Illustrations for All Saints Day (2020)
Illustration
Revelation 7:9-17
A September poll reported by NPR, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, finds nearly half the households in America — 46% — report facing serious financial pain during the pandemic. It’s urgent something be done to help! This lesson reminds us how urgent it is that we take action. Don’t help those in need later. Many of the poor need it now! Author of the best-selling Life’s Little Instruction Book, H. Jackson Brown well summarized the point of this lesson: “You must take action now that will move you toward your goals. Develop a sense of urgency in your life.” Martin Luther King, Jr. lived this message throughout his life and urged us, his heirs, to follow. He wrote:
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)
The upcoming election is about whether Americans think it is urgent to act. Which Presidential candidate is best ready to take action, to do something urgent to stop the epidemic, to get food for the poor? What the Catholic church says about the job of government and society on this matter does not only pertain to Joe Biden (a practicing Catholic) but to Donald Trump and all of us:
For its part society should, according to circumstances, help citizens find work and employment. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2433).
It’s urgent (that we get food on the table for the laid-off and other impoverished Americans)!
Mark E.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
Amy Grant is a contemporary Christian music performer and has often been referred to as “The Queen of Christian Pop.” She had the first Christian album to go platinum. Grant may be best known for her song “El Shaddai,” which was released in 1981.
On Wednesday, June 3, 2020, the 59-year-old singer had to have open-heart surgery for a condition called PAPVR, which stands for partial anomalous pulmonary venous return. On Instagram, she shared images of her post-surgery scars.
Of the ordeal she wrote, “The only way I can explain my experience would be to ask you to imagine a non-runner who was signed up for a marathon. I didn’t want it, but I had to have it anyway and it was a week ago Wednesday.”
After thanking all of those who supported her and prayed for her Grant wrote, “And now, ten days later, I just want to say, from the moment I went to the hospital, if it really were a marathon race, I felt like I got into that runner’s block and as soon as it was time for the race to start there was this massive West Texas wind at my back… just pushing me through. Even stuff I was really scared about felt like nothing more than just a deep breath and something supernatural pushed me through it.”
In her response she continued to write that her recovery “has honestly felt miraculous.”
Ron L.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
There’s an old joke about a nice churchwoman who was driving well over the speed limit when she was pulled over by a cop. She expected to get a ticket, but she was surprised when the officer demanded she get out of the car and stand with her hands against the car door while she waited for backup. Why, the woman wondered, was she being treated like this was a felony instead of a speeding ticket?
She replied, “I saw the bumper sticker that reads ‘Honk if you love Jesus.’ No church member would drive that fast. I figured you must have stolen the car.”
Regardless of whether Christians speed or not, the culture at large has expectations about how we as children of God are supposed to act. We don’t always meet those expectations.
God’s people are God’s children. This is a consistent theme in both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament. This of course says something about our special relationship with God, but we are reminded that this relationship has obligations. We need to act like we’re God’s children.
John’s letter asserts “… we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” We’re also told that “…what we will be has not yet been revealed.” When we are revealed in the next life with all the saints we celebrate today, it will be clear we look like Jesus, because we’ll be finally revealed for who we are. That’s why it’s important, regardless of how fast or slow we drive that “…all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
Frank R.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
The story of John Cooper is a fascinating one. Dr. Fred Craddock tells his story in the book Craddock Stories.
A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg. One morning, they were eating breakfast at little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet meal. While they were waiting, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. They hoped he wouldn’t come to their table, but he did.
After finding out what the professor did, the man told them that he had a great story to tell them. He pulled up a chair and began to talk.
He told them about a boy born to an unwed mother who had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, ‘Hey boy, Who’s your daddy?’ Needless to say, the boy did all he could to avoid people in town and in school. When he was about twelve years old, a new preacher came to his church. They boy was used to slipping into church late to not attract attention and leaving before the final “Amen.” One Sunday, though, he didn’t get out fast enough. Just about the time he got to the door, the preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, ‘Son, who’s your daddy?'” The whole church got deathly quiet. The new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said, “‘Wait a minute! I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God. Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’” With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again.
The professor and his wife were impressed with the story, especially when they found out it was the man’s own story. After he left them, they were stunned to find out who he was, former Tennessee governor Ben Hooper.
We who know Jesus Christ also bear a family resemblance. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” (vs. 1) Remember today who and whose you are.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 5: 1-12
The Beatitudes is how we commonly refer to this gospel passage. It is a part of Jesus’ teaching of the disciples and the curious who followed them. When I was in Israel, I visited the presumed site of this sermon. There is a church built on the site, named, of course, The Church of the Beatitudes. It is a beautiful building overlooking the Sea of Galilee. In the interior, the ceiling and walls are octagonally shaped and at the ceiling are eight windows each with one verse of this sermon. While I visited there, I walked down to sit on the beach – more pebbles than sand – to pray. While I prayed, the waves continued to deposit silt into the pebbles. As I looked up from my prayer there in front of me was a small seashell. It felt like a gift from God. I still have that small shell and when I find it difficult to pray, I take it from its secure storage place in an antique pottery bowl from Bethlehem and hold it gently in my palm. A sense of peace comes over me and I can almost feel the sun and hear the water of the lake. I rest in the knowledge that God is with us as we struggle to feel God’s presence and as we seek to remember and live into these familiar words…blessed are….
Bonnie B.
* * *
Matthew 5:1-12
A May 2020 poll by the American Psychiatric Association revealed the high costs of the pandemic. Nearly half of us (48%) fear getting Covid-19 themselves. More than one-third of us (36%) say the virus is having serious impact on our mental health. 57% say it has had serious impact on their finances, and 68% see it as having a long-term influence on the economy. No doubt these numbers may have gotten worse in the past months.
The illustrations used in comments on the First Lesson are appropriate for this lesson if your focus is on poverty. However, for sermons focusing on the comfort we and Jesus offer the poor and those who suffer, then comments by St. Augustine are most appropriate words of hope:
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. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.10, p.93).
His spiritual heir Martin Luther provides a perspective on how to live the saintly life Jesus sketches in The Beatitudes, how to endure the harsh conditions so many suffer economically as a result of the pandemic:
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)
If you would prefer to develop sermons on what all this has to do with All Saints Day, Martin Luther has a quote to remind us that it is God’s word that makes us holy, inspires us to cope with the suffering since we are all saints:
But God’s holy Word is the treasure that makes everything holy. By it all the saints have themselves been made holy. At whatever time God’s Word is taught, preached, heard, read, or pondered, there the person, the day, and the work is hallowed, not on account of the external work but on account of the Word that makes us all saints. (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.], p.399.91-92)
Mark E.
A September poll reported by NPR, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, finds nearly half the households in America — 46% — report facing serious financial pain during the pandemic. It’s urgent something be done to help! This lesson reminds us how urgent it is that we take action. Don’t help those in need later. Many of the poor need it now! Author of the best-selling Life’s Little Instruction Book, H. Jackson Brown well summarized the point of this lesson: “You must take action now that will move you toward your goals. Develop a sense of urgency in your life.” Martin Luther King, Jr. lived this message throughout his life and urged us, his heirs, to follow. He wrote:
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)
The upcoming election is about whether Americans think it is urgent to act. Which Presidential candidate is best ready to take action, to do something urgent to stop the epidemic, to get food for the poor? What the Catholic church says about the job of government and society on this matter does not only pertain to Joe Biden (a practicing Catholic) but to Donald Trump and all of us:
For its part society should, according to circumstances, help citizens find work and employment. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2433).
It’s urgent (that we get food on the table for the laid-off and other impoverished Americans)!
Mark E.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
Amy Grant is a contemporary Christian music performer and has often been referred to as “The Queen of Christian Pop.” She had the first Christian album to go platinum. Grant may be best known for her song “El Shaddai,” which was released in 1981.
On Wednesday, June 3, 2020, the 59-year-old singer had to have open-heart surgery for a condition called PAPVR, which stands for partial anomalous pulmonary venous return. On Instagram, she shared images of her post-surgery scars.
Of the ordeal she wrote, “The only way I can explain my experience would be to ask you to imagine a non-runner who was signed up for a marathon. I didn’t want it, but I had to have it anyway and it was a week ago Wednesday.”
After thanking all of those who supported her and prayed for her Grant wrote, “And now, ten days later, I just want to say, from the moment I went to the hospital, if it really were a marathon race, I felt like I got into that runner’s block and as soon as it was time for the race to start there was this massive West Texas wind at my back… just pushing me through. Even stuff I was really scared about felt like nothing more than just a deep breath and something supernatural pushed me through it.”
In her response she continued to write that her recovery “has honestly felt miraculous.”
Ron L.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
There’s an old joke about a nice churchwoman who was driving well over the speed limit when she was pulled over by a cop. She expected to get a ticket, but she was surprised when the officer demanded she get out of the car and stand with her hands against the car door while she waited for backup. Why, the woman wondered, was she being treated like this was a felony instead of a speeding ticket?
She replied, “I saw the bumper sticker that reads ‘Honk if you love Jesus.’ No church member would drive that fast. I figured you must have stolen the car.”
Regardless of whether Christians speed or not, the culture at large has expectations about how we as children of God are supposed to act. We don’t always meet those expectations.
God’s people are God’s children. This is a consistent theme in both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament. This of course says something about our special relationship with God, but we are reminded that this relationship has obligations. We need to act like we’re God’s children.
John’s letter asserts “… we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” We’re also told that “…what we will be has not yet been revealed.” When we are revealed in the next life with all the saints we celebrate today, it will be clear we look like Jesus, because we’ll be finally revealed for who we are. That’s why it’s important, regardless of how fast or slow we drive that “…all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
Frank R.
* * *
1 John 3:1-3
The story of John Cooper is a fascinating one. Dr. Fred Craddock tells his story in the book Craddock Stories.
A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg. One morning, they were eating breakfast at little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet meal. While they were waiting, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. They hoped he wouldn’t come to their table, but he did.
After finding out what the professor did, the man told them that he had a great story to tell them. He pulled up a chair and began to talk.
He told them about a boy born to an unwed mother who had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, ‘Hey boy, Who’s your daddy?’ Needless to say, the boy did all he could to avoid people in town and in school. When he was about twelve years old, a new preacher came to his church. They boy was used to slipping into church late to not attract attention and leaving before the final “Amen.” One Sunday, though, he didn’t get out fast enough. Just about the time he got to the door, the preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, ‘Son, who’s your daddy?'” The whole church got deathly quiet. The new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said, “‘Wait a minute! I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God. Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’” With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again.
The professor and his wife were impressed with the story, especially when they found out it was the man’s own story. After he left them, they were stunned to find out who he was, former Tennessee governor Ben Hooper.
We who know Jesus Christ also bear a family resemblance. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” (vs. 1) Remember today who and whose you are.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 5: 1-12
The Beatitudes is how we commonly refer to this gospel passage. It is a part of Jesus’ teaching of the disciples and the curious who followed them. When I was in Israel, I visited the presumed site of this sermon. There is a church built on the site, named, of course, The Church of the Beatitudes. It is a beautiful building overlooking the Sea of Galilee. In the interior, the ceiling and walls are octagonally shaped and at the ceiling are eight windows each with one verse of this sermon. While I visited there, I walked down to sit on the beach – more pebbles than sand – to pray. While I prayed, the waves continued to deposit silt into the pebbles. As I looked up from my prayer there in front of me was a small seashell. It felt like a gift from God. I still have that small shell and when I find it difficult to pray, I take it from its secure storage place in an antique pottery bowl from Bethlehem and hold it gently in my palm. A sense of peace comes over me and I can almost feel the sun and hear the water of the lake. I rest in the knowledge that God is with us as we struggle to feel God’s presence and as we seek to remember and live into these familiar words…blessed are….
Bonnie B.
* * *
Matthew 5:1-12
A May 2020 poll by the American Psychiatric Association revealed the high costs of the pandemic. Nearly half of us (48%) fear getting Covid-19 themselves. More than one-third of us (36%) say the virus is having serious impact on our mental health. 57% say it has had serious impact on their finances, and 68% see it as having a long-term influence on the economy. No doubt these numbers may have gotten worse in the past months.
The illustrations used in comments on the First Lesson are appropriate for this lesson if your focus is on poverty. However, for sermons focusing on the comfort we and Jesus offer the poor and those who suffer, then comments by St. Augustine are most appropriate words of hope:
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. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.10, p.93).
His spiritual heir Martin Luther provides a perspective on how to live the saintly life Jesus sketches in The Beatitudes, how to endure the harsh conditions so many suffer economically as a result of the pandemic:
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)
If you would prefer to develop sermons on what all this has to do with All Saints Day, Martin Luther has a quote to remind us that it is God’s word that makes us holy, inspires us to cope with the suffering since we are all saints:
But God’s holy Word is the treasure that makes everything holy. By it all the saints have themselves been made holy. At whatever time God’s Word is taught, preached, heard, read, or pondered, there the person, the day, and the work is hallowed, not on account of the external work but on account of the Word that makes us all saints. (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.], p.399.91-92)
Mark E.
