“Blessed Are You and the Saints”
Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 Luke 6:20-31
Not long ago….I was blessed to walk with a dozen friends through the Ashmore Heritage Preserve not far from here. We spent five hours walking up and down the hills that God had created and maintained over the years. These hills had been untouched by humans except for the blazing of some rudimentary walking trails. The scenery was beautiful. At this time of year we begin to see advertising for man-made beauty…also…in the form of Christmas at Biltmore. It’s the largest mansion in America. It’s very ornate. Everything is beautiful…perhaps you’d even call it stunning. Beautifully decorated and lighted Christmas trees that are 20 feet tall reach to the ceilings of the great rooms. Candlelit garlands are all around. Poinsettias of every conceivable color are everywhere. There’s a fire in every fireplace. It is truly a magnificent place. Perhaps you’ve never seen a dwelling place more magnificent or more welcoming. It’s quite possible that you haven’t seen…and that you may not see anything more magnificent… as long as you walk this earth. However…the people…whose lives we celebrate today… have…and will forever see such a place…a place they now call home. Hear once again…the words we heard at least once in the past two years…from the Gospel of John…words spoken by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…who holds the keys to that more magnificent mansion. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, So that where I am, there you may be also.” Christ has prepared a place for us. Christ has opened God’s house to…Tim Knight…Margaret Turner…Grady Callahan…Richard Mulder…Betty Bradley…Doris Gilreath…J. T. Styles…and Lisa Gossett. How do I know this? I know this in a personal way. My dad was the only parent in my life during my formative years…between the ages of 8 and 14. At best we had a rocky relationship. His message to me about God was pretty simple. God would punish me harshly if I did wrong…and God was the first word of a two-word curse. I didn’t accept his idea of God…or anyone’s idea of God…for many years. I moved out of his small apartment the day after I graduated from high school. For years after that we exchanged a Christmas card and birthday cards….signed but with no other message. That was the extent of our relationship. I didn’t think him an evil man…but I surely judged him as someone God would not welcome into his house. In my first year of ministry I received the call from my sister in New York. Our father was dying of lung cancer and the doctors thought he didn’t have much time left. As I made the long drive to Syracuse I wondered what I would say. After driving for about four hours I decided my task was to bring this man…my father…to God. I thought I knew all the right stuff because I had just a few months earlier finished the training to become a local pastor in the United Methodist Church. I decided I would save him before it was too late. Upon my arrival in Syracuse I went straight to a book store and bought an easy to understand version of the Bible. You see…my dad only completed eighth grade. I had all the education and just knew I had all of the answers he would need. When I walked into his room at the care center…we said hello…shook hands…and then he said, “I understand you’re a minister now.” I said, “Yes.” Then without hesitation…he asked me to join him in the Prayer of Saint Francis. Yep…you guessed it…I hadn’t considered this request in all of my highly educated thinking about how to save him. I told him I was aware of the prayer…but hadn’t memorized it…and started to open my Bible to find it. He said…”You won’t find it there.” He then said, “Let’s pray.” He led us in the prayer. It was then I realized that even though I may have judged him as lost…as a person who had done wrong things…and not done all of the right things…somehow he had found Jesus…and the Holy Spirit had found him. I realized then that my father had been invited into God’s house. I realized also that even the best among us see only a small piece of others while they are with us. I never had the opportunity to interact with those members of the Jackson Grove United Methodist Church family we recognize today. I can’t and won’t attempt to judge them against my standards or against what I perceive to be God’s standards. Each probably had some imperfections. But…I’ve learned enough about each to know they also had and shared love for others…for Jesus Christ…and for his church…and their church family. Think for a minute about the world they have left behind. Is that love for Christ and all in God’s creation prevalent…in everyone’s heart and mind? Has the pursuit of wealth for its own sake…or as a way to keep score gone away? How about the drive for power over others? Is that gone away? Is there love in every word and action of every person? Are we all the best possible stewards of God’s creation? One needs only to look at the rancor of the current political campaigns and governing process and the stories of abuse, greed, anger and violence in today’s news to find the answer. The Jews despised the Romans because they oppressed God’s people…but Jesus told the people to love these enemies who provoked and angered them. Such words turned many away from Christ. But, Jesus wasn’t talking about having affection for enemies. He was talking about an act of the will. You can’t “fall into” this kind of love. It takes conscious effort. Loving your enemies means acting in their best interests. You can pray for them and think of ways to help them. Jesus loved the whole world, even though the world was in rebellion against God. Jesus asked believers to follow his example by loving their enemies…and those who had done them wrong. I don’t know whether any of us has an enemy. I don’t know whether Tim…Margaret…Grady… Richard…Betty…Doris…J.T. or Lisa had.. an enemy. My guess is that they didn’t. However, there is belief today that we have enemies and that we should be wary of them…and should not show them love…and forgiveness. Instead as we celebrate that we have lived part of our earthly lives with Tim…Margaret… Grady… Richard…Betty…Doris…J.T. and Lisa …and that they await us in a mansion with many rooms…more magnificent than any we have seen or could even envision…let us…in our time remaining on earth before we join them…be people who give the kind of love they gave…the kind of love and forgiveness that Jesus gives…and Jesus wants us to give. Let us…as we come to the Lord’s Table remember the words of the Prayer of Saint Francis: “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love, For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.” Jesus said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”