I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us. (Ephesians 1: 17-19)
Today we celebrate those who live among us, and those who have gone before us as saints. We pray for those we love who, having died, now live in the nearer presence of God. They may have been members of our family, dear friends, or people in our larger community who in some way touched our lives and made them richer. They shared much of their time, their skills and knowledge, and their treasure so that we and the world are better for them having been among us.
They may have lived lives that were great and acclaimed, or they may have lived lives that were quiet and humble, but through their daily actions over time they accumulated and shared with us a sense of an “inheritance” that we hear today in our reading from Ephesians. “In Christ we have obtained an inheritance” and because of that inheritance we who have “set our hope on Christ” live so that God’s great love can be praised. We give thanks to God for the Saints of every time and place to whom we are joined in eternal fellowship; and for God’s mighty raising of Jesus Christ from the dead so that we might have hope not only in our dying, but in our living. You will be invited during our Prayers of the People to lift up the names of those we love and who lived lives that remind us of the love of God in Jesus Christ.
What a glorious time it is to remember the inheritance of the saints among us and beyond us. What they taught us. What we have seen through them. How they modeled a life that was full of God’s glory, whether or not they would use those words. They taught us what love looks like, how to see the goodness in ourselves, how to share who we are with others. They showed us humility, how we might have a point of view, but it does not need to blind us to the stories of others. How we might accept a compliment, but not inhale. How our lives are best used when they are given in service for the good of others and the world. They opened our lives to beauty. How you can find wonder in the simplest of things if you take time to notice and recognize the blessing. How great art comes only by giving all your heart to it, knowing that nothing takes the place of hard work. And a million other lessons that are best learned by seeing them lived in others. The saints in our lives, while not being necessarily perfect people, left their mark by getting it right, at least occasionally, and in doing so, showed us a glimpse of God’s glory and love. How important it is to remember the lessons we learned from the saints in our lives.
In our reading today from Ephesians, the author writes of our inheritance that we have received from God through Jesus Christ. In setting our hope on Christ we are marked with a seal from the Holy Spirit that gives us a pledge of this inheritance which will save us—that will set us free. The writer of Ephesians praises God who showers us with blessings beyond measure. He prays quite specifically that God will give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation that will allow our hearts to be opened to hope– to which we are called.
We have walked a long and tortuous road this past year as we have witnessed political campaigns by those who wish to lead us. It has revealed a side of our country that has been heart wrenching to watch. We have seen open disrespect of people of color, rampant fear of those who worship in a different way, flagrant disrespect of women and girls, unconcealed mockery of people with disabilities, threatening hostility toward our neighbors who are immigrants. Even those symbols of pride that we believed were sacred, such as selfless sacrifice for love of friends, family, country–has been trampled on. It is not easy to watch this and avoid falling into the too easy trap of either tuning out and turning away or joining in the ever present rancor of labeling all on the other side as irredeemable.
These are anxious times. But we who have set our hope on Christ—we have received an inheritance that centers us—that can focus us—that can calm the raging waters that surround us. We who set our hope on Christ do not cower in the face of these challenges. We do not stand idly by as people are denied their God infused dignity and their inherent worth as children of God. We do not hide away from the uncomfortable effects of fear, suffering, and despair. Rather we are called to step forward and claim our inheritance as God’s beloved children. We are to live following God who leads us in the company of those saints that we remember and honor–those saints who lived lives of courage, and gratitude, and compassion. We who set our hope on Christ are called for times such as these.
Through our inheritance we are given a purpose for our lives. And that purpose springs from a bottomless fountain of love. Jesus teaches us that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. Which means that the God of mercy, grace, and forgiveness is our ultimate authority. We trust in God because God first loved us. As Bishop Rob Wright reminded me recently, our first name is “good.” God loved us and created us “very good.” God takes pleasure in God’s people. God loved us, God’s creations, so much that God wanted to be in relationship with us and so came to be with us in his son, Jesus who showed us what love means and what a life of love requires. In God’s never ending love we only need to ask and to seek, and God’s love will be poured out onto us. And through this never ending love we are to love our neighbors. We are to love as Christ loved us. We are to walk in love. We are to love, sharing all we are with those we love. We are to love those who are strangers, remembering that once we too were strangers. We are even to love those we see as our enemies. And in doing this we are to “leap for joy” because we recognize that no one and nothing is beyond the boundaries of God’s love. No one—not us, no one—is separated from the love of God. Through our inheritance we too are called as followers of Christ to love without boundaries.
We can reach out and love all because of the “immeasurable greatness of God’s power” This power is at work in us. We will never know what we can accomplish until we call on the name of Jesus. Jesus was authorized by God to do great works on earth. And Jesus promised those who followed him that they would do even greater works by giving up their fears and their limited vision, and surrender to God’s plans for God’s people and the world. We have been given immeasurable power as our inheritance and so we are to stand with all who suffer, all who weep, all who stand on the margins with silenced voices, all who endure alone. There are so many places and so many lives that can be touched. God’s power working in us will do more than we could ask or possibly imagine. With God working in us—nothing is impossible.
We resolutely claim this inheritance when we regularly reconnect to our source through prayer. Bishop Doug Fisher, our bishop in our Diocese of Western Massachusetts summoned us at our recent Convention to spend this year “doubling down on prayer.” He quoted Thomas Merton, the Roman Catholic monk, who said, “If we descend into the depth of our own spirit, and arrive at our center, we confront the inescapable fact that at the root of our existence we are in immediate and constant contact with God.” Bishop Fisher went on to say in his address, “We live in anxious times in our nation, in our world AND in our church. And we can’t think that anxiety away. We can only be set free to be authentically human by finding the source of our life and the meaning of our life in God. Our God who is as close as our next breath. It is by entering intentionally into that relationship that we are transformed.”[1]
Jesus grew in strength and found peace by going away and reaching out to God whom he called out to in intimate terms, “Daddy.” Jesus prayed about everything, before calling the people who would follow him in ministry (Luke 6: 12-16) before feeding five thousand men (not counting women and children) with only five loaves of bread and a couple of fish (Luke 9: 10-17); on the night before his crucifixion (Luke 22: 42-42) as he hung on the cross giving up his life because the world could not handle his radical love.
Jesus taught his followers to pray always and not to lose heart. And prayer is what each of us who follow the risen Christ need to restore, to restart, to remember. And when we pray, either silently or in song, either walking in the beauty of the world, or holding up in words our heart’s desire—God meets us there, inspiring us with a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know God through an enlightened heart.
Through our inheritance of purpose, power, and prayer God will inspire us to live as the saints among us and before us. God can give each of us the strength we need to choose what is good, the awareness to see what is beautiful; and the heart open to the fullness that God intends to be a part of God’s plan in restoring God’s people and the world to the goodness for which it was created.
Today we give thanks for the gift of people in our lives who have shown us a way of wholeness and joy. Today we give thanks that God has given each of us an inheritance that draws our eyes and hearts toward a more whole future but also propels us into the present moment where Christ waits for us to work together toward a more whole world now.
The world faces daily assaults and fractures. But God, in Christ has given us an inheritance, and so we who have set our hope on Christ may set out, with God’s help, to move the world from the nightmare that it too often is for too many people, to the dream that God intends. Please walk boldly into the world with your inheritance this week.
[1] https://blog.diocesewma.org/2016/11/02/the-bishops-address-to-the-115th-annual-diocesan-convention/