November 1 is All Saints’ Day. Even though it is one of the seven principal feasts of the Christian calendar, it is easily forgotten. Additionally, some denominations, wary of the abuses they see in the veneration of saints, don’t even regard it as a holiday. The result is that most American Christians have simply lost a specific day to remember, pray about, and celebrate those who have gone before them in the faith. If we don’t set aside a specific time to do something, it usually doesn’t happen!
A number of years ago, I had the chance to visit one of the catacombs at Rome. In the coolness and quiet, deep underground, I came face-to-face with something startling: There were places of worship, places to celebrate communion, next to the graves of Christians. The guide explained that the family and church would gather at the tomb to celebrate the Eucharist from time to time as a statement that the dead person was still a member of the Church, that Christ was victor over death, and that the resurrection was coming.
The Church is the only society on earth that never loses members. Those who have gone before us in the faith are no less a part of the body of Christ than we are. There is only one body, and it contains the Christians of all ages and times. We need moments to remember this when our view of Christianity starts to get too narrow, too influenced by America or the 21st Century. The saints from ages past worshiped differently than we do and would probably be shocked at aspects of the American church. But we also need moments to remember the entire body of Christ—the body that includes people from all over the globe and spans thousands of years—when we grow discouraged and feel alone. We are, in the language of Hebrews 12, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Joined together with them in Christ, we are neveralone.
All Saints’ Day is a moment to remember these things. It is a moment to grieve for the temporal loss of those who have gone before us in the faith, to remember them in thanksgiving before God, and to celebrate what God will do with them in the resurrection. They, like us, are waiting for the moment when Christ returns.
We need moments to remember in prayer the great cloud of witnesses! Join us on Wednesday, November 1; we will hold two very simple Eucharist services (around 30-40 minutes each). One will be at 7:30am, and the other at 6:15pm. Even though there will not be childcare, we encourage those who are able to bring children—it is the perfect moment to tell them the stories of those who have gone before you and set an example for you in the faith.
In Christ,
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
As we saw in the readings on Sunday, a vineyard is one of the primary metaphors for Israel. God is the vigneron—the cultivator and farmer—and the people are his vines. He cleared a space and planted them in a fertile location, and then pruned, tended, and guarded them, so that they would produce a harvest. Peel away the metaphor, and we see God giving Canaan to his people, protecting them from foreign armies, correcting their moral failings, and giving them instructions on life and worship, all so that their lives produced goodness.
The goodness, or fruit, that they were supposed to produce is made clear by the prophets: justice and mercy (particularly for orphans, widows, the poor, and immigrants), honesty, sexual purity and fidelity, pure and authentic worship (according to God’s prescription), generosity with money and property instead of greed, enjoyment of God’s gifts without being ruled by pleasure, and freedom from idolatry. But the metaphor of fruit has an intriguing element to it—fruit is not for the sake of the vine.
God’s desire for his people is that they would live with the sort of character that the Law and the prophets describe. In other words, he wanted his own character to take root in his people and grow to fill their lives—he wanted it to blossom in their habits and actions. And he described all of this as fruit! Fruit is not for the vine; instead, it brings enjoyment to and sustains life for others.
Our world is driven by the idea of living for ourselves. God’s vision for his people is each one living for the others. We speak of achieving our dreams or goals, yet he asks whether we are bearing fruit that might strengthen or gladden another. We shouldn’t try to do the things he asks so that we can be proud of ourselves—we should do them so that the life of someone else is strengthened and enriched. When your honesty is tested, when covetousness arises, when lust comes knocking, or when compassion for another fails, remember that our fruit is for the sake of the others around you.
A vine without fruit is useless, but a vine that produces for itself is non-sensical!
In Christ,
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
The psalm for morning prayer yesterday (Ps. 84) celebrates being in the presence of God in his temple. Many of you likely remember its most famous line, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” But as I prayed through the psalm yesterday morning, a much less famous verse leapt off the page:
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
The imagery of having highways in the heart grabbed my imagination and raised convicting questions! Highways can be rough or smooth, slow or swift, and dangerous or peaceful, just like the paths I travel in my heart—sometimes I choose the bumpiest or longest roads as I seek to follow God. Highways only matter if they are actually traveled—acknowledging what is right in my heart but not acting on it is pretty meaningless. In the end though, the most convicting question was raised by the simple reality that highways lead somewhere—there is a destination to the direction our hearts are pointed. For me, this raised the question, “Is my heart actually pointed towards Zion, to where God is?”
Hebrew poetry is based on parallelism; each pair of lines works together, complementing, contrasting, and explaining each other. The parallelism of this verse is beautiful, because it demonstrates that those whose heart-highways are aiming at God’s presence—those who view the throne room of God as their homeland and keep traveling there—are the same ones whose strength is in God. They don’t have to be strong on their own. God will be strong for them, because their heart is always longing for and traveling towards his throne.
May the highways of our hearts be to Zion!
Steven+