All Saints Sunday
Year A
November 1, 2020
First Lesson: Revelations 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10-22
Second Lesson: 1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
The Collect
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; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Blessed—-Happy
We come together today to remember All the Faithfully Departed those known and unknown to us, and All of them are in the company of Heaven, they are standing around the throne.
In our reading of Revelations, they were singing “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
The Gospel:
Matthew 5:1-12
Our Gospel lesson on the Beatitudes and just like Moses, Jesus ascends a mountain to begin his teaching, and His disciples gather around him.
Blessed means happy or satisfied. Jesus describes each beatitude and what they would mean to them, the promise of God’s comfort in the coming age.
He offers and instructs them on God’s promise, and lets his followers know the ways that God wants them and US to live, and a world that God wants us to work toward.
Jesus centers on those who suffer, those who remain faithful, when we facing hardship, and like the pandemic, we have been facing for 9 months. Reminding us about compassion and care for others.
I have been thinking about Happiness lately!
Am I happy with the current situation? I feel like no matter how hard everyone tries; nothing is getting better.
My niece and her family live in Washington state. They have a photography business and like so many, they had their struggle’s. After months of struggling and barly hanging on, eventually, were able to start booking sessions. They also started a boutique and recently got their business license.
I responded to great! Good for you! I said, you know there are always things in life that we can’t change, but we can still find beauty and blessings in everyday things.
Yes, I too had what’s called… COVID-19 fatigue!!! I am sure you all do too.
We are going to get through this together, this is what God has been preparing us for and he wants us to have faith, and know that, when we feel like the world has been turned upside down…we remain right side up, we can remain optimistic.
Look for the Beauty and Blessings in everyday things!
In less than one month, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving, a time when we gather with our families and friends.
Yet one more challenge we face during this time. What is the holiday going to look like in 2020.
The answer depends on you, how blessed or happy are you? Are you only going to feel blessed that day?
Ask yourself now, when we feel so uncertain, are you still blessed (Happy) everyday!
No matter how you spend your day, Thanksgiving is still a special day to stop and reflect on everything we are grateful for.
I will be thankful, blessed and happy for my family, friends and how all of them make my life richer throughout the year.
Blessed and Happiness are not identical, but they can be one in the same.
As we remember today and celebrate the Feast of All Saints, we are called to give thanks to God for the blessings that the saints before us have given to the church, as well as many of blessings God has given to us.
Let us not lose sight of the fact that today, God is calling us to bear witness to the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is a place that all of us can come to know. The Kingdom of God shines through when we pray for those who hate us and want to destroy us.
When we pray and help those in need and those less fortunate then we are.
The Good News is God’s Kingdom, it is built for all of us and all of the Saints are around the throne are singing.
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Amen
The Reverend Lola Culbreath