Dearest e-votees-
This coming Sunday is All Saints Sunday. It is a time when we remember people who have gone before us in the faith—particularly those who have died in the faith. May your commemoration of those who have helped shape you and shown you the way of faith be blessed. We have a deep and profound hope that we will be with those people again when God is most fully revealed.
Peace,
Karl
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1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
We have been born into God’s family. Through baptism we are made children of God and a sister or a brother of Jesus. We now have the privileges and the responsibilities of participating in the family affairs:
• Family gatherings such as worship, fellowship events and service opportunities
• Family meals such as communion, potlucks and dinner groups
• Family rituals such as baptisms, consecrations and blessings
• Family celebrations such as weddings, anniversaries and special days and seasons
• Family mourning and contrition such as funerals, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
There are so many aspects to life as the family of God. Some of that life has been revealed clearly. Some has yet to come. What we do know is this that it is possible to be in a family yet absent oneself from the life and the events of the family. God wants so much more from us and for us. God is revealed in the life of the family. God will continue to be revealed as we press on towards the day when God is most fully revealed. Let us not get in the habit of forsaking to gather… (see Hebrews 10:25)
May all of us this day be blessed as we are drawn deeply into our baptismal family. May we offer the hope and joy and possibility of adoption into God’s family for all who are estranged, cut off and non-participatory. God’s love that calls us children of God doesn’t stop with us. God’s love that calls us children of God would work through us to offer that self-same call to all who would hear.
As we lean into these strong promises of God we are made pure. When you see white this Sunday at church be reminded that you are made pure and that you are being made pure. That should be pure joy to your eyes and your soul. Amen.
God, thank you so much for each and every saint who has shaped our lives and our walk with you. Bless them and us and those yet to come as you are about the work of gathering and purifying. Help us be agents of joy and hope in a world that can be so scattered and so very sullied. Amen.
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