All Saints Day
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle A
Theme of the Day
Inspired by the saints and the love of God.
Collect of the Day
Acknowledging that God has knit His people together in one body, petitions are offered that the faithful might follow the saints in lives of faith and commitment and know the inexpressible joys prepared for those who love Him. Doctrines of Sanctification (construed as a Work of God), Church, and Eschatology are emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
• A thanksgiving for deliverance from trouble, traditionally attributed to David when feigning madness before Abimelech. The Psalm is acrostic, with the first letter of each line following consecutively the order of the Hebrew alphabet.
• A brief hymn of praise, referring to blessing Yahweh at all times (vv. 1-3).
• The Psalmist claims to have sought the Lord and been delivered (vv. 4, 6).
• Yahweh's angel camps around all who fear Him (v. 7). We are told to taste and see that Yahweh is good, and those who take refuge in Him are happy and are never in want (vv. 8-10).
• The Lord is said to redeem the life of His servants not condemning those who take refuge in Him (v. 22).
Sermon Text and Title
"The End Times Are Upon Us!"
Revelation 7:9-17
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To teach and proclaim the vision of the end time and its relevance for everyday life (Eschatology, Sanctification, and Social Ethics).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• A vision of the multitude of the redeemed, transpiring between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals (opened by the lamb [presumably Christ] in 6:1).
• The multitude from every nation stands before the lamb robed in white. They carry palm branches (symbolizing righteousness and victory) (v. 9).
• A praise psalm is offered regarding salvation belonging to God and Christ (v. 10).
• Angels stood around the throne of God and also around elders and four living creatures. They worship God, singing a sevenfold ascription to God (vv. 11-12).
• In dialogue with an elder, John learns that those robed in white are those who have weathered persecution and been washed in Christ's sacrifice (vv. 13-14).
• Those who endured the persecution have a favored position, standing before the throne of God. They worship Him day and night, receiving shelter (v. 17). They will also hunger and thirst no more, enjoying comfort from the heat (Isaiah 49:10; Psalm 121:6) (v. 16).
• The lamb at the center of the throne will be the shepherd of those who suffered. He will guide them and God will wipe away their tears (v. 17).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• An eschatological vision testifying to the impact of Christ's atoning work (Satisfaction Theory) and to God's unconditional love (Justification by Grace).
• John Wesley points that in glory none "shall... suffer or grieve any more..." (Commentary on the Bible, p. 600).
• John Calvin nicely describes the comfort those living may gain from this heavenly vision:
... the entire company of believers, so long as they dwell on earth... would therefore have been desperately unhappy unless, with mind intent upon heaven, they had surmounted whatever is in this world... if, moreover, believers are troubled by the wickedness of three (greedy, arrogant) men... they will without difficulty bear up under such evils also. For before their eyes will be that day when the Lord will receive His faithful people into the peace of His kingdom, "will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
(Institutes of the Christian Religion [Westminster Press ed.], p. 718)
• Martin Luther offered similar reflections about how the glorious vision of the end helps us forget the trials and tears of daily life:
This forgetting should gradually come upon us even in this life. For although at the present time, while worms and rottenness are before our eyes, we cannot be unmindful of them, nevertheless there will be a time God will wipe away every tear, as is stated in Revelation 7:17.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 7, pp. 210-211)
• For more on Realized Eschatology (the impact of the eschatological vision on the present), see the last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 1. A comment by Martin Luther King Jr. is also most relevant: "We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now" (A Call to Conscience, p. 162).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• America faces a moral breakdown. For relevant data, see the first three bullet points of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2.
• A 2011 Gallup poll reveals that over 80% of Americans lack confidence in Congress, 65% in the presidency and in our school systems, and about 48% in the church.
5. Gimmick
We think America has problems -- economic stagnation, moral decay, lack of strong local and national leadership, even international tensions. See the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Invite the congregation to imagine the next phase of American decline -- a nation so completely disillusioned with itself that it has lost all faith in its moral and cultural institutions. Imagine that this disillusionment even leads to the Christian faith being called into question in such a way that Christians were being ostracized and persecuted. Invite the congregation to imagine this scenario.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• The situation described above has many affinities to the situation encountered by Christians to whom the book of Revelation was addressed. Their world was falling apart. This was also the situation decades earlier facing Jesus and His first disciples. The world as they knew it was falling to pieces.
• Faced with these dire circumstances the likely reaction would be to yearn for a better day and to hope that God would put an end to all the chaos and start anew. Out of despair comes the hope of the second coming. Perhaps ours is a time that needs this word of hope.
• This idea that in facing crises we can use the hope of Jesus coming again is a most appropriate word for All Saints Sunday, a day when our celebration of the lives of the saints inevitably leads to consideration of the hope of resurrection in the future. But this preoccupation with the end times also gets us more in touch with the New Testament church and with Jesus' own teachings. This provides a fresh perspective for living the Christian life in the twenty-first century.
• One of the major breakthroughs in biblical scholarship since the late nineteenth century has been to appreciate how saturated Jesus' teachings and those of his first followers are by the theme of the end times. You see it in Paul -- especially in 2 Timothy and the Thessalonian letters. Jesus frequently speaks of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven (Mark 1:15). The kingdom is at hand, He proclaims. This theme is even part of the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:10). Of course such an emphasis is all over the book of Revelation.
• In the Old Testament as well the kingdom of God was associated with the Messiah. And so it is not surprising that Jesus and His followers associate Him with the end.
• We don't have much of a concern for the end times today in most mainline churches. That theme seems more the turf of Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, and Pentecostals. Ask if their growth could be related to their embracing of this theme and/or neglect of it.
• Our First Lesson can help us recover this stress on the end. But this theme is evident in all our lessons. Modern biblical scholars are coming to agree that The Beatitudes (the Gospel Lesson, Matthew 5:1-12) are not laws given by Jesus of how we must behave, but a glimpse of the heavenly vision of what we will be like (see first bullet point of Exegesis for the Gospel Lesson).
• This theme of the end times is stressed in Revelation in our First Lesson, and that insight can change our lives. With excitement, review the vision of John in the lesson (see Exegesis). The lamb will guide all people, will shelter and feed us all, and wipe away all our tears. We have a powerful vision of the way the world will be when Christ comes again into our lives. This is a vision (like The Beatitudes [in the Gospel Lesson]) of the way God will make the world someday and the way His people will behave.
• The best modern-day example of this sort of outlook is Martin Luther King's famous 1963 Washington "I Have a Dream" speech. King did not lay down the law to America on racial quality. He just shared a dream of what God had in mind for America that someday former enemies would live, work, and play in harmony. That's the way the world is going to be when Christ comes again.
• Use the quotations by John Calvin and Martin Luther in the third and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights as well as follow the leads in the last bullet point of that section. A vision of Christ's second coming, of the saintly lives into which we'll be transformed gives hope, can change us in the here and now.
• When we live with this kind of awareness of the end, then God is that much closer to us. We can more readily sense how close He is to us, for He might be coming any day. This helps us put our priorities in order. Our nation has its problems; we are one day closer to our deaths. The real crisis facing the world is not these problems, not the economy, not war and not even our own deaths. The real crisis is God's coming to judge the world and create a new one (see Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, pp. 363ff). Invite the congregation to put all their problems in that perspective.
7. Wrap-Up
On this All Saints Sunday, let us keep the lives of the saints in mind this week. This faithful choir sings a beautiful song with their lives. They give us a hint of what life will be when Christ comes again. (If the Eucharist is celebrated, suggest we have a meal and so a fellowship with this faithful throng in the sacrament.) Between their witness and this sense of a God being closer to us, the vision in Revelation, faith that the end times is coming soon, are likely to inspire us to live like them and to live like we all will when Christ comes again. When hard times hit this week, remember the saints and that the kingdom of God is at hand!
Sermon Text and Title
"A Saintly Life"
1 John 3:1-3
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To clarify and proclaim that by God's grace we have been made saints and then to describe what it might look like (what lies ahead). Justification, Sanctification, and Eschatology are the highlighted themes.
2. Exegesis
• A treatise or sermon by an unknown teacher in the Johannine tradition, probably to clarify the proper interpretation of the gospel of John. Unlike the gospel it is not concerned to address the relation of Christian faith and the Jewish traditions but is concerned with the proper testimony about Jesus in the Christian tradition.
• Addresses segments of the Johannine community that have broken away (2:19; 4:1; 2 John 7). The dispute was over Gnostic or Docetic doubts about whether Jesus was truly a human being and whether His death on the Cross was a sacrifice for sin (1:1-3, 7; 2:2; 3:16; 4:2, 10; 5:6).
• The epistle has twelve Main Sections: (1) Introductions: Purpose and confession of faith (1:1-4); (2) Right attitude toward sin (1:5-10); (3) Obedience to God's word and love for one another (2:1-11); (4) True relationship with God in Christ (2:12-14); (5) True appraisal of the world (2:15-17); (6) Loyalty to the true faith (2:18-29); (7) Right conduct (3:1-18); (8) Christian assurance (3:19-24); (9) Discernment of truth and error (4:1-6); (10) Blessedness (4:7-21); (11) Victorious faith (5:1-12); and (12) Conclusion (5:13-21).
• Central Themes: (1) Physical reality of Christ coming in the flesh (1:1-3; 4:2); (2) The atoning sacrifice of Christ for sin (1:7; 2:2; 3:5, 16; 4:10, 14; 5:6); (3) Stress on works, urging them (1:6; 2:3, 9, 11; 3:3, 11-18, 23-24; 4:7); and (4) Sometimes teaches spontaneity of good works (3:9; 4:3; 5:1).
• A discussion of how loving relations are expressed in right conduct.
• The author advises that the Father has given us much love and that we should be called children of God. The world does not know the faithful, for it does not know Him (v. 1).
• He further proclaims that we are God's children now; what we become has not yet been revealed. When Christ is revealed we will be like Him (v. 2).
• All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure (v. 3).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text explores Christian love (Sanctification as it flows form God's love [Justification]), how it manifests in daily life, along with the promise of the Eschatological fulfillment of that love.
• Regarding God's adopting us as His sons John Calvin writes:
This being so great a favour, the desire for purity ought to be kindled in us, so as to be conformed to His image.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXII/2, p. 202)
For the apostle's meaning is this, that we act very foolishly when we estimate what God has bestowed on us according to the present state of things, but that we ought with undoubting faith to hold to that which does not yet appear.
(Ibid., p. 204)
• Commenting on the text Martin Luther writes:
But he has spoken of the exceedingly great love shown by Him who was prompted to love by no merits or works but by love alone.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 265)
The world does not know you; you know it, namely, that it is not capable of this fatherly love.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 266)
• Regarding the text's reference to being like God, Luther writes:
We shall be like Him but not identical with Him... God is life. Therefore we too shall live. God is righteous, Therefore we, too, shall be filled with righteousness.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 268)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Consider the leads in the first bullet point of this section for the First Lesson.
• Living with the future in view is healthy. See the last two bullet points of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 1.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 1. God loves us so much to make us children of God, even saints. But the world surely doesn't recognize that in us. To the world we are a bunch of hypocrites. See the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the First Lesson.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Our lesson says that we are children of God but that is not yet visible. An anonymous document of the second century, The Letter to Diognetus well describes how Christians go against the grain. Christians, it says:
... take part in all things as citizens, while enduring the hardships of foreigners. They pass their time on earth; but their citizenship is in heaven.... They love all men; and by all they are persecuted. They are unknown, and they are condemned... They are poor, but make many rich.
(The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 40)
• Use references that suggest Martin Luther's Theology of the Cross, how the essence of Christian faith contradicts the insights of reason, in the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights for the Gospel, Advent 3, and the last three bullet points of that section for the Second Lesson, Ash Wednesday.
• Use the second quotation by Calvin in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. We don't want to judge God and the fulfillment of His promises by the way things look today!
• Our lesson indicates, though, that things are not as confusing for us faithful. We are already children of God -- love is already working on us!
• We begin with that wonderful, caring God of ours. Martin Luther compellingly describes this overwhelming love:
God Himself is love, and His being is nothing but pure love. Therefore if anyone wanted to draw and picture God in a telling way, he would have to draw a picture that showed nothing but love, as though the divine nature were nothing but an intense fire and fervor of a love that has filled heaven and earth.
(What Luther Says, p. 819)
This is a God who loves us just because He loves us and not because of anything we have done or ever will do. Use the first quotation by Martin Luther in the third bullet point of Theological Insights.
• Love changes us. There is an anonymous quote that captures this insight:
Falling in love is one of the most exhilarating and life altering experiences. It can change your entire perspective on life. It can consume you and erase all your troubles.
The parent's love for a child shapes who that child is. That's what God's love does for us. Use the first quotation in Calvin in the second bullet point and the quote by Luther in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. The love of God makes us want to desire purity and holiness!
• We are not there yet! Our lesson tells us that. We know it. The preacher should confess some of his/her shortcomings, noting these are typical of parishioners. We are not living saintly lives, it seems. Martin Luther well describes our present condition:
But we say that the real saints of Christ must be good, stout sinners who are not ashamed to pray the Lord's Prayer... They are not called saints because they are without sins or have become saintly through works... but they become holy through a foreign holiness, namely, through that of the Lord Christ, which is given to them by faith and thus becomes their own.
(What Luther Says, p. 1247)
• A visibly saintly life may lay ahead, but we are already saints in God's eyes, children of God. Cite verse 2. A new day of hope lies ahead. What we become has not yet been revealed. When Christ is revealed we will be like Him. The author of our lesson proceeds to contend that all who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure (v. 3).
7. Wrap-Up
Right here on earth we Christians live saintly lives in a hidden way, in a way that the world does not recognize. With the vision of what we will have when Jesus comes to us on earth or we go to Him, we catch glimpses from time to time that embody the holiness God has planned and outwardly gives us. Then on that day like the medieval mystic Teresa of Avila said, "We will be filled with fervent desire from the depths of our hearts, so that even when not thinking of God we will be ever alert to His majesty. Our ardent desire will be to be used by God in any way He chooses. Meanwhile children of God that we are, we wait for who we really are to be fully revealed. For saints like us here on earth feel that whatever we do counts very little, for the love of God showered on us makes us feel that everything we do is of small amount and with God's aid is quite easy" (Elmer O'Brien, ed., Varieties of Mystic Experience, pp. 214-215).
Invite the saints in the congregation to make this a holy week, a week so filled with God and His ultimate aims that our special relationship with the loving Lord of ours gets us looking ahead with yearning and a little more loving right now. That's what living like saints does to you and for you!
Sermon Text and Title
"The Blessings and Saintliness of a Balanced Life"
Matthew 5:1-12
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
An exploration of the character of the Christian life (and our saintliness), as outlined in The Beatitudes, is provided. We see that balance between extremes is what Jesus provides to the faithful and the salubrious character of this vision of Sanctification is outlined.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• The Beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon proclaiming God's favor for those who aspire to live under His rule. These are not conditions for receiving blessings but depict the eschatological age which is dawning (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, p. 88).
• Jesus went up the mountain and after sitting down with His disciples, He taught them (vv. 1-2).
• The poor in spirit (those with a deep sense of spiritual poverty) are said to blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of God (v. 3). Likewise blessed are those who mourn, receiving comfort, those who are meek, inheriting the earth, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled (vv. 4-6).
• Also blessed: (1) The merciful, receiving mercy (v. 7); (2) The pure in heart for they will see God (v. 8); (3) The peacemakers, called children of God (v. 9); (4) The persecuted, for theirs is God's kingdom (v. 10).
One with a purer heart seems to refer to a person not embarked on a course of evil and not seeking to deceive his neighbor (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, p. 93).
• Jesus adds that we are blessed by people who revile and persecute us (v. 11). Then we are to be glad, for our reward is great in heaven, for in the same way Christians are now persecuted this happened to the prophets before the church (v. 12).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text focuses on Sanctification (or the balanced lifestyle Christians are led by God's grace to lead).
• Preaching on this text Augustine refers to God breaking down our hearts and entering our minds to take possession of our hearts (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 6, p. 267).
• In the same spirit famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom wrote:
For neither wealth, nor power, nor royalty itself, had so much power to exalt men, as the things which they possessed in all fullness.
(Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10, p. 92)
For when God doth comfort, though sorrows come upon thee by thousands like snowflakes, thou wilt be above them all. Since in truth, as the returns which God gives are always far greater than our labors; so He hath wrought in this case.
(Ibid., p. 93)
• John Wesley thinks that in the text Jesus was trying to teach ways to happiness (Commentary on the Bible, p. 407). Regarding the reference to the "meek" in verse 5, he understands them to be those who "hold all their passions and affections evenly balanced" (Ibid.).
• Martin Luther sees verse 3 as a critique of those who believe (like today's prosperity gospel) that if one is successful it is a sign he has a gracious God (Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 11).
This does not mean, therefore, that one must be poor in the sense of having nothing at all of his own... That is, he must not set his confidence, comfort, and trust on temporal goods, nor hang his heart upon them and make mammon his idol.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, pp. 12-13)
So a man is said to "mourn and be sorrowful" -- not if his head is always drooping and his face is always sour and never smiling; but if he does not depend upon having a good time and living it up, the way the world does.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 19)
• About the reference to being meek (v. 5) the Reformer writes:
But if you want to do right and have rest, let your neighbor's malice and viciousness smother and burn itself out. Otherwise you can do nothing more pleasing to the devil or more harmful to yourself than to lose your temper and make a racket.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 25)
• And on being pure in heart he writes:
So you see that everything depends on the word of God. Whatever is included in that and goes in accordance with it, must be called clear, pure, and white as snow before both God and man... whatever God does and ordains must be pure and good. For He makes nothing impure, and He consecrates everything through the word which He has attached to every station and creature.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 35)
• About The Beatitudes in general the Reformer observes:
So far we have been treating almost all the elements of a Christian's way of life and the spiritual fruits under these two headings: the first, that in his own person he is poor, troubled, miserable, needy, and hungry; second, that in relation to others he is useful, kind, merciful, and peaceable and, who does nothing but good works.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 45)
But if you want to have the gospel and Christ, then you must count on having trouble, conflict, and persecution wherever you go.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 51)
• About Jesus' words in the Luke 6:20-31, John Wesley advises:
... generally, prosperity is a sweet poison and affliction a healing, though bitter medicine. Let the thought reconcile us to adversity and awaken our caution when the world smiles upon us; when a plentiful table is spread before us and our cup is running over; when our spirits are high and we hear (what nature loves) our own praise from men.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 438)
• Martin Luther commented on how sainthood is not precluded by sin and what sainthood really is:
We are all saints, and cursed is he who does not want to call himself a saint. However, you do not owe this to yourself but to the will of God, who would be your Father. To call yourself a saint is, therefore, no presumption but an act of gratitude and a confession of God's blessings.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 45, p. 128)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Modern evolutionary theory and neurobiology have combined to demonstrate that the moral sense is natural in all human beings; see Edward Wilson, Sociobiology; Nicholas Wade, The Faith Instinct, pp. 22ff. Wilson points out the moral instinct's relation to the brain's prefrontal cortex, which when activated in flooded with the good-feeling brain chemical dopamine. Also see this section of the Second Lesson, Advent 1, for details. This is the part of the brain that controls emotions and moderates or balances our behavior between emotional extremes (David Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, esp. p. 43).
• For more on how the moral sense of human beings evolved and is "balanced," see this section for the Second Lesson, Transfiguration, for the Evolutionary development of the moral sense.
5. Gimmick
Read verses 3-9.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• The Beatitudes: Note to congregation that they have heard the words many times in their lives. It is so named for its repeated references to being "blessed." That's what "Beatitudes" refer to -- being blessed.
• But the Beatitudes of Jesus are often misunderstood, regarded as conditions for receiving God's grace. Use the first bullet point of Exegesis. We saints in Christ (remind congregation that all Christians are saints, with a reference to the last bullet point of Theological Insights) are described here. They teach us that the good life, Christian living, is a life of balance. The first few verses of our lesson make that clear.
• Jesus speaks of the poor in spirit being blessed (v. 3), but that doesn't mean renouncing all you have and living in dire poverty. Use the first quotes by famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom (in third bullet point of Theological Insights) and Martin Luther (in fifth bullet point of that section). The poverty of a Christian is to live realizing that riches really don't matter much, and you don't have to define your worth by your "stuff." Put riches in their place and balance in your life.
• Likewise Jesus spoke of those who mourn being blessed (v. 4). This doesn't mean it's better to be grieving over losses than to be happy. Use the previously unused quotes by John and Luther in the third and fifth bullet points of Theological Insights. Jesus' point is that being happy is not what life is all about and sorrows, like snowflakes, always vanish. Keep your life in balance when hard times hit.
• Martin Luther nicely explains what Jesus intends by extolling the blessings of meekness (v. 5). Use the quotation in the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights. When we don't let our neighbor's anger provoke us, we keep our emotions in balance. (Also consider first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.)
• John Wesley claims that this vision of the balanced life is Jesus' message in our text. Use the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights.
• A balanced life is better, happier, and holy. Modern American Catholic writer Thomas Merton said it well: "Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony."
• Self-help author Brian Tracy offers similar wisdom:
Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.
• Consider the points about how balance is the essence of human morality, about living for and doing good. Employ the observations and follow the leads in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• As we proceed to live holy lives, living for God and others, not for ourselves, the front part of the brains, their executive functions, become activated, redirecting and controlling our emotions in modulated and more balanced directions.
7. Wrap-Up
The lives of saints like us can reflect the lifestyle God has always intended for the created order (evidenced in links we have seen between Jesus' vision of a balanced line in The Beatitudes and the way in which our evolved moral sense results in lives of balance). How can we live this way? It is natural for saints like us. Use the quote by Augustine in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. When God takes possession of our hearts, as He has in the case of us saints, moderation, balance, peacemaking (v. 9), giving mercy (v. 7), and purity of heart (v. 8) can't help but happen. So on this day to commemorate the saints we learn anew what God has made us like and approach the new week in the spirit of balance and moderation. Blessed we are because God is in control.
Inspired by the saints and the love of God.
Collect of the Day
Acknowledging that God has knit His people together in one body, petitions are offered that the faithful might follow the saints in lives of faith and commitment and know the inexpressible joys prepared for those who love Him. Doctrines of Sanctification (construed as a Work of God), Church, and Eschatology are emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
• A thanksgiving for deliverance from trouble, traditionally attributed to David when feigning madness before Abimelech. The Psalm is acrostic, with the first letter of each line following consecutively the order of the Hebrew alphabet.
• A brief hymn of praise, referring to blessing Yahweh at all times (vv. 1-3).
• The Psalmist claims to have sought the Lord and been delivered (vv. 4, 6).
• Yahweh's angel camps around all who fear Him (v. 7). We are told to taste and see that Yahweh is good, and those who take refuge in Him are happy and are never in want (vv. 8-10).
• The Lord is said to redeem the life of His servants not condemning those who take refuge in Him (v. 22).
Sermon Text and Title
"The End Times Are Upon Us!"
Revelation 7:9-17
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To teach and proclaim the vision of the end time and its relevance for everyday life (Eschatology, Sanctification, and Social Ethics).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• A vision of the multitude of the redeemed, transpiring between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals (opened by the lamb [presumably Christ] in 6:1).
• The multitude from every nation stands before the lamb robed in white. They carry palm branches (symbolizing righteousness and victory) (v. 9).
• A praise psalm is offered regarding salvation belonging to God and Christ (v. 10).
• Angels stood around the throne of God and also around elders and four living creatures. They worship God, singing a sevenfold ascription to God (vv. 11-12).
• In dialogue with an elder, John learns that those robed in white are those who have weathered persecution and been washed in Christ's sacrifice (vv. 13-14).
• Those who endured the persecution have a favored position, standing before the throne of God. They worship Him day and night, receiving shelter (v. 17). They will also hunger and thirst no more, enjoying comfort from the heat (Isaiah 49:10; Psalm 121:6) (v. 16).
• The lamb at the center of the throne will be the shepherd of those who suffered. He will guide them and God will wipe away their tears (v. 17).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• An eschatological vision testifying to the impact of Christ's atoning work (Satisfaction Theory) and to God's unconditional love (Justification by Grace).
• John Wesley points that in glory none "shall... suffer or grieve any more..." (Commentary on the Bible, p. 600).
• John Calvin nicely describes the comfort those living may gain from this heavenly vision:
... the entire company of believers, so long as they dwell on earth... would therefore have been desperately unhappy unless, with mind intent upon heaven, they had surmounted whatever is in this world... if, moreover, believers are troubled by the wickedness of three (greedy, arrogant) men... they will without difficulty bear up under such evils also. For before their eyes will be that day when the Lord will receive His faithful people into the peace of His kingdom, "will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
(Institutes of the Christian Religion [Westminster Press ed.], p. 718)
• Martin Luther offered similar reflections about how the glorious vision of the end helps us forget the trials and tears of daily life:
This forgetting should gradually come upon us even in this life. For although at the present time, while worms and rottenness are before our eyes, we cannot be unmindful of them, nevertheless there will be a time God will wipe away every tear, as is stated in Revelation 7:17.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 7, pp. 210-211)
• For more on Realized Eschatology (the impact of the eschatological vision on the present), see the last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 1. A comment by Martin Luther King Jr. is also most relevant: "We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now" (A Call to Conscience, p. 162).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• America faces a moral breakdown. For relevant data, see the first three bullet points of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2.
• A 2011 Gallup poll reveals that over 80% of Americans lack confidence in Congress, 65% in the presidency and in our school systems, and about 48% in the church.
5. Gimmick
We think America has problems -- economic stagnation, moral decay, lack of strong local and national leadership, even international tensions. See the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Invite the congregation to imagine the next phase of American decline -- a nation so completely disillusioned with itself that it has lost all faith in its moral and cultural institutions. Imagine that this disillusionment even leads to the Christian faith being called into question in such a way that Christians were being ostracized and persecuted. Invite the congregation to imagine this scenario.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• The situation described above has many affinities to the situation encountered by Christians to whom the book of Revelation was addressed. Their world was falling apart. This was also the situation decades earlier facing Jesus and His first disciples. The world as they knew it was falling to pieces.
• Faced with these dire circumstances the likely reaction would be to yearn for a better day and to hope that God would put an end to all the chaos and start anew. Out of despair comes the hope of the second coming. Perhaps ours is a time that needs this word of hope.
• This idea that in facing crises we can use the hope of Jesus coming again is a most appropriate word for All Saints Sunday, a day when our celebration of the lives of the saints inevitably leads to consideration of the hope of resurrection in the future. But this preoccupation with the end times also gets us more in touch with the New Testament church and with Jesus' own teachings. This provides a fresh perspective for living the Christian life in the twenty-first century.
• One of the major breakthroughs in biblical scholarship since the late nineteenth century has been to appreciate how saturated Jesus' teachings and those of his first followers are by the theme of the end times. You see it in Paul -- especially in 2 Timothy and the Thessalonian letters. Jesus frequently speaks of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven (Mark 1:15). The kingdom is at hand, He proclaims. This theme is even part of the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:10). Of course such an emphasis is all over the book of Revelation.
• In the Old Testament as well the kingdom of God was associated with the Messiah. And so it is not surprising that Jesus and His followers associate Him with the end.
• We don't have much of a concern for the end times today in most mainline churches. That theme seems more the turf of Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, and Pentecostals. Ask if their growth could be related to their embracing of this theme and/or neglect of it.
• Our First Lesson can help us recover this stress on the end. But this theme is evident in all our lessons. Modern biblical scholars are coming to agree that The Beatitudes (the Gospel Lesson, Matthew 5:1-12) are not laws given by Jesus of how we must behave, but a glimpse of the heavenly vision of what we will be like (see first bullet point of Exegesis for the Gospel Lesson).
• This theme of the end times is stressed in Revelation in our First Lesson, and that insight can change our lives. With excitement, review the vision of John in the lesson (see Exegesis). The lamb will guide all people, will shelter and feed us all, and wipe away all our tears. We have a powerful vision of the way the world will be when Christ comes again into our lives. This is a vision (like The Beatitudes [in the Gospel Lesson]) of the way God will make the world someday and the way His people will behave.
• The best modern-day example of this sort of outlook is Martin Luther King's famous 1963 Washington "I Have a Dream" speech. King did not lay down the law to America on racial quality. He just shared a dream of what God had in mind for America that someday former enemies would live, work, and play in harmony. That's the way the world is going to be when Christ comes again.
• Use the quotations by John Calvin and Martin Luther in the third and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights as well as follow the leads in the last bullet point of that section. A vision of Christ's second coming, of the saintly lives into which we'll be transformed gives hope, can change us in the here and now.
• When we live with this kind of awareness of the end, then God is that much closer to us. We can more readily sense how close He is to us, for He might be coming any day. This helps us put our priorities in order. Our nation has its problems; we are one day closer to our deaths. The real crisis facing the world is not these problems, not the economy, not war and not even our own deaths. The real crisis is God's coming to judge the world and create a new one (see Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, pp. 363ff). Invite the congregation to put all their problems in that perspective.
7. Wrap-Up
On this All Saints Sunday, let us keep the lives of the saints in mind this week. This faithful choir sings a beautiful song with their lives. They give us a hint of what life will be when Christ comes again. (If the Eucharist is celebrated, suggest we have a meal and so a fellowship with this faithful throng in the sacrament.) Between their witness and this sense of a God being closer to us, the vision in Revelation, faith that the end times is coming soon, are likely to inspire us to live like them and to live like we all will when Christ comes again. When hard times hit this week, remember the saints and that the kingdom of God is at hand!
Sermon Text and Title
"A Saintly Life"
1 John 3:1-3
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To clarify and proclaim that by God's grace we have been made saints and then to describe what it might look like (what lies ahead). Justification, Sanctification, and Eschatology are the highlighted themes.
2. Exegesis
• A treatise or sermon by an unknown teacher in the Johannine tradition, probably to clarify the proper interpretation of the gospel of John. Unlike the gospel it is not concerned to address the relation of Christian faith and the Jewish traditions but is concerned with the proper testimony about Jesus in the Christian tradition.
• Addresses segments of the Johannine community that have broken away (2:19; 4:1; 2 John 7). The dispute was over Gnostic or Docetic doubts about whether Jesus was truly a human being and whether His death on the Cross was a sacrifice for sin (1:1-3, 7; 2:2; 3:16; 4:2, 10; 5:6).
• The epistle has twelve Main Sections: (1) Introductions: Purpose and confession of faith (1:1-4); (2) Right attitude toward sin (1:5-10); (3) Obedience to God's word and love for one another (2:1-11); (4) True relationship with God in Christ (2:12-14); (5) True appraisal of the world (2:15-17); (6) Loyalty to the true faith (2:18-29); (7) Right conduct (3:1-18); (8) Christian assurance (3:19-24); (9) Discernment of truth and error (4:1-6); (10) Blessedness (4:7-21); (11) Victorious faith (5:1-12); and (12) Conclusion (5:13-21).
• Central Themes: (1) Physical reality of Christ coming in the flesh (1:1-3; 4:2); (2) The atoning sacrifice of Christ for sin (1:7; 2:2; 3:5, 16; 4:10, 14; 5:6); (3) Stress on works, urging them (1:6; 2:3, 9, 11; 3:3, 11-18, 23-24; 4:7); and (4) Sometimes teaches spontaneity of good works (3:9; 4:3; 5:1).
• A discussion of how loving relations are expressed in right conduct.
• The author advises that the Father has given us much love and that we should be called children of God. The world does not know the faithful, for it does not know Him (v. 1).
• He further proclaims that we are God's children now; what we become has not yet been revealed. When Christ is revealed we will be like Him (v. 2).
• All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure (v. 3).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text explores Christian love (Sanctification as it flows form God's love [Justification]), how it manifests in daily life, along with the promise of the Eschatological fulfillment of that love.
• Regarding God's adopting us as His sons John Calvin writes:
This being so great a favour, the desire for purity ought to be kindled in us, so as to be conformed to His image.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXII/2, p. 202)
For the apostle's meaning is this, that we act very foolishly when we estimate what God has bestowed on us according to the present state of things, but that we ought with undoubting faith to hold to that which does not yet appear.
(Ibid., p. 204)
• Commenting on the text Martin Luther writes:
But he has spoken of the exceedingly great love shown by Him who was prompted to love by no merits or works but by love alone.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 265)
The world does not know you; you know it, namely, that it is not capable of this fatherly love.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 266)
• Regarding the text's reference to being like God, Luther writes:
We shall be like Him but not identical with Him... God is life. Therefore we too shall live. God is righteous, Therefore we, too, shall be filled with righteousness.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 268)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Consider the leads in the first bullet point of this section for the First Lesson.
• Living with the future in view is healthy. See the last two bullet points of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 1.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 1. God loves us so much to make us children of God, even saints. But the world surely doesn't recognize that in us. To the world we are a bunch of hypocrites. See the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the First Lesson.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Our lesson says that we are children of God but that is not yet visible. An anonymous document of the second century, The Letter to Diognetus well describes how Christians go against the grain. Christians, it says:
... take part in all things as citizens, while enduring the hardships of foreigners. They pass their time on earth; but their citizenship is in heaven.... They love all men; and by all they are persecuted. They are unknown, and they are condemned... They are poor, but make many rich.
(The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 40)
• Use references that suggest Martin Luther's Theology of the Cross, how the essence of Christian faith contradicts the insights of reason, in the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights for the Gospel, Advent 3, and the last three bullet points of that section for the Second Lesson, Ash Wednesday.
• Use the second quotation by Calvin in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. We don't want to judge God and the fulfillment of His promises by the way things look today!
• Our lesson indicates, though, that things are not as confusing for us faithful. We are already children of God -- love is already working on us!
• We begin with that wonderful, caring God of ours. Martin Luther compellingly describes this overwhelming love:
God Himself is love, and His being is nothing but pure love. Therefore if anyone wanted to draw and picture God in a telling way, he would have to draw a picture that showed nothing but love, as though the divine nature were nothing but an intense fire and fervor of a love that has filled heaven and earth.
(What Luther Says, p. 819)
This is a God who loves us just because He loves us and not because of anything we have done or ever will do. Use the first quotation by Martin Luther in the third bullet point of Theological Insights.
• Love changes us. There is an anonymous quote that captures this insight:
Falling in love is one of the most exhilarating and life altering experiences. It can change your entire perspective on life. It can consume you and erase all your troubles.
The parent's love for a child shapes who that child is. That's what God's love does for us. Use the first quotation in Calvin in the second bullet point and the quote by Luther in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. The love of God makes us want to desire purity and holiness!
• We are not there yet! Our lesson tells us that. We know it. The preacher should confess some of his/her shortcomings, noting these are typical of parishioners. We are not living saintly lives, it seems. Martin Luther well describes our present condition:
But we say that the real saints of Christ must be good, stout sinners who are not ashamed to pray the Lord's Prayer... They are not called saints because they are without sins or have become saintly through works... but they become holy through a foreign holiness, namely, through that of the Lord Christ, which is given to them by faith and thus becomes their own.
(What Luther Says, p. 1247)
• A visibly saintly life may lay ahead, but we are already saints in God's eyes, children of God. Cite verse 2. A new day of hope lies ahead. What we become has not yet been revealed. When Christ is revealed we will be like Him. The author of our lesson proceeds to contend that all who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure (v. 3).
7. Wrap-Up
Right here on earth we Christians live saintly lives in a hidden way, in a way that the world does not recognize. With the vision of what we will have when Jesus comes to us on earth or we go to Him, we catch glimpses from time to time that embody the holiness God has planned and outwardly gives us. Then on that day like the medieval mystic Teresa of Avila said, "We will be filled with fervent desire from the depths of our hearts, so that even when not thinking of God we will be ever alert to His majesty. Our ardent desire will be to be used by God in any way He chooses. Meanwhile children of God that we are, we wait for who we really are to be fully revealed. For saints like us here on earth feel that whatever we do counts very little, for the love of God showered on us makes us feel that everything we do is of small amount and with God's aid is quite easy" (Elmer O'Brien, ed., Varieties of Mystic Experience, pp. 214-215).
Invite the saints in the congregation to make this a holy week, a week so filled with God and His ultimate aims that our special relationship with the loving Lord of ours gets us looking ahead with yearning and a little more loving right now. That's what living like saints does to you and for you!
Sermon Text and Title
"The Blessings and Saintliness of a Balanced Life"
Matthew 5:1-12
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
An exploration of the character of the Christian life (and our saintliness), as outlined in The Beatitudes, is provided. We see that balance between extremes is what Jesus provides to the faithful and the salubrious character of this vision of Sanctification is outlined.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• The Beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon proclaiming God's favor for those who aspire to live under His rule. These are not conditions for receiving blessings but depict the eschatological age which is dawning (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, p. 88).
• Jesus went up the mountain and after sitting down with His disciples, He taught them (vv. 1-2).
• The poor in spirit (those with a deep sense of spiritual poverty) are said to blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of God (v. 3). Likewise blessed are those who mourn, receiving comfort, those who are meek, inheriting the earth, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled (vv. 4-6).
• Also blessed: (1) The merciful, receiving mercy (v. 7); (2) The pure in heart for they will see God (v. 8); (3) The peacemakers, called children of God (v. 9); (4) The persecuted, for theirs is God's kingdom (v. 10).
One with a purer heart seems to refer to a person not embarked on a course of evil and not seeking to deceive his neighbor (Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, p. 93).
• Jesus adds that we are blessed by people who revile and persecute us (v. 11). Then we are to be glad, for our reward is great in heaven, for in the same way Christians are now persecuted this happened to the prophets before the church (v. 12).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text focuses on Sanctification (or the balanced lifestyle Christians are led by God's grace to lead).
• Preaching on this text Augustine refers to God breaking down our hearts and entering our minds to take possession of our hearts (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 6, p. 267).
• In the same spirit famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom wrote:
For neither wealth, nor power, nor royalty itself, had so much power to exalt men, as the things which they possessed in all fullness.
(Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10, p. 92)
For when God doth comfort, though sorrows come upon thee by thousands like snowflakes, thou wilt be above them all. Since in truth, as the returns which God gives are always far greater than our labors; so He hath wrought in this case.
(Ibid., p. 93)
• John Wesley thinks that in the text Jesus was trying to teach ways to happiness (Commentary on the Bible, p. 407). Regarding the reference to the "meek" in verse 5, he understands them to be those who "hold all their passions and affections evenly balanced" (Ibid.).
• Martin Luther sees verse 3 as a critique of those who believe (like today's prosperity gospel) that if one is successful it is a sign he has a gracious God (Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 11).
This does not mean, therefore, that one must be poor in the sense of having nothing at all of his own... That is, he must not set his confidence, comfort, and trust on temporal goods, nor hang his heart upon them and make mammon his idol.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, pp. 12-13)
So a man is said to "mourn and be sorrowful" -- not if his head is always drooping and his face is always sour and never smiling; but if he does not depend upon having a good time and living it up, the way the world does.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 19)
• About the reference to being meek (v. 5) the Reformer writes:
But if you want to do right and have rest, let your neighbor's malice and viciousness smother and burn itself out. Otherwise you can do nothing more pleasing to the devil or more harmful to yourself than to lose your temper and make a racket.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 25)
• And on being pure in heart he writes:
So you see that everything depends on the word of God. Whatever is included in that and goes in accordance with it, must be called clear, pure, and white as snow before both God and man... whatever God does and ordains must be pure and good. For He makes nothing impure, and He consecrates everything through the word which He has attached to every station and creature.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 35)
• About The Beatitudes in general the Reformer observes:
So far we have been treating almost all the elements of a Christian's way of life and the spiritual fruits under these two headings: the first, that in his own person he is poor, troubled, miserable, needy, and hungry; second, that in relation to others he is useful, kind, merciful, and peaceable and, who does nothing but good works.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 45)
But if you want to have the gospel and Christ, then you must count on having trouble, conflict, and persecution wherever you go.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 21, p. 51)
• About Jesus' words in the Luke 6:20-31, John Wesley advises:
... generally, prosperity is a sweet poison and affliction a healing, though bitter medicine. Let the thought reconcile us to adversity and awaken our caution when the world smiles upon us; when a plentiful table is spread before us and our cup is running over; when our spirits are high and we hear (what nature loves) our own praise from men.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 438)
• Martin Luther commented on how sainthood is not precluded by sin and what sainthood really is:
We are all saints, and cursed is he who does not want to call himself a saint. However, you do not owe this to yourself but to the will of God, who would be your Father. To call yourself a saint is, therefore, no presumption but an act of gratitude and a confession of God's blessings.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 45, p. 128)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Modern evolutionary theory and neurobiology have combined to demonstrate that the moral sense is natural in all human beings; see Edward Wilson, Sociobiology; Nicholas Wade, The Faith Instinct, pp. 22ff. Wilson points out the moral instinct's relation to the brain's prefrontal cortex, which when activated in flooded with the good-feeling brain chemical dopamine. Also see this section of the Second Lesson, Advent 1, for details. This is the part of the brain that controls emotions and moderates or balances our behavior between emotional extremes (David Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, esp. p. 43).
• For more on how the moral sense of human beings evolved and is "balanced," see this section for the Second Lesson, Transfiguration, for the Evolutionary development of the moral sense.
5. Gimmick
Read verses 3-9.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• The Beatitudes: Note to congregation that they have heard the words many times in their lives. It is so named for its repeated references to being "blessed." That's what "Beatitudes" refer to -- being blessed.
• But the Beatitudes of Jesus are often misunderstood, regarded as conditions for receiving God's grace. Use the first bullet point of Exegesis. We saints in Christ (remind congregation that all Christians are saints, with a reference to the last bullet point of Theological Insights) are described here. They teach us that the good life, Christian living, is a life of balance. The first few verses of our lesson make that clear.
• Jesus speaks of the poor in spirit being blessed (v. 3), but that doesn't mean renouncing all you have and living in dire poverty. Use the first quotes by famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom (in third bullet point of Theological Insights) and Martin Luther (in fifth bullet point of that section). The poverty of a Christian is to live realizing that riches really don't matter much, and you don't have to define your worth by your "stuff." Put riches in their place and balance in your life.
• Likewise Jesus spoke of those who mourn being blessed (v. 4). This doesn't mean it's better to be grieving over losses than to be happy. Use the previously unused quotes by John and Luther in the third and fifth bullet points of Theological Insights. Jesus' point is that being happy is not what life is all about and sorrows, like snowflakes, always vanish. Keep your life in balance when hard times hit.
• Martin Luther nicely explains what Jesus intends by extolling the blessings of meekness (v. 5). Use the quotation in the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights. When we don't let our neighbor's anger provoke us, we keep our emotions in balance. (Also consider first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.)
• John Wesley claims that this vision of the balanced life is Jesus' message in our text. Use the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights.
• A balanced life is better, happier, and holy. Modern American Catholic writer Thomas Merton said it well: "Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony."
• Self-help author Brian Tracy offers similar wisdom:
Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.
• Consider the points about how balance is the essence of human morality, about living for and doing good. Employ the observations and follow the leads in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• As we proceed to live holy lives, living for God and others, not for ourselves, the front part of the brains, their executive functions, become activated, redirecting and controlling our emotions in modulated and more balanced directions.
7. Wrap-Up
The lives of saints like us can reflect the lifestyle God has always intended for the created order (evidenced in links we have seen between Jesus' vision of a balanced line in The Beatitudes and the way in which our evolved moral sense results in lives of balance). How can we live this way? It is natural for saints like us. Use the quote by Augustine in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. When God takes possession of our hearts, as He has in the case of us saints, moderation, balance, peacemaking (v. 9), giving mercy (v. 7), and purity of heart (v. 8) can't help but happen. So on this day to commemorate the saints we learn anew what God has made us like and approach the new week in the spirit of balance and moderation. Blessed we are because God is in control.
