The Coming

1AdventB/StAndrew’s, Sullivan Park Care Center, November 30, 2014, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

                Today is the first Sunday of the new church year, the season of Advent.  When the first Sunday of Advent occurs is determined by the feast of St Andrew.  The first Sunday of Advent is the one closest to St Andrew’s Feast.  St Andrew was a very ordinary disciple, much like you and me.  He was overshadowed by the much more prominent brother, Simon Peter.  Advent is from the Latin meaning “coming” but has come to mean both a joyful and penitential waiting for the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.  Watchfulness is an important aspect of that waiting.

Beware and keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come, St Mark’s gospel tells us.  Advent is a time of active anticipation.  We wait, especially when we are spiritually dry and do not sense God’s presence.

It has been a rather harried and tiring week for many.  The full impact of darker and darker days as well as the shorter and shorter days is being felt by many.  There is much rushing around.  Thanksgiving Day with all the trimmings and tone of giving thanks for what we have is completely overthrown by the mad rush to get to the stores to find and purchase that perfect gift for that special someone---something they just have to have.  The retailers have done it again rather successfully.  They have tugged at the heartstrings of unsuspecting, usually calm rational people and turned them into aggressive shopping robotic machines.  You might pinpoint the beginning of all this retail madness to that story and sweet innocent sounding song about Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer, written to increase profit. 

Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Chicago based Montgomery Ward. The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, adapted the story of Rudolph into a song.[1]

For those of you who have noted that the retailers are targeting young children in their advertisements these days, you have likely forgotten that this began several years ago.  Pulling on the emotions and longings of the kids of this country has been going on since before the economy picked up after the Great Depression.

The Gospel text in Mark actually uses imagery borrowed from the book of Daniel, yet interprets it in light of the then current happenings of Mark’s time and culture.  Also for us, what Mark has to say to his generation equally applies to us.  When we read the thirteenth chapter of Mark, we will soon notice that it appears to be confusing and disjointed.  It is difficult to follow with our linear-thinking minds.  What the world teaches us in our culture is much different that perceived reality for other cultures.  The Jewish people noted long ago the almost repetitious cycle of things being the same, yet not the same.  With every cycle of events, what we actually see is a bit different.  Everyone handles that information differently.  One person complains about having to turn the lights on more because even during the day, there is sunlight filtered by fog and clouds or simply just not as bright as in the other months.  Another person doesn’t see the point of talking about it at all because it is nothing new; this happens every winter.  Still others mention it on the ride up the elevator that snow is in the forecast.  And then there are those who point out the extremes in weather and wars and rumors of wars trying to find answers to their cosmic questions.  Despite all our preoccupations with the world about us, our best answers still lie not outside of us, but with what the common threads of the Bible tell us.  We should be looking beyond the retail madness that has us by the tail and swings us to and fro.  We should be going beyond the signs above and below.  Whatever it is that threatens to overwhelm us and seeks to tear us away from focusing on God, we need to listen and listen carefully to what God has to teach us.  According to Mark, God has just two words for us and they are, “Keep Awake.”

Once again, Mark tells us a parable.  This time, the master of the house goes on a long journey, leaving his slaves and a doorkeeper in charge.  Jesus has returned to the heavenly abode and left us the responsibility of caretakers.  We are to take care of what God has given us on a day to day basis, ever faithful, never wavering in that duty.  God has given us all things, so therefore we are to give God our thanks and praise.  Therefore we are to keep alert to the deceptions and evil that corrupts our thinking and behavior, sometimes unknowingly.  We are urged by God to watch out for others and to contribute to their welfare and their well-being.  We are invited to become Christ’s body in the world, doing as he did to bring justice and healing to a broken world.  We are to be alert as we watch for Christ to be born anew in each of us as we once again contemplate his birth and what he accomplished here on earth.

Mark reminds us that there is hope.  There is more to come.  Jesus will gather us all to himself and our joy will truly be complete as we live into eternity, an eternity of everlasting peace.  What is it that you wait for in this advent season?  Is it your desire to be united with Jesus in everlasting life?  Do you long for a closer relationship with Jesus?  Do you ever wonder what eternity will be like?  I imagine it is similar to an inmate who is in prison who thinks about what it will be like when he is finally released from prison.  The world outside changes a lot as the years go by.  Many people are shocked when they see how much it has changed since they were free prior to imprisonment.  Although I am in agreement with Mark, that we ought to focus more on the present than the future, with Mark, I believe that we also should think about what is to come.  What lies in the future can be a motivation to take responsibility in the present.  It can help us in the transformation process to take our covenant with God seriously.  Advent can be a time to renew our commitment as disciples.  We don’t know much about Andrew, the average disciple, but we do know that he invited others to follow Jesus.  Even if that small thing is all that we do, that one small invitation can do much.  Andrew recruited one of the most effective apostles of early Christianity.  By doing a small thing, he did a great thing.  Not only is it a gift to be a good and effective disciple, it is also a gift to recognize those qualities in others.  Therefore, keep awake---for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.  What I say to you, I say to all: Keep awake.  Do not be deceived and do not let your guard down.  Live your lives knowing that Jesus will return and live them knowing that return can be at any time.  Amen.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_the_Red-Nosed_Reindeer

Gone our Own Way

ChristtheKingSundayA, Sullivan Park Care Center, November23, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            The texts for today are a reminder that despite the injustices of the world, God seeks complete and abiding peace for all.  God always seeks to correct that which is out of sync with God’s will.  That correctness is what we find in the work that God has done in Jesus Christ which makes us right with God, righteous in God’s sight.  Like sheep, we are dependent on God, our shepherd, to steer us in the way we should go: to help us find green pasture, to seek us out when we have gone astray away from God, when we are simply lost, when we have been injured in any way, when we have become weak.  Most of all, God promises to feed us with justice.

            When I was a young student in seminary and it was our team’s turn to lead for the weekly Wednesday chapel, I volunteered to read the gospel lesson.  The gospel lesson was this, “…yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”  I looked at the notation at the bottom of the page in my Bible and saw that the parallel was in I Kings.  I Kings Chapter 10 explains what exactly Solomon and his glory were all about.  One of my professors piped up with the technical term for that type of pairing of the texts which instantly went over my head.  It seemed to me a more logical text to be matched with the gospel than the one appointed by a committee of the Church’s clergy on the textual committee, only a couple of whom I’d even met.  And here I come to that juncture again.  Why not pair this particular text with Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep and how the shepherd leaves the 99 to search for the 1 lost sheep?  It seems to me that it would more clearly make the point as to how the sheep story in Ezekiel, a book in the Old Testament is sharply contrasted with the New Testament version.  The Ezekiel passage is one of exclusivity, the New Testament is one of inclusivity.  In Ezekiel, God will do away with the fat and the strong.  Who are the fat and the strong?  If we look at this from the perspective of attitudes and behaviors as in last Sunday’s gospel, the fat and the strong could be the bullies of our society.  Recent history has identified even children who display this type of behavior and attitude.  There are children who identify and pick on people who are weaker than themselves.  They make it their mission to seek them out, to intimidate them and overpower them with their remarks and threats of violence.  Other times it does become an actual fist fight.  It can escalate even further, getting teachers, school counselors, and parents involved.  Later in life, these bullies, without proper and strong intervention, can become those who bend and break the rules of society simply to be on top of companies and organizations or scheming professional crooks.  They think about themselves first, at the expense of others.  The Ezekiel text paints us a picture that is the exact opposite.  In this text, God the shepherd rescues the weak, the injured, the strayed, and the lost.  This is God’s way of doing justice in the world.  One more thing: if you read the uncut version, reinserting the verses of chapter 34 that are missing from our reading, you will see a very violent image of what God will do to the bullies of the world.  It seems that the reason those verses were taken out of today’s reading is because with Jesus’ interpretation of what God wants, this is not what God actually does because it is not inclusive of God’s love for God’s people, it is exclusive.  God’s nature is not to destroy, but to show mercy.  And that is why I’d rather see a pairing with the gospel about the search of the shepherd for the 1 sheep that is lost.  The function of the priests and prophets of Israel was not solely to predict and deliver judgment as we may sometimes imagine.  It was to guide and nourish the people in the way of God.  God’s way is mercy; therefore God’s people also are to show mercy.  The problem comes when the definition of God’s people becomes more and more narrowed to become exclusive and God’s chosen people are the ones who follow this particular set of rules that seek to help you follow God’s law.  Whenever someone tells you that you must do this or you must believe that, consider carefully what that person is saying to you. It could be that that person has a personal agenda because God clearly loves all people, even those we perceive to be our enemies.

            The end will come for all of us, so we need to pay attention to ensure that we are not led astray or become lost.  We can be tested every day to go another direction.  We can choose to give up.  There are many references in the gospel according to Matthew about the lost sheep of Israel.  We are all capable of becoming lost and going astray and we pray that God will always be able to find us and rescue us from going so far down the road that we ignore God’s presence and readiness to help us along our life’s journey. 

            A shepherd is a common image used in the Bible to describe the function of a community leader.  A community leader is to seek out even the lowliest person.  There is a difference between God and humans although we are called to imitate God.  In the parable about the lost sheep, one of ninety-nine would be rare though because most of the other sheep tend to follow the one who goes through the fence first.  Because the parable speaks about one sheep, it should be interpreted to mean that God actually loves us so much that God will seek after every single person who wanders away from the flock.  We need reminders time and time again that God is not like us.  God does not hold grudges, have favorites, or prejudices because we are all part of God’s family.  We are God’s sheep and God is our shepherd.  Psalm 100 points out that God made us, we are his, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture therefore we should enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.  We should do these things because the Lord is good his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

            This is our heritage as Christians who adopted aspects of the Jewish faith and chose to follow the teachings of one of their prophets, Jesus. God always seeks to correct that which is out of sync with God’s will.  That correctness is what we find in the work that God has done in Jesus Christ which makes us right with God, righteous in God’s sight.  As Isaiah 53:6 states, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way.”  Because of this, it was necessary to find a way for God to bring us all back into the flock, Jews and Gentiles together in one big family as well as all the peoples of the earth. Like sheep, we are dependent on God, our shepherd, to steer us in the way we should go: to help us find green pasture, to seek us out when we have gone astray away from God, when we are simply lost, when we have been injured in any way, when we have become weak.  God promises justice for all people, but especially the weak and vulnerable of our society.  God created us and will make all things right.  God will restore all people and all of the created order to the way it was always intended from the beginning.  To God be the glory as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.

Real Responsibility

Proper28A, Sullivan Park Care Center, November 16, 2014 by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            Last Sunday was the parable about the ten virgins who were awaiting the coming of the bridegroom, five of whom brought extra oil with them and five who did not.  They are waiting for Jesus.  Half are prepared and half are not.  The women taking responsibility are those who were prepared with reserve oil. Those of us who see the second coming of Jesus as being that of our death realize that this could be interpreted that many are not prepared for death and yet death can come at any moment.  I think it is safe to say that most of us don’t receive a premonition as to our own time of death and if we do, it is more likely within a day or so, not ten years in advance.           

            This parable is along the same vein.  How do we respond to God, the master of all beings and things, before God comes to take us away from our home here on earth?  In this story, Jesus gives to each of his slaves or servants a specified number of talents.  Unlike our modern usage of this word, a talent is not a gift as in stating a person is a gifted singer, therefore sings like a songbird.  A talent is also not having a talent for being able to sell something.  Also, to put this in modern perspective, we would do much better to use employee as opposed to slave or servant---we are beholden to God, but we are not in any way abused or oppressed by God.  The term of slave or indentured servant may come to our thinking, but this term is relative to the specific culture of Jesus’ time.  I would contend that our relationship to God is more like an employee or volunteer.  We are certainly sons and daughters, but we are expected to take on responsibility given to us by God.  We are by nature, sons and daughters of God but at the same time called into relationship with God that causes us to continually consider the call to discipleship as well as the cost of discipleship.  As we more and more align ourselves with God’s will and seeking to do God’s will, we realize the risks involved in following that path.  There is a whole book with the title, “The Cost of Discipleship” by the late Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He knew well the cost and the immanence of his death.  He was imprisoned in a death camp during the Holocaust in Europe during the Second World War.  Not only was he a prisoner there, he was also part of an intricate plot to kill Adolph Hitler.  It was only a matter of time before he would be found out and the Hitler regime would snuff him out.  Just as the question was asked of him, so also the question is posed to each of us, “What will we do with what God gives us?”  But more specifically as it pertains to this gospel text, “What will we do with the money that God gives us?”  This text is about money because a talent is one of several ancient units of mass, a commercial weight, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal.  It was used to pay what was owed to someone.  A talent was the largest or heaviest measure weighing about 75 pounds.  For perspective, as related to this gospel, five talents were worth 30,000 denarii.  A Denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer. The greater the weight, the more it was worth.  The meaning implied in this is that the servants have the financial ability to manage the master’s wealth.  If you go with the thinking that perception is reality, perhaps what this is saying is that the servant who receives just the one talent is someone who feels they have little to give to the world.  This person feels small in the world, perhaps like the widow who has little, just a small, almost worthless coin called a mite.  The poor on earth remain the little ones, the forgotten, and the people who don’t seem to count for much in the big world of money. But the widow who gives all she has, little as it is, by this giving is doing as Jesus expects.  She takes responsibility in managing what she has been given by God.

            This parable, as well as the surrounding parables in the book of Matthew, is all about attitudes and behavior.  Of the first two servants, both are commended for what they did with their talents.  They invested their talents and the talents doubled in size.  The picture that comes to my mind when I look at this story is that of the stock market.  People invest their money in the stock market in hopes of a good return.  Unlike this story, the stock market can and has crashed more than once.  It is unpredictable for those of us who are dependent on it to supplement our retirement Social Security income.  Without investing, there is no return.  It is even, like putting your money under the mattress.  It doesn't grow or get bigger, it simply remains the same.  It is static. There is no growth, because no risk was taken.

            Now, to take this out of a very literal interpretation, let me re-tell the parable.  There was a very generous master, the Lord of all who spoiled his children with an abundance of resources, including the trees, flowers, the power of the intellect to problem-solve each potential problem as it appears.  The Lord did not hold anything back, but gave all freely, out of his own free will.  Then the Lord went away for a while, just to see what his children would do with what he’d given.  They were given free will to do as they saw fit.  To some, he gave the ocean which produced fish of many kinds, but also the danger of tsunamis and hurricanes.  To others, he gave the inland which produced great quantities of wheat, barley, and oats but also tornadoes.  To still others, he gave the desert, a place where the people rode on camels and traded with travelers from other countries, but had to fight off dangerous animals that might attack at any moment.  They were challenged by the extremes of heat and cold.  As these civilizations grew, they fought in battles in order to conquer.  There was always a winner and always a loser.  Those who won thrived.  Those who lost had possessions taken, lives threatened, lives taken.  The strife continued year after year and killing one another became a way of life.  The children questioned the elders, “Why do we go to war with our neighboring countries?”  “What makes us superior to other countries?”  For others, it is also a religious question, “What makes our religion superior to that of others?”  Instead of extending a welcome to the neighboring country, the people distrusted and were filled with fear.  Fear became a way of relating to others when others were perceived as being different.  Despite the generous divine love modeled by and extended by God, fear lived in the hearts of people and love was replaced by fear. Some of that fear became hatred.  Those that hated multiplied because the hating parents taught their children to hate instead of love.

            Think again about this parable non-literally.  It is about money, but it is also about everything in our lives.  It is about how we operate in our world.  It is about our attitudes and behavior.  Do we choose to walk in faith and love, reaching out to others or do we choose to turn our backs and do nothing at all.  We are the stewards of God’s creation.  We were created for the purpose of spreading that kingdom to all, with or without words, but most certainly by what we do.  Let us do good to all creatures and tend God’s earth.  Amen.

Between Heaven and Hell

Proper27A, November 9, 2014, Sullivan Park Care Center by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            If you were to read both the Amos text and that of the gospel without taking into consideration that they were written in a very different cultural context with a way different literary device, these passages should shock you.  Not only should they shock you, but they also should cause you to continually ask, just what do these bits of literature actually mean and what do they mean for me?  It is no secret that the church has been guilty in times past of shocking their parishioners into believing in God or else--- and you can fill in the blank.  I just know that in the Middle Ages and in some churches still today the threat is that if you do not believe in God, plainly and simply, you will go to hell.  I remember a couple of years ago a congregant came up to our Visitation Pastor and asked him quite bluntly, “Why does no one ever preach about hell anymore?”  The pastor avoided any such theological discussion at the time---time for coffee hour, and said nothing.  The problem with the concept of hell is that 1) it seems to have developed sometime after Jesus’ walk on earth, 2) its definition changed over the years, 3) preachers finally figured out that scaring people into believing in God was not a good thing, and 4) seminaries for over a hundred years now have decided that it isn’t a real place to which we go after death, period.  If you grew up thinking that to any extent as I also did, this question might still be in the back of your mind.  What is hell?  Dante said it was cold---I always thought it was hot.  Most people I know today would say that hell is at least partially what we create for ourselves on this earth when we choose to pay no attention to caring for the earth and its creatures.  Hell is the struggles we go through day to day and moment to moment.  It is what we go through when someone we love very much is suffering, because when we love someone, we also suffer with that person. Isn’t that what we feel when we contemplate Jesus’ dying on the cross?  Isn’t that a form of hell when he suffers there, yet it is a complete unconditional sacrifice, the living out of the forgiveness of sins?

            On the other hand, Christians, not just preachers are called to preach the gospel.  The gospel is what our lives should be about each and every moment.  We are charged with learning to live with the knowledge of that gospel no matter what problems we may go through in this world.  The focus needs to rightly be on today, right now, in the present moment.  We should be asking ourselves frequently, “How can I live the gospel in this moment?”  And what is the gospel you may ask?  According to Martin Luther, the pure gospel is this: the forgiveness of sins.  This is how we are to live into the kingdom of God.  We are the recipients of the forgiveness of sins.  We are recipients from God and from other people, however imperfect it may come from other people.  But that also implies that we are also the givers of forgiveness because that is how we live best with each other in God’s love.  We can choose to get mad or choose to forgive.  If we constantly choose to focus on the imperfections of others, we will be angry most of the time, because we are all humans who make mistakes.  Case in point, we have made our own hell; we have made ourselves miserable.  Keep in mind that the principle always remains that we may not be able to change others, but we can change ourselves.  Sometimes, things happen in others when we change ourselves by what we say and what we do.

            The gospel text is about saying and doing, but if we look at it from a literal point of view, it will seem quite confusing.  Even Lutherans no longer agree with Luther who said he thought the oil of the virgins was faith.  The oil, it is believed, now represents good deeds, those small things and big things that we do for each other.  We may offend others, rightly or wrongly with our actions and our words, but this is still our calling.  If we take the gospel text literally, we will accuse the wise virgins of being stingy with their oil.  They have extra, but are unwilling to share it with the foolish virgins.  That is why we need to see this from a different perspective.  None of us really fits the character of either foolish or wise virgins.  All of us carry with us a little of both. And some of those small things we do for others, in their minds are big things and mean a lot more than we imagine.

            The bridegroom is Jesus.  He will come and gather his children home to him, the pure virgins in this case.  But lest we get caught up in literalness again, the purity of the virgins is a symbol that really should extend to all of God’s people and we need reminders that God is the one who makes it possible for all of us to share in God’s wedding banquet. This text is not just about virgins nor is it just about women. We should not be interpreting from this text that only the wise virgins will be with God in eternal bliss and the foolish virgins will go to the fiery depths of hell.  It is never our prerogative to make judgments for God.  God is not about punishment, but mercy.  God’s justice is not our justice. The gospel of God is the forgiveness of sins.  When Jesus arrives, it will be a joyous occasion, not a cause for sorrow or weeping.  It will also not be a surprise, because we know that Jesus is coming to us and for us.  We are wise because we know that Jesus is coming to take us home to be with him forever, but we are foolish in that we remain students of our Lord in need of help to be more like God and less like our selfish selves, concerned with self-preservation.

            Just as our lives and our behaviors are on a continuum of joy to sorrow, happiness to struggle, perhaps we should also think of life with God as a continuum from hell to heaven.  We see a little of both in this life.  In this life, we await God’s transformation of us into God’s image, where we began.  We wait for a return to Eden because we believe that heaven in our future is much like the Eden of our past.  Amos points in that direction as well, but from a different angle.  Amos points out, that despite all the worship of God and the keeping of all the proper sacrifices in their seasons, only one thing is of real importance.  That one thing is justice and righteousness.  God expects more than keeping all the church feasts and commemorations.  God expects more than praying the hours.  God wants more than ritual; God wants action.

            During this past week, my phone rang at 8:00 in the morning, about a half hour before I usually get out of bed.  It was the dean of the cathedral.  He asked me to contact a particular person who requested that someone bring her Eucharist.  As I spoke with her over the phone, I realized that what she really wanted was someone she knew already to come to be with her.  However, I could not fill those shoes because she only knew me from a distance.  She knew I was in the choir, but said she couldn't put a name to a face.  She said that Communion meant more to her if it was given by someone she knew.  I felt sorry for her in her emotional pain, yet also knew that her request was not possible.  The people she most wanted by her side, you see, were unavailable momentarily because they were all involved in preparation for the annual holiday bazaar.  Her choice was either me or needing to wait till the bazaar was over.  Only one person on the committee I oversee fit the bill.  She would have to wait, but by waiting, just as in the gospel text, she would see Jesus in the Eucharist and she would have communion with someone who means the most to her.  Blessed be God who also waits patiently for us.

Humility vs. Hypocrisy

AllSaintsSundayA, November 2, 2014, Sullivan Park Care Center, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            A friend of mine from high school writes, “What kind of world do we live in? Kids killing each other at school, terrorists shooting little girls for wanting to get an education, parents torturing their children, men and women threatening to kill each other via texting, random shootings everywhere, child abductions, killing military folks while they are in uniform, police using extreme and abusive force on suspects, people sitting at tables while dining who are all on their phones not talking to each other, people of all ages bashing and bullying each other on social media, and just in general, people being rude and inconsiderate to each other......etc, etc, etc........sigh. My prayer today: Dear Creator of everything, Fill us with kindness towards each other and the world we live in. Help us to be gentle with each other, speak quietly, with peaceful intention. Help us to see others through your eyes of no judgment, with longing to put others before our own needs. Help us to live with humility. Help us to be strong enough to not always be right. We pray through your glorious name, Amen.”  Though extremely disappointing and humiliating, it is all too accurate a picture of the worst behavior that humans have and continue to display. This is not anything new, but the media has brought it forward for our every moment viewing by continuing to run the same incidents throughout the entire day.

            The world the earthly Jesus lived in and ours are thousands of years apart.  We are strongly influenced by a global media in which we are made aware of what’s taking place in every corner of the world. Jesus’ world was a tiny corner of walking distances, yet what he had to say about human nature stands to this day.  We have still to learn what it means to practice humility, rather than hypocrisy before others. There is no morally superior country, as many would say about the US, for all countries are guilty of mistreating and murdering its people.  We can have the best teachers and yet the flaws will eventually be seen; once again we lose our faith in humanity.  Many folks cite the reason that they no longer attend church is because of all the hypocrites there.  Truth be told, we are all hypocrites, every last one of us.  I suspect in some ways it’s like this: God puts out in creation all the resources and readily available food and says to us, “Help your selves.”  Some take that sentence literally and help only themselves, not others.  Others will help others by teaching them, but not observing that which they teach.  Still others live by jealousy—jealous that someone else has what they want, so they seek to obtain it either by stealing, working for it, or asking where they can get it. And then there are those who simply want attention, attention of any sort.  It doesn’t matter if it is positive or negative attention.  They just want to know that they are not forgotten, because they feel weak or somehow less than others.  They become withdrawn from God and others. The Psalmist writes of the poor, “Keep them alive and deliver them not unto their foes.” Their foes are those who have the perceived power around them. Likewise, according to Augustine, the most powerful of our society are usually guilty of the sin of pride.  He has this to say about pride: Pride is a perverted imitation of God because it hates a fellowship of equality under God, and seeks to impose its own domination on others, in the place of God’s rule.  This is a prominent idea expressed in the gospel text read today.  Jesus’ direction is direct and simple.  He says we are to follow the teaching of the Pharisees, but not what they do.  Follow what they teach, but not their behavior. Many of us as children have heard the paradoxical phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do.”  As a child, many behaviors of our older teachers and parents remain hidden until we are older.  Some of us were also taught about the lives of the saints in much the same way---that they could do no wrong.  But the reality is that saints are sinners and sinners are saints.  We are all a mixture of good and bad, misbehaved and properly behaved, full of ourselves and completely selfless.  We are all of this and every gradient in between.  We all have our own brand of sinning, our own way of living our lives in this world where sin and brokenness is ever before us.

            Today is All Saints Sunday, technically the day after All Saints Day and in the Catholic Church, today is All Souls Day.  They are essentially the same feast although the Catholics made a separate feast for the recognized, canonized saints and us ordinary folks.  How we honor this day can vary.  Some people will attend worship today and will hear the names of all in the parish that have died over the past year and a bell will be rung for each of them.  Some will remember those who died by partaking in the Eucharist or Holy Communion because they believe that they are closest to those in heaven when they do that.  They believe that they have fellowship with those who now see Jesus face to face.  Some recall their friends and relatives when they look into the faces of those still living who are directly related to those who have died.  Others will have these moments when they drive by a house where they lived or re-visit where they worshipped with that person.  Still other people will think about the relatives who died when they see their young relatives embarking on an entry to a prestigious college, something never even dreamed of a couple generations ago.  And some will donate altar flowers in memory of those who brought them into this world year after year.  In whatever way you remember the past generations, think especially on those who guided you and planted the seed of faith in your heart.  Thank God for those who steered you in the right direction, not my coercion, but gentle guiding, allowing you to form your own beliefs and your own set of values.  Thank God for those in your life, who taught you humility; especially be thankful for those who demonstrated it enough that you were able to see the light of Christ in their spiritual journey.

            For all of our faults, our misdeeds, our indiscretions, our fumbles in life, in spite of all our ugliness whether physical or emotional, forgive us Lord.  Forgive us, renew us, and heal us by your grace, dear Lord.  Dear Lord and Father of us all, remind us of your continued love for us day by day and moment by moment.  Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we may remain faithful to you just as you are faithful to us.  And finally, may we rest in the knowledge that you have given to each of us the gifts and talents to support one another, not tear each other down.  Refresh our memories that you are always there to embrace us in your loving arms.  Do not abandon us to our own devices, for we are nothing without you.  Deliver us from our foes.  Help us choose humility over hypocrisy.  Amen.