For me the key words in the Gospel lesson for today are “children of the resurrection” and, even more so, “to him all of them are alive.”
As we approach the Lord’s Table we go to meet the Lord — who is alive and those too who are alive in Him, alive in the Resurrection. And even, I’ve been thinking, we go to meet those who are yet to come.
Hope for the future, as well as peace about the past, and faith — both comfort and challenge — for the present, are all proclaimed to us in this gospel.
For in Christ we are in communion with all the saints, all who live and die and are raised with him.
So as we go up to the altar to take communion we go up not for ourselves only but for all who share in the joy of the saints.
This is a sacrament that we take never so for much for ourselves as when we take it as members of the body of Christ: one bread, one body.
From Isaiah (25:6) we receive this vision of a feast at the end of time:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
The heavenly feast! If we take resurrection seriously, a couple of things happen.
For if we take resurrection seriously, we take each other seriously. How shall I regard you if I know you are an eternal being, that you will live forever, that in Christ you have a home in his heart? And how then shall I look at myself - at my own actions, at my self-regard or self- envy, my self-criticism or my downward looks, if Christ is real?
“Eternal life starts here” could be written over the gates of your life - today, any day, as you enter the church, as you approach the communion rail, as you start again, today, to live life as you want it to be lived.
***
Even the sorrow of life cut short — or spent badly — is redeemed in the resurrection. And its hope is in us, and we in it. So we can resist despair and live on, live now, in the fullness of that hope, the assurance of redemption.
Father Fuller (from St Frances Cabrini) said: “Our faith in our future resurrection must affect our lives now.” Knowing who we are and believing in the future changes how we treat each other, how we treat ourselves, how we approach life.
We are called to live in the fullness of confidence that death is not the end — the end is in Christ — the finality of the goal of all life… as all things are gathered to him.
***
To live now with the resurrection life before us means living now not only for ourselves but for others:
— in our sacramental life,
— in our workaday life,
— in our home life,
— in our social and political life…
How we treat one another,
how we treat ourselves,
how we live -
is in the light of the life of Christ,
that frees us,
empowers us, and
leads us - into strange, new places.
Now, we may not all agree on particular actions — I’m thinking of the social-political realm — but we know of one another who sends us, why and what is behind our actions, the source of our motivations.
[see Statement of Faith Leaders United for Peaceful Elections in Arizona]
Our Baptismal Covenant calls on us “to seek to serve Christ in all persons” — and uphold their dignity as children of God, affects how we conduct our public lives - not just how we vote, but in how we speak to others with whom we disagree. Our attitude of certitude or frustration or despair or even anger over public policy must be leavened with hope — with knowing that we are children of God.
How are we then to live?
— as God’s children,
— as transcendent beings of infinite value,
— as creatures of dust and glory whose mortal acts of the moment are significant in light of
our immortality,
of the hope of the resurrection, that is,
of our presence now in Christ.
And this presence of Christ in us, which we enact and celebrate as we go up to communion, motivates us, not only to kneel or stand before him Sunday morning, but to stand with him in all the moments of our lives.
***
In Christ we are all one people. Using political divisions or election anxiety to separate us does not, ultimately, work. For we know that our redeemer lives, and on the last day he will triumph — and we with him.
We begin to realize, as Christ draws all people to himself, that we are already one in the Spirit, and those boundaries we may seek to draw will all evaporate, dissolve, and blow away in the wind of the Spirit. That Holy Breath that in the Beginning moved across the face of the waters has not been still since creation’s dawn — it is still moving. And as it moves, what the world puts up against it will not stand.
Readings for Year C, Proper 27. The Third Sunday before Advent:
TRACK ONE
Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38
Faith Leaders United for Peaceful Elections in Arizona
In partnership with the Arizona Democracy Resilience Network
As faith leaders from across Arizona, we come together from different religious and political backgrounds to express our support for safe, fair and secure elections. With early voting for the November election just days away, we are concerned by the hateful rhetoric and threats against election workers, activists, supporters of the candidates, public officials and even places of worship.
The values of our faith traditions drive our belief in this cause. All of our constitutional freedoms, including our religious freedom, depend on the integrity of our elections – the foundation of American democracy.
We support the following fundamental principles for safe, secure and fair elections and we ask everyone – from public officials to civic leaders, people in a position of power to voters everywhere – to commit to the same:
Candidate Principles for Trusted Elections
We ask candidates to be guided by the following principles:
- Honest process: Cooperate with election officials, adhere to rules and regulations, and refrain from knowingly propagating falsehoods about the electoral process.
- Civil campaign: Encourage a peaceful election atmosphere during the pre-election, polling, counting, and post-election periods. Denounce any attempt to intimidate, harass, threaten or incite violence against opponents, their supporters, and election workers.
- Secure voting: Respect voters’ freedom to exercise their lawful rights to register and vote, free from interference, obstruction, or intimidation.
- Responsible oversight: Encourage political parties and others to train poll-watchers on the election process and appropriate roles and behaviors, responsibilities, and obligations.
- Trusted outcomes: Make claims of election irregularities in accordance with the law and acknowledge the legitimacy of the outcomes after the results have been certified and all contestations decided.
These principles are key to sustaining our healthy democracy and they are supported by a majority of Americans but they are being threatened today as we enter a new election cycle. We invite everyone to join us in our support of the fundamental principles of our democracy.
[You can show your support by endorsing these principles at this link: https://principledcandidates.org/]
