Texts for Sunday November 5, 2017
All Saints’ Sunday
Today, November 1, is actually All Saints’ Day when we celebrate the baptized people of God, living and dead, who are the body of Christ. But since it’s mid-week, we are a scattered people and so we will gather and celebrate this together on Sunday.
The text from Revelations pulls our gaze forward to the time when God’s blessings and promises will be fulfilled. Death loses its sting.
A saint is one who has been blessed for the work of God. Matthew tells us what it is like to live as God’s saint. All who claim and trust in the promises of God are blessed.
Blessed, greatly honored, happy. I’ve seen the Greek word used here translated in all these ways.
But it is still hard to wrap my head around it.
Read Matthew 5:1-12. Then sit quietly a moment and reflect.
Look at the photo above.
These are ordinary people. These are saints of God.
These are blessed.
Have you ever felt blessed, or honored, or happy, as described in the Beatitudes?
What stumbling blocks do you come to when thinking about all this?
And finally, what does grace have to do with this?
For an interesting contemporary paraphrase of this check out these verses as rendered in The Message by Eugene H. Peterson
Does this version change anything in your thoughts?
Comments, questions are always welcome. Blessings!