrender his humanity in favor of his divinity. Satan did his best in the beginning to derail Christ’ God-given mission to live and die as one of us in order to reconcile us to God. At the beginning and even now at the end of his earthly ministry Satan is still at work in an effort to keep Christ from fulfilling his divine mission.

Instead, Jesus chooses to continue to share in our humanity, to die as one of us on the cross between two thieves who share the same fate. One who rejects him and one who asks to be remembered by Him. Satan did not want Jesus to die on the cross for he knew that God would raise him from the dead.

Easter put an end to Satan’s tempting Jesus, but his temptation of each and every one of us who call ourselves Christian continues. “If you are a child of God, Satan whispers repeatedly, prove it.”

Prove it by the way you live your life in relationship to others. Prove it by forgiving as Christ forgives you. Prove it by loving one another as He loves you. Prove it, Satan whispers by giving to those in need, by putting others before self. The challenge each of us faces on a daily basis, is to put our faith into practice, to prove to the world and to ourselves that we are Christians.

Satan’s “if” is always an attempt to have us doubt ourselves as Christians, doubt whether or not we can live into the new life to which we have been called in Christ, to bring the life of the kingdom into the present. The challenge of life’s two ways is always before us: the way of fearing God and the way of taking care of self.

To choose the way of fearing God over taking care of self is to choose life over death. It is the path to paradise. To choose God’s way and to live our lives accordingly, is to be assured that the request of the penitent thief to be remembered by Jesus has been granted to all who confess him as their Lord and King. AMEN+

Christ Episcopal News and Forward Day by Day for November 24, 2019

CEC Breaking News!

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th, 10am, to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.

 … Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist December 1, 15; 24 !!!

…The crèches will go up the first Sunday in Advent, December 1^st.  If you want to help put the outside crèche together, see or contact Sam (318-766-0998) or corsonsam@gmail.com .  The outside crèche was planned and given by Mrs. Allein Watson.

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

Reading & meditation from Forward Day by day

SUNDAY, November 24

Last Sunday after Pentecost

Colossians 1:19-20a For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him was pleased to reconcile himself to all things.

Division and enslavement by sin is the default human condition. It dogs us every day of our lives and at every level of our lives. It mars relationships between people in families, in local communities, among nations, and yes, even in churches. In the collect for today, we acknowledge that the peoples of the earth are “divided and enslaved by sin,” and we implore God to be “freed and brought together under [the] most gracious rule” of “the King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Reconciliation is critical. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, has repeatedly said that reconciliation is not just part of the gospel; reconciliation is the gospel. But, in both our catechism and in Colossians, this restoration to unity happens in a very particular way—in Christ. It is “in him” that the “fullness of God” is found, and “through him” that restoration to unity takes place. It flows from the cross of Christ.

CEC News & Father Riley's homily from November 17, 2019

CEC Breaking News!  The Bishop is coming, the Bishop is coming!

… We will celebrate Morning Prayer led by Mrs. Jane Barnett November 24.

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist December 1^st, 15; 24th

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.


Father Riley's homily:
23 PENTECOST, PROPER XXVIII - C- 19                 LUKE 21. 5-19

If you have been fortunate enough to visit the holy city of Jerusalem, that is the old city, you most likely found yourself standing at the “wailing wall,” the remnants of the Temple Herod the Great built in 20 BCE.

It is a most sacred place to the Jews of the world. Hundreds visit it every day to pray. Thousands of annual visitors, many who are non-Jews likewise come from all over the world to write their prayers and petitions on small bits of paper, roll them up, and insert them in the cracks and crevices of the ancient wall.

I have been fortunate enough to have stood next to the wall and prayed on two separate occasions. Each time I tried to visualize what the temple, in all of its grandeur, must have looked like in the time of Jesus. I can only imagine how a first time pilgrim to the holy city and to the temple mount must have reacted when they saw it gleaming in the mid day sun.

Jesus’ own disciples may or may not have ever made an annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem as the law required and thus may be viewing it for the very first time as they sit opposite the temple treasury and watch the people come and go. If so, their remarks contained in our gospel reading for today in regards to its beauty are understandable. “…how it is adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God,” they marveled.

Then, Jesus shocks them when he says, “As for these things which you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Naturally, they asked when, and how?

This passage from Luke has its parallel in Mark, and Matthew and is often referred to as the “little apocalypse,” a reference to the end time. Thus, even today, when people either read it or hear it, they want to know when and how the end will come. They get caught up in the detail of what Jesus is saying about the natural and human disasters and miss what is really important.

Jesus stresses over our not being deceived by false messiahs and predictions of when and how all of this will eventually take place, in order to keep us from being carried away by all of that. Yet, it is easy to see why many today want to point to current wars and rumors of war, famines, diseases, earthquakes, fires, and floods, etc. as “signs” that the end is near.

However, Jesus says before the signs of nature and man’s inhumanity to man that will accompany the end occur, we who call ourselves Christians will be persecuted for our faith. That is the “sign” that we need to pay attention to. And yes, it is happening throughout the world today. However, not yet, on the scale Christ is referring to in today’s passage.

We don’t like to think about it happening here, but Jesus says it will, but when it does, we are not to despair rather we are to see it as an opportunity to witness to our faith. We are not to worry for the words of our defense will be given to us when the time comes. Christ promises that by our perseverance we will be saved.

The story of the first generation of Christianity - the time between the resurrection of Jesus and the fall of the temple - bears out these prophecies, which Jesus presents to his disciples as they sat opposite the temple treasury and admired the temple’s beauty.

The destruction of the temple was complete in the year A.D. 70 by the Romans. All that remains today is that portion of the western wall that continues to draw thousands each year to pray.

How easy it is for some Christians to be caught up in the beauty of a building. I have to admit that I have been the rector of more than one church, and listened to more than one vestry focus their energy and efforts on maintaining the building rather than expanding the mission of the church.

In addition, I have heard countless Christians who never tire of remarking of the beauty of the stain glass windows and other appointments of the church to which they are members of, to the point of distraction.

The great cathedrals of the world, which in most cases took hundreds of years to build, were done so to reflect the glory of God and to inspire genuine worship. If you have ever visited one of these, you see how easily one can be awed by their beauty. Sadly, many of them are virtually empty on any given Sunday today as are many of our own churches in this country.

The beauty of any sacred space, at least for me, has always been in my reflecting on how many prayers have been said in that place. How many tears have been shed in grief and sorrow, as well as joy? How many Eucharists have been celebrated to the Glory of God in Thanksgiving for the means of grace and the hope of glory?

Some of my most memorable moments as a priest have been when I had the opportunity and the privilege to celebrate the Holy Mysteries in the ruins of ancient churches in Ireland, Scotland, and England.
The beauty of those spaces was reflected in the stones that were scattered about and in my realizing that early Christians worshipped there. Although no structure remained, I was still awed and humbled knowing that I was standing on holy ground once dedicated to the glory of God.

Buildings and even remnants of once magnificent structures, no matter how holy they may be or once were, remain only as silent witnesses.

The witness our Lord is referring to in today’s gospel, however, is anything but a silent one rather one made manifest by the promise that Christ himself will give us the words when that day comes. That “day” will precede the “signs” so many wish to be able to recognize as bringing on the end time.

Between now and then, our witness to the world is in our daily living based on the promises of God in Christ. In our prayers, our worship, in our reaching out to meet the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves, and especially in our not growing weary in doing what is right, as St. Paul exhorts the Christians at Thessalonica.

These are precious promises, to be learned ahead of time and clung to in a moment of need, so that by our learning to hold fast to them we may be able to persevere in our faith, and at the last day be found worthy to stand before Him who is our light and life, the very hope of our calling. AMEN+
(readings: Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19)

CEC News and Father Riley's homily from November 10, 2019

CEC News

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist November 17 and we will celebrate Morning Prayer led by Mrs. Jane Barnett November 24.

…Vestry meeting after fellowship November 17.

… It is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th to celebrate with us.  A pot-luck luncheon is planned for all to attend.  More news later.



Father Riley’s homily:
22 PENTECOST, PROPER XXVII - C - 19                 LUKE 20. 27-38

The twentieth chapter of Luke contains several attempts on the part of the chief priests and scribes to trap Jesus into saying something they can use against him. First, they questioned his authority to do and say the things he did. Failing in that, they turned their efforts to the issue of paying taxes. Again, Jesus thwarted their attempt to trap him.

In today’s passage, the priests and scribes step back and let the Sadducees take a shot at him through a theological debate over the question of resurrection. Who were the Sadducees?

They were the Jewish elite, the sacerdotal aristocracy from whom the High Priest was chosen. They were educated in Greek and Hebrew. Theologically their special tenant was the denial of the resurrection; neither did they believe in angels.

However, the mass of Jews in Jesus’ day believed in immortality and it was an integral element in their religion. Against the gloom of the present, they had learned to set their hopes on a future age where God would one day set things right by vindicating his elect.

The Sadducees, however, were content with what the present life had to give. They saw no need to budge from the conservative adherence to the older Jewish view that God’s judgments were accomplished in this world alone. Jesus and his kingdom ideas and about the true nature of God was a threat to the status quo. Naturally they had to challenge him in hopes of both discrediting him and his views in the eyes of the people.

The debate on the resurrection in today’s passage, and its equalivants in Matthew and Mark, is the only discussion of this vital topic anywhere in the gospels. In this passage, Christ confirms that there will be a resurrection but not the sort the Sadducees are imagining. In that, Jesus is taking sides with the Pharisees, their theological opponents, who also believed in angels.

The Sadducees consider the resurrection to be a continuation of earthly life including marriage, and thus mock such doctrine with an absurd scenario. Jesus’ response to their test reflected their lack of knowledge of the scriptures, which revealed a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection, making such an earthly question irrelevant.

In doing so, Jesus makes two points. First, resurrection life will not be exactly the same as the present one. Death will have been abolished. Continuation of a particular family line, therefore, will be irrelevant. Those who are raised will be “equal to angels,” not becoming angels as is sometimes suggested, and to the disappointment of some, but in the sense they will live in a deathless, immortal state.

Jesus is not here suggesting that the resurrection will not be bodily; merely that the bodies of the raised will be, in significant ways, quite unlike our present ones. Second, Jesus proposes that the book of Exodus, one of those that the Sadducees acknowledge as authoritative, does indeed teach the resurrection when it describes God as the God of the living and not of the dead.

The resurrection of Jesus, of course, gave a huge boost to his follower’s belief of both about Jesus himself and about their own future life. Easter proved the Sadducees wrong.

As often is the case, even in our own times, an apparently academic issue is used as a façade for a political agenda. Today we have divisions among us of liberals and conservatives, in not only the realm of politics, but also religion, and our attempt to nail our opponents is frequently every bit as transparent as that used by the Sadducees in their attempt to embarrass Jesus.

The Sadducees had no real interest in what Jesus would say about the state of their hypothetical woman in life after death: they expected to expose what they took to be the absurdity of belief in resurrection. Jesus, however, had another agenda for them, and the church in selecting this text for our reflection directs out attention to a major article of faith.

As followers of Christ, we profess belief in the resurrection. The faith that we profess draws its confidence from the fact that God has raised Jesus from the dead. If Christ were not raised from the dead, as St. Paul says in another place, our faith is in vain. However, God did raise Jesus, and Christ has promised that we too shall share eternal life, a life described for us also as resurrection.

Sadly, there are Sadducees within the Body of Christ, even today, some of whom I have personally encountered over the years. One in particular always comes to mind. She was a long time member of the church serving on the altar guild and as a lay reader.

One Easter Sunday as I stood at the back of the church offering Easter greetings to those who were exiting the church, she took my hand, looked me in the eye, and said you don’t really believe that do you? Referring to my homily on the Resurrection of Jesus.

At first I was without comment, then, I could see that she was serious. Of course I do, I said, don’t you? No, she said emphatically. I never have. Then how can you stand and repeat the words of the Creed, I asked. I just skip over that part and never cross myself at the end. There is no consolation in that I responded and with that said, the exchange ended.

St. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians speaks of the eternal consolation that the Father has given us out of mercy, and Jesus in his response to the Sadducees in today’s gospel has named that consolation. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. All are alive in God.

Job knew that and believed that centuries before Christ, or the Sadducees for that matter, and was able to endure his present sufferings with the hope that one day he would be vindicated before God as he boldly proclaims in today’s first lesson from one of the oldest books in the Bible I might add.

 “I know that my redeemer liveth, and at the last day he shall stand upon the earth, and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.”

Job’s words continue to bring consolation and hope to those who suffer from grief and sorrow at the loss of a loved one as they are traditionally used at the beginning of the burial office of the Church and set the tone for that which follows - an Easter liturgy.

So, having been fed by God’s Word, we will in a moment stand and profess our faith in the words of the ancient Creed that culminates in our belief in the resurrection and the life of the world to come. Those who choose to cross themselves at the end of that profession do so as an outward sign of  affirmation.

Likewise, our celebration of the Holy Eucharist which follows our profession of faith witnesses to Christ’s promise in a most tangible and holy way, as we partake of the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood and fed on Him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving, an outward an visible sign of the pledge and hope of our calling. AMEN+

(Readings:  Job 19:23-27a; Psalm 17:1-9; 2Thessalonians 2:1-5,13-17; Luke 20:27-38)

Stewardship letters & pledge forms for 2020

Christ Episcopal Church Annual Stewardship Drive Underway



… We have mailed our annual stewardship letter and pledge forms.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please read the following letter and follow the instructions on the pledge form.  All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

2020 Stewardship Letter:

October 31, 2019

Dear Congregational Family of Christ Episcopal Church,

With this letter we begin our annual giving request.  Our operational budget is expected to be near $62,000 for 2020.  A revised budget will be developed based on pledges received.

With the giving of your time, talents, and financial assistance, Christ Episcopal presently offers:

·         Holy Eucharist or Morning Prayer every Sunday.  With the leadership of The Rev. Canon Gregg Riley usually offering Holy Eucharist 3 to 4 Sundays a month and Mrs. Jane Barnett leading us in Morning Prayer on other Sundays.  Cecil Evans, Vickie Sanders, and Suzie Rush lead us in music for our worship services.

·         Financial and volunteer support to The Shepherd Center.  Jane also offers Morning Prayer each Wednesday at The Shepherd Center. 

·         Financial support to Nashotah House Theological Seminary, The School of Theology in the University of the South at Sewanee, and Camp Hardtner.

·         The requested annual ‘giving’ to the Diocese. 

·         In 2019 your capital campaign donations allowed us to complete the handicap access ramp and major repairs and painting to the exterior of the church and parish house.

·         A meeting home for AA, community events and elementary age school tutoring.

We will conclude the 2020 Stewardship Drive with pledges returned in time for a thanksgiving and blessing service on Sunday, December 8^th lead by Bishop Jake Owensby.   The celebration will include a potluck luncheon following the 10am service. 

Your time is as critical as your financial support.  We appreciate the service you provide whether it’s offering refreshments for fellowship time, volunteering to read during the service, serving on the vestry, leading us in our prayerful music, joining the Flower/Altar Guild, serving as lay person with Father Gregg; or, any other support you wish to join us in. 

 Yours in Christ,

                Sam Corson                                                                        Brenda Funderburg

                Sr.  Warden                                                                        Treasurer

2020 Pledge Form:

”Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)  Your pledge is greatly appreciated and enables us to provide for our church and community.  Thank you!

2020 Pledge for Christ Episcopal Church, Saint Joseph

NAME(s):_________________________________________

PLEDGE AMOUNT $:_________________ (weekly, monthly, yearly)

Please return your pledge by November 24, 2019.  You may return your pledge by placing this form in the collection plate, mailing it to our Treasurer, Mrs. Brenda Funderburg, 477 Miller Road, Waterproof, LA 71375, or email your pledge to Brenda at bfun@me.com

CEC News and Father Riley's homily from November 3, 2019

CEC News

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist November 10 and 17 and we will celebrate Morning Prayer led by Mrs. Jane Barnett November 24.

… It  is time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed. 

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th to celebrate with us.  A pot-luck luncheon is planned for all to attend.  More news later.

ALL SAINTS SUNDAY - C -19

Today the Church celebrates All Saints and All Faithful departed. It is a dual celebration that occurs on the Sunday following November 1, which is All Saints Day and November 2, All Souls Day.

The celebration of All Saints dates to 373 in the East. In the West, it was celebrated as early as 610 but not moved to November 1 until 741. The feast of All Souls came later, and dates from the year 998.

All Saints Day is one of the 7 Principal feasts of the church in which we celebrate the lives of those men and women who have a perpetual place on the Church’ calendar. They are remembered for their contribution to the life of the Church and their witness to their faith in their respective generation.

In addition to our celebrating them, we will, in just a few moments,  remember before God’s altar the names of those faithful departed we have known and loved who are now in the greater presence of the God who created them, the Lord who redeemed them, and the Holy Spirit who sanctified them.

The word “saint” is not a word the church created as some later date in order to remember and identify the Apostles and early martyrs. It is found in the New Testament. St. Paul repeatedly uses the term saint to refer to all the faithful. Many of us, however, who consider ourselves faithful, find it hard to see ourselves in the same company as those heroes and heroines of the faith the Church deems as saints and holds up to us as examples to follow.

When we think of a saint, we usually think of one of the individuals the Church commemorates on its calendar. They have a particular day assigned to them on which the Church celebrates their life. For example, the Holy Apostles and martyrs of the early church, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In recent days, we were reminded of such individuals as John Henry Newman, a one time Anglican priest, who later in life converted to Catholicism, was made a saint in the Catholic Church.

He will now be given his own day on the Church’s calendar with the appropriate collects and prayers that commemorate his life and contribution to the life of the Church.

He and those like him are the ones most of us think of in terms of being a saint. We may never meet an individual in this life that will end up being on the Church’s calendar of saints. However, some have, like those who knew and worked with Mother Teresa of Calcutta for example.

For the rest of us our hope is that we will meet them on the other side when we have obtained the inheritance St. Paul speaks of in today’s Epistle and find ourselves in the company of the glorious saints in light.

Between now and then we are called to live a life following the examples of those the Church commemorates, as well as those we have known and loved in this life that lived their lives in praise of God. How do we do that? How did they do that?

First, we look to the pioneer and perfector of our faith, Jesus Christ. It is his blessed footsteps we seek to follow, his examples, his words, and his deeds. Today’s gospel reading is a portion of Christ’ sermon on the mount in which he gives us a blueprint for sainthood.



If we find ourselves reviled and abused, Jesus says, because we are Christians, which is not hard to do in today’s world, we are to rejoice for we are in good company. Instead of reacting as the world would react, that is retaliating, Christ teaches us, we are to love those who oppose our faith and do good to those who hate us.

Jesus says we are to bless those who curse us and pray for those who abuse us. When we stop and look at his words, we say I can’t do all of that. It is impossible. I am only human. To love those who hate me? To do good to those who abuse me? I may be able to pray for them, but to love them.

Jesus sums it up for us in the final verse of today’s passage: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” That makes it a little easier to swallow, doesn’t it? But even then, it is not that easy. If that is what it takes to be a saint, and most of us are honest with ourselves, we have to admit we are far from it. We don’t always treat others the way we want to be treated.

To be faithful is one thing; to live each day by the “Golden Rule” is another. People being who they are makes it difficult to love some of them. But I suppose some would same the same thing about us.

Were it not for God’s grace none of us would be able to follow the examples of those blessed saints who have gone before us or those who are in the very midst of us right now. For the communion of saints is made up of both the living and the departed.

I have always loved the collect for today. “Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship…” It is such a wonderful image. I think of it more of a patchwork quilt like the one my grandmother used to make sewing together one piece at a time.

I watched as she took pieces of different sizes and shapes, colors and materials and brought them together to create a beautiful oneness. God calls all us through his Son, Jesus Christ to virtuous and godly living, to be one with him who is our life. We accept that call in Faith.

At our baptism we were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, which according to Paul, is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit the eyes of our hearts have been enlightened, so that we may know what is the hope to which we have been called.

We may not see ourselves as saints, but we are, as St. Paul reminds us by virtue of our being members of the Body of Christ, the Church militant. It is by God’s grace, and the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit that we strive faithfully to follow in Christ’ footsteps knowing that we are surrounded and supported by a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us.

For now, we live, work, witness, and pray for the day when we will join the Church triumphant and are reunited with those we have known and loved who are now in the greater company of the saints in light with the Holy Apostles, martyrs, virgins and doctors of the church, whom God has knit together in one holy fellowship we call the Communion of Saints. Amen+

(Readings:  Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31)