Good Morning. As the reports and the photos continue to
come pouring out of the New York metro region, my sorrow increases and my
prayers go out to those who have survived this horrible storm. I have friends whose lives are now
irreversibly altered by what has happened.
Even Bellevue Hospital, the second oldest hospital in America and the
most important trauma center in NYC has been emptied of its patients. Please keep all of the residents of all the
areas that were hit in your prayers.
This is All Saints Day. In some Christian traditions this is a very
special day. In today’s Gospel lesson,
Jesus says: “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and
after that can do nothing more.” All
Saints Day traditionally has been a day on which we pray in gratitude for the
lives of the saints who have passed on to life eternal in God’s kingdom. We don’t pray for the dead: we give God our thanks for the lives that they
lived and the heritage they have left us.
There are two things about our faith
that we sometimes try to get around, yet without them we have no real
faith. The first is that we are called
to live our lives in grateful obedience to Christ’s will. The second is that our mortal lives are
impermanent and may even be taken from us by the enemies of Christ.
I’m reading a book of historical
fiction called “Wolf Hall.” It’s the
first part of a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell.
As sometimes happens with me, I was hit by a very simple phrase that I
read. Someone is asking Cromwell about
the debt he is owed by someone else. The
response is: “Some debts should never be tallied. ‘I myself, I know what is
owed me, but by God I know what I owe.’”
“I know what I owe.”
It struck me that we don’t take enough time to remember what we
owe. We are rapidly approaching the
holiday that we call Thanksgiving, and traditionally we say a ritual “thank
you” to some ill-defined deity and then proceed to overindulge in the bounty of
our tables. But do you really take the
time to consider what you owe?
Our faith is rooted in gratitude to God. Our lives, rightly lived, are lived in
grateful response to God’s grace and mercy.
Some people say that they don’t like to reflect on all that we owe
because it feels to them as if they are being belittled. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our whole reason for living is the
realization that the God who created all living things stooped to love us and
without God’s grace we would truly be nothing.
Rightly understood, that means that we are precious in God’s eyes. We have enormous value because of God’s
love. We have been raised to new life as
the children of God.
Take the time – every day – to consider what you owe. Let your gratitude be seen not only by the
Lord but by all who see you. Release the
light of Christ’s glory from within your heart, and let the whole world see His
glory as you live your life in gratitude to a God to whom we owe everything.
Let us pray: Almighty
God, You are the powerful creator of all that is and yet You have taken the
time to stoop to this world and invite us into still a new creation. Your Son has told us that “even the hairs
of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid.” Fill us with gratitude whose very source
brings us courage; the courage to live for You; the courage to face death for
Your glory; the courage to know that You wait for us beyond the life of this
mortal existence. In Jesus’ name we
pray. Amen.
Today’s readings are Ecclesiasticus
31:12-18,25-32:2; Revelation 12:7-17; Luke 11:53-12:12; Psalm 50, 59, 60 &
33.
With the Psalmist let us say: “Our
soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield.
Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
What do I owe?
Everything. Thank you Lord.
Blessings
Pastor Jim
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