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Showing posts with the label all saints day

for all the saints who from their labors rest

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who thee by faith before the world confesses thy name, o jesus A reflection for All Saints from 1 Kings 18:17-39 : …Elijah is a little problematic for today ; All Saints. Isn’t he? Elijah's certainly not humble.   His words aren’t kind, taunting the prophets of Baal. But , I’ve come to learn that’s what it means to be one of God’s saints.   Saintliness is not perfection, it’s hope . It’s trust . It’s the awareness that unless God saves sinners , and sinners only , then we are without hope. …Let me tell you how I first learned this lesson; When I was putting together the first funeral liturgy I would preside at, I got the the Commendation of the Dead where the pastor is to say: "Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.” A sinner of your own redeeming?!? The family didn’t want to hear the pastor call their loved one a sinner , and at their funeral no le...

maybe time running out is a gift

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i'll work hard 'til the end of my shift A sermon for All Saints, from 1 Kings 18:17-39 : Hard to see what this passage has to do with a day like this : No humble remembering, but bombastic battle of whose God is best And , prophet Elijah isn’t exactly acting all the saintly , taunting opponents; bathroom BUT , we can make exceptions for prophets Had trouble making any connection b/t this passage and this day …and then I drove to Virginia’s funeral & I realized I had been commission to say some just as bombastic things & I realized the congregation was going to join me in taunting the ol’ foe The truth is, we don’t have to go to Mt. Carmel to find ourselves caught between competing theologies . Do we? We don’t even have to go to a funeral to find ourselves in the middle of a battle between The Lord and all those other false gods out there. ● In a world full of prophets insisting we MUST prove ...