All Saints 2013

All Saints 2013 (Luke 6:20-31)

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Our Heavenly Father designed our species and each one of us by love, through love and for love.

God the Father created humanity by the power of God the Holy Spirit according to the pattern, plan and purpose of God the Beloved, the co-eternal Son.

If you want to know what it means to be human study the life of Jesus Christ. If you want to understand the principles the Triune God designed into the universe and our souls, read, study and memorize the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The principle of God are usually contrary to the principles human beings developed to govern our societies.

Jesus teaches that the blessings of God derive from our emerging awareness of the Divine Pattern of love. And so, Jesus asserts that the poor are blessed. How can that be? The blessing is not in the poverty itself. The blessing lies in the emerging awareness that we are all dependent upon God for our daily bread; and, responsible before God to make sure no human being goes hungry.

The rich have a tendency in the pride of their status to believe they and they alone can take credit for their abundance. Yet, it is not only the rich who are susceptible to pride. Those who have tend to despise those who have not. Those who have also tend to fear those who have less.

The poor are those who in their lack recognize Divine Abundance. It it they who are open to receive the blessing of God. Others, both rich and poor, allow pride and fear to blind them to that abundance.

The abundance is the Real Presence of the one God who eternally manifests as a community of Love in three persons. The Great Mystery of the eternal Trinity is the Great Mystery of eternal love. Eternal love is active, dynamic, spontaneous, creative and giving.

Divine abundance is the pattern, plan and purpose for human beings. Nature holds more than enough resources for all people to live well. Poverty is the choice some of make and impose on the rest of us.

Jesus teaches us and demonstrates for us how we can make a different choice. Jesus also reveals why we can make a different choice.

The choice that produces poverty in our world proceeds from the Original Sin that now defines our species. The origin of sin is the choice our first parents, Adam and Eve, made to separate from God. They, we, made that choice to form our souls according to the categories of knowledge and power.

Jesus resets humanity to the place of original blessing. Original Blessing is union with God the Father by the indwelling Presence of God the Holy Spirit in a forever friendship with God the Beloved, the co-eternal Son.

The Original Blessing is the pattern and principle of all particular blessing God has designed for us to discover and share as we move through time.

The Pattern of Blessing is relationship. The principle of blessing is caring, sharing and helping.

All 616 laws God revealed to Moses derive from and help us to understand this pattern and these principles.

All of the true prophets of God call us to measure our attitudes and actions according to the pattern and these principles.

In Jesus, God resets human nature according to that pattern and these principles.

Do you want to draw closer to God? The only way to do this is to make a real choice to participate actively in the active dynamic creative spontaneous  relationship of love that forms the Triune God. The means to do this is worship. The place  to do this is the community of faith that God has established to be the instrumentality of faith. That community is the broader church.

Do you want to receive the blessings of God? The only way to do this is to make a real choice to follow where Jesus leads. Where does Jesus lead?

If someone is hungry Jesus invites us to feed them.

If someone is lonely, Jesus invites us to comfort them.

If someone is sick, Jesus invites us to heal them.

If someone is lost, Jesus invites us to reassure them that they are already found in the love of God incarnate in Jesus Christ.

On this All Saints/All Souls Sunday the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church reminds us that the Original Blessing is union with the God Father, by the indwelling real presence of God the Holy Spirit , in a forever friendship with God the Beloved, the co-eternal Son, Jesus Christ.

We are part of the wider community of the Church Triumphant- the saints in heaven depicted for us our reredos. We are one with them and with the departed souls of the Church Expectant- represented for us at the altar of sacrifice and through the incense offering in the liturgy.

And, God has placed us into the community of the Church Militant, all of us here today and those of us who choose not to be here. The Church Militant is the school of reunification and transformation. It is the instrumentality of the Plan of Salvation.

The principle is very concise. Come to the altar of sacrifice to enter into the transforming grace of the Divine Presence. Then, make a real choice to use that grace to make a difference in the lives of the poor, the hungry, the sick, the lonely and the lost.

The teaching Jesus gives to us on this All Saints/All Souls Sunday is: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”