All Saints 2015

All Saints Sunday (Matthew 5:1-12) “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

 The principles of God’s Kingdom subvert the expectations we learn from our culture.

Human designed culture values power, pride, pleasure, possessions and prestige. It is a culture designed by the lost to keep us lost. We stay lost by following the way of individual pride, self-will, and fear. Once we have been found in Jesus Christ, Jesus gives us a new life that initiates a new way of living.

On this All Saints/All Souls Sunday we have the opportunity to consider what that new way of living is. We can only allow ourselves to be found as we recognize we have been lost. We can only receive the rich abundance of spiritual blessings as we accept our spiritual poverty.

Presently, the Church- The Body of Christ- manifests in three distinct forms. We here and now and those like us across the world form the Church Militant. We are called to action and are being equipped for action.

Jesus himself gives us the direction for this action in the Great Commission. He told his disciples (including us) to GO into all the world, BAPTIZE them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, MAKE disciples of all nations, and TEACH them all that he taught while he was on Earth. Then, he gives us a promise: as we do this he is with us always.

As the Church Militant, the Body of Christ on Earth, we have been assigned four very specific tasks in four very active commands: Go, Preach, Baptize. Teach.

We grow and prosper as the Body of Christ only as we follow the plan- the Plan of Salvation.

Are we going into our world- amongst our families, friends, neighbors and acquaintances? Or are we sitting back and holding back? Jesus commands us as the Body of Christ on Earth to GO. He expects us to be actively engaged in the work of the Holy Spirit to bring a blessing and be a blessing to the lost who do not want to be found. Our assignment is to be an active blessing the Holy Spirit can use to find the lost and help the lost allow themselves to be found.

Are we sharing the Good News of divine love in Jesus Christ? We do not have the authority or the luxury to use Christianity to support or advance any political agenda. Jesus commands us and expects us to follow his agenda. That is our divinely designated priority. Could you explain to someone how to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior? Could you be an agent of grace in offering the gift of reunification with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son? It is OK if you answered “no” or “not sure”. That is your cutting edge of growth. That is where you need to take personal responsibility for asking the Holy Spirit to help you modify your beliefs and behavior.

Jesus expects the lost who allow themselves to be found to come to the church to receive the gift of baptism. If someone has already been baptized before making a choice to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior they do not have to be re baptized. They do need to become a member of a local church. Baptism spiritually grafts us into the Body of Christ. An individual Christian who is not actively participating in a local congregation is an oxymoron. He is a living contradiction of belief and practice.

Once we are part of a local congregation we are called to become students and teachers. As students we read the Bible, study the Bible and memorize the Bible. After worship- our first and highest prority, this is our next highest priority. As students we adjust our attitude away from the pride of knowledge to the humility of teachability. In that humility the Holy Spirit will form us to share what we learn with others. We become teachers as we follow the path of a student.

Could you help someone who has just accepted Jesus as their savior to understand the steps they need to take to follow him as Lord? In terms of the Plan of Salvation, you can only teach from your own experience.

The threefold priority of the new life in Christ for the Church Militant is the threefold manifestation of love. It is worship, acts of kindness and compassion, and personal growth and transformation. That is the new life and the new way of living of the Kingdom of God.

Sadly, many and perhaps most who claim the name of Christ do not follow the way of Christ. We have accepted the gift of reunification with the Father through the Son. We refuse to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the meaning and purpose of the new life Jesus gives us.

For those, life in this world is a holding pattern. We circle around the church but never land and start working with the Holy Spirit. When those who choose to stay on hold die they are not ready for Prime Time. It is not that God punishes them. It is rather that they carry a multitude of belief and behavior patterns they can no longer pursue. They have departed the world of duality, the world of choice, and entered the world of unity. But, they have formed their souls and personal identities in desires and expectations that Heaven cannot fulfill.

They are the Church Expectant. Some Christians identify their experience as Purgatory. Anglicans use an older and more Biblical expression; Paradise. They are in a place of rest and refreshment where the Holy Spirit helps them to surrender their attachments to false beliefs and debilitating behaviors. It isn’t easy.

It is far easier to make the choice to surrender our attachments to pride and self-will here within the context of the Church Militant than it is in the context of the Church Expectant. We can and should pray for the souls in the Church Expectant. One of their tasks is to learn how to pray for us.

Their primary task is to learn the fundamental lessons of love they failed to learn on Earth. Their primary task is to learn how to transform pride into humility, self-will into love for God and other people, and fear into hope.

They are assisted by the prayers of the Church Militant and the intercessions of the Church Triumphant. The Church Triumphant is the place of the saints. The saints are those who made the real choice on Earth to embrace the three fold path of love. No saint was ever perfect. Each saint had a besetting sin. All saints pledged their loyalty to the Plan of Salvation and accepted the threefold path of love.

You are called to be a saint. You are called and equipped to enter into the new way of living the three fold path of love: worship, kindness and compassion, and personal transformation. The saints in the Church Triumphant continue to grow and transform in love. They are not perfect. But, they no longer follow the path of pride and self-will. They pray for us in the Church Militant to make wise choices in the here and now so they may expand their joy as they welcome us into their fellowship. They pray for the souls of the Church Expectant so they can do the hard work they chose not to do on Earth. That choice is the threefold pattern of love.

The hardest choice is worship. At the risk of offending, if you can’t make worship your priority in the here and now you are going to have a very difficult experience when you enter the hereafter.  Embracing the highest form of love that is God and defines Heaven is far easier here on Earth than in Paradise. God designed this world to facilitate that choice. Here and now is the best time and place to choose love. Here and now is where the blessing resides for us to claim. Here and now is how we choose to form our souls and manifest our unique personal identity.

Eventually, the Church Militant, the Church Expectant and the Church Triumphant will merge into the unified and purified Church Glorified. We will jointly become the Bride of Christ. We will experience the new life Jesus has given us in the Great Mystery and the Great Adventure unfolding in  infinite and eternal love.