Young at Heart Message
 
Today is Reign of Christ Sunday, also known as Christ the King Sunday.
 
Pastors don’t like to admit this, but this Sunday is often one that pastors would prefer to avoid.
 
Reign of Christ Sunday was established in 1925. So, next year will be the 100th anniversary of this celebration in the church year.
 
Pastors like to avoid this Sunday, and often we will ignore it and talk about something else, because we don’t always really know how to handle it.
 
It also falls right before Advent, and often people miss this Sunday anyway, so I think a lot of pastors figure no one will notice if we skip it.
 
But, I think it’s worth talking about, so bear with me today.
 
I want to begin with what I hope will be a fun exercise for us.
 
I want to compile a list together of all the ways we might describe a king.
 
Since I’m guessing few, if any, of us personally know a king, we will need to draw on what we know from history, any current knowledge of monarchs, and, we will need to draw a lot from popular culture – movies, TV, books, etc.
 
So, let’s make a list together. It’s OK to be a little silly here, or to put something on the list that you’ve seen in movies or on TV.
 
Our AV folks are going to type our list into the next few slides for us so we can see it.
 
I’ll get us started by adding two things to the list:
 
Kings lead battles.
 
Kings are rich.
 
Now, let’s ask our AV folks to get ready to type into our next slide, and then you all add your own ideas to our list.

A Brief History Lesson
 
How many of you have heard of the “lot” being used to make decisions?
 
Historically, Moravians used what’s called the “lot” to help them make decisions of all kinds – from who could marry, to who should be running the church, and all kinds of things in between.
 
The way the lot worked was that they would have three possible responses to their question written on three pieces of paper.
 
One would say “yes” (in whatever language the group used depending on their location), one would say “no,” and one would say “not yet.”
 
Then, they would ask the question that they sought to answer, and they would choose one of the three pieces of paper.
 
Whatever the paper said was the absolute, indisputable answer.
 
So, for example, when I was called to Good Shepherd Church, they would have had to use this system to decide if they wanted to hire me.
 
The Board would ask the lot if they should hire me as their pastor.
 
Then, they would write the three possible responses on three pieces of paper.
 
They would mix up the paper and choose one.
 
If they chose the “no” response, they would have to go back to the drawing board, regardless of how much they liked me and wanted to hire me.
 
If they chose the “yes” response, they would have to hire me, even if they really thought I was a terrible choice.
 
And, if they chose the “not yet” response, they would have had to wait until a future date and try the lot again.
 
The early Moravians believed emphatically that the lot was a way to take their personal opinions out of the equation. Instead, they deemed the response the lot gave as God’s final word on the matter.
 
In other words, it was their way of bringing God into their decision-making process, ensuring that they were not making decisions based solely on their own emotional state at the time.
 
It also took the debate out of the process. Decisions could not be argued about after the fact because they believed that God had led them to that decision.
 
If they had debated it, it would have been like debating God’s will.
 
So, imagine you have found the absolute love of your life.
 
The person is attractive, kind, genuine, and cares deeply for you, and you wish to marry them.
 
But, in the early Moravian system, you could not simply choose to marry someone without first asking the lot.
 
So, a man would have to begin by asking a woman if she would consider marrying him.
 
Then, assuming she said yes, they would take the proposal to the community leadership, and they would present the choice to the lot.
 
If the lot said yes, then they would confirm with the woman that she indeed wanted to marry the man.
 
If the “lot” said no, however, that decision was final. They could not ask again in the future, and each person would need to seek another potential partner instead.
 
And, if they chose “not yet” they would have to wait and ask the lot again at a future date.
 
Can you imagine the nail-biting anxiety of waiting to see what the lot said about your future spouse?
 
I can understand the theory behind this system.
 
After all, it demonstrates a strict devotion to God that they would rely so heavily on a system which believed this was God’s way of speaking in their lives.
 
And yet, in practice, I could imagine it potentially being devastating if people desperately wanted a “yes” response but instead received a resounding “no”.
 
It is with this process in mind that we turn now to the Moravian settlement of Herrnhut in Germany.
 
In 1736, the Moravians held a Synod, much like our current Synods. At the end of that Synod, their Chief Elder, Leonhard Dober, asked to be relieved of his position.
 
His skills simply didn’t meet the need, but it had also become a position that could not be done by one person alone. He was tired.
 
The Moravian church had spread far and wide through missionary work across the globe and it was a lot to manage.
 
They chose to postpone the discussion about his resignation until June of the following year, at which time they decided to deal with Dober’s decision.
 
But, his resignation was not accepted by the lot so it had to wait until a future Synod.
 
Finally, in 1741, 5 years later, the lot supported Dober’s resignation, which left them with the task of electing a new Chief Elder.
 
Various members of the community were nominated, but the lot declined each nomination.
 
So finally, those gathered for the Synod in 1741 decided not to appoint another person to the position.
 
Instead, they decided to put forth Jesus Christ himself as their Chief Elder.
 
They posed the following question to the lot: “Whether this signified that the Saviour would himself undertake the office.”
 
The lot’s response to this question was “yes.”
 
It was on November 13th, 1741, that this major decision was announced to the members of the church.
 
Through a time of turmoil and chaos, when they were anxious about who would take on this very important role within the church, Jesus Christ brought hope to their community.
 
And now, for the last 283 years, we have celebrated Christ as our Chief Elder on November 13th each year.
 
In practice, what this means for us is that we are asked to remember – especially in our service on Boards and in leadership roles within the church – to acknowledge that we look to Christ first and foremost when we are making decisions that might affect our community.
 
It is symbolic, but deeply meaningful and provides us with hope that even when we work to make difficult decisions, Christ walks with us and guides us in all that we do.
 
The Message
​
So, this history lesson leads us to today, just four days after the November 13th celebration, when we heard a rather apocalyptic scripture reading from the Gospel of Mark.
 
Jesus says “watch out! When you hear about wars and threats of wars, don’t be afraid.”
 
That’s easier said than done, don’t you think, Jesus?
 
But then he says, “These things will have to happen, but that isn’t the end.”
 
He goes on to warn that nations will go to war against each other, there will be natural disasters, and people will starve, and that all of this is just the beginning of the troubles. It sounds rather discouraging.
 
And yet, these things will inevitably happen, whether Jesus predicted it or not, because it is the way of the world and the way of humanity.
 
In this rather scary passage, Jesus is giving us hope, believe it or not.
 
Just like when the Moravians of the mid-1700’s needed reassurance when their steadfast leadership was changing and their world felt like it was in chaos, Jesus once again provided them with hope.
 
Jesus acknowledges in this passage that difficult times lay ahead.
 
And if we are being honest, he doesn’t just mean imminently. He means always and forever.
 
We know this because we have experienced it in our own lives.
 
We don’t just experience challenges, turmoil, and chaos globally.
 
We know about the chaos and devastation that he speaks of because we have felt it in our own hearts, and we are aware of it all around us.
 
Some of us are in the middle of it right now, and nearly all of us have experienced it at some point in our past.
 
But Jesus is reminding us here that when we are in the middle of the storm, he is right there with us.
 
It is not the end, he assures us.
 
It reminds me of the song “Eye of the Storm” by Ryan Stevenson. He sings:
 
In the eye of the storm,
You remain in control
And in the middle of the war
You guard my soul
You alone are the anchor
When my sails are torn
Your love surrounds me,
In the eye of the storm.
 
Ryan reminds us that Jesus doesn’t promise us that there will never be a storm.
 
Jesus knows too much about the human condition to be able to promise us that.
 
But he does promise that no matter what happens, God is with us through it all.
 
Jesus cannot stop what he predicts is to come for his disciples, nor can he stop disaster and chaos from affecting us.
 
But he can join us in the storm.
 
He can sit right there with us when we are riding out the storm – a shining beacon of hope in a dreary or stormy sky of despair.
 
He can be our hope amid the chaos, whether than chaos is in our hearts, our minds, our families, our communities, our country, or our world.
 
So, may we always remember that Jesus is our hope and our guiding light when all feels lost.
 
We are not lost because Jesus is always with us.
 
Just as our early Moravian forebears knew that Jesus was right there with them, guiding them through their uncertainty, may we also know this to be true in our own lives.
 
Amen.
 
God of hope, we thank you for all the blessings of this life. For the gift of life. For the gift of Christ, for the gift of the Holy Spirit, for your tender mercy. For Your saving love.

Let Your love, steadfast and faithful, be a great sign from heaven.

May Your peace bend our will to your will, like trees in a strong wind.

Signs of heaven, sighs of hope. Amen.

​Young at Heart Message
 
Several months ago, I tried to show a video from the movie Encanto. The video didn’t work, but I talked a bit about the premise of the movie.
 
I’m sure you all remember it in detail, but just in case you don’t, I’ll tell you about it again because it applies to today’s scripture passage.

Encanto is a Disney movie about a family that received a special gift which gives them heightened abilities.

​Everyone who was born into the family after “Abuela” – Grandma – was born with a special gift.
 
One of her daughters, for example, can heal people through food. If someone just eats something she made, they will be healed from at least minor ailments.

​The other daughter’s mood controls the weather. If she is in a bad mood, it might storm, but if she is in a good mood, the weather will be sunny and warm.

​Both of these women had children, and each of their children have gifts as well.
 
Dolores can hear things other people can’t, and Antonio can talk to animals.

​Isabela can make plants grow, and Luisa is super strong.

Mirabel is so proud to be part of her family that is so special, even though she is constantly overshadowed by her sisters and cousins who all have special gifts that are used to “help” the family.
 
But here is where things get interesting.
 
Mirabel works so hard to try to contribute to her family – to help them be successful in their community and in their home.
 
But because she doesn’t have any special abilities like the rest of her family, they all treat her as though she really can’t contribute anything of value to the family.
 
And, to some extent, she believes this herself, although she works really hard to define herself outside of the realm of special talents.
 
And yet, her family and the rest of the community believe she has nothing to offer because, compared to everyone else, her abilities are far less defined.
 
The other members of her family, therefore, believe that what they contribute to the family’s success is of far greater value than what Mirabel contributes.
 
And yet, as the movie goes on, we get to see that Mirabel is, in fact, the one person who can save her family from disaster.
 
Interestingly, in the process of saving her family from actual physical harm, she also shows her sisters that they are defined by so much more than their special abilities.
 
It is a story about family systems and the boxes we tend to put people in, but it is also a story about growth and community and sacrifice for those we love.
 
Based on how the family defined usefulness within their family system, Mirabel was the least “useful” of all. She has the least to offer, in their opinion.
 
And yet, she ended up giving the most of herself, and she showed everyone that they also had more to give than what they were offering.
 
If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend watching it.
 
But, in the meantime, you can settle for my brief description!
 
So what does this have to do with today’s scripture?
 
The Message
​
Well, today we heard the story of Jesus watching people place their gifts into the offering box in the temple.
 
What he witnesses was a lot of rich people giving a lot of money, which is not in itself a bad thing!
 
But then, he witnesses a poor widow put her offering into the box.
 
That widow, relative to everyone else who was putting in their gifts, gave almost nothing.
 
And yet, Jesus notices that she in fact gave more than any of the rich people because she gave everything she had.
 
She gave all that she had left, leaving her without any money to live on. She gave money she really needed.
 
On the other hand, the rich people, even though they gave higher amounts, all gave money they did not need.
 
Parallel to the story of Encanto where everyone with special gifts gave out of their abundance, Mirabel and the widow in our story gave out of their scarcity.
 
But, why does Jesus really draw attention to this poor widow?
 
Many people will argue that he draws attention to her to point out that we should all give everything we have.
 
But I don’t think this is actually what is happening here.
 
Jesus points out this widow because he wants to highlight the lack of justice in a society that would allow a widow to become so poor and destitute.
 
She clearly wants to prioritize her faith and her duty to the temple, but Jesus doesn’t ever tell the poor to give all they have and sacrifice all of themselves to the point where they could not afford to live.
 
And I don’t think that Jesus would sit next to each of us today and tell us to sell everything we own and live in poverty either.
 
But, in pointing out this woman’s poverty, he is calling attention to the fact that so many rich people gladly give to the temple, but completely ignore the poor people in need right in front of them.
 
Much like Mirabel’s family overlooking her very “average” talents because she didn’t receive a singular “special” gift like they all did.
 
Instead of asking themselves why Mirabel had to work so much harder to define herself within the family system, they really should have asked themselves why they didn’t use their gifts – not just their special gifts but all of their unique gifts – to help Mirabel discover what talents she had and how she could use them to help the family in her own way.
 
In other words, there was opportunity for them to change the system in which they lived, but it took Mirabel pushing the bounds of that system before any of them could see in a new way.
 
Likewise, it takes Jesus pointing out the injustice of this poor widow before any of the rich people would take notice of her at all.
 
The two small coins that she gave would have been unimportant and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
 
But the fact that their society was set up to be a very dangerous and insecure world for widows was important and significant, which is why Jesus points it out so directly.
 
He is asking people to notice her.
 
Certainly, notice the sacrifice she’s making in her giving. But more importantly, notice this person who is poor not through any fault of her own, but likely because her husband died, and she had no son who could care for her (as was customary at the time).
 
Notice the injustice of a world where a woman’s only safety net is being married and having sons, and unless she can quickly marry again, losing her husband could be a life sentence of poverty and heartache.
 
This passage is a call to action.
 
A call to notice the injustices of the world.
 
A call to change those injustices if we can.
 
And, as we sang earlier, a call to let our hearts be broken for a world in need.
 
To allow ourselves to love others in such a way that we can see how they might not benefit from the same systems we benefit from.
 
If we open ourselves up to loving people in this way, we have no choice but to notice when the system isn’t set up to care for them.
 
We have no choice but to notice. We sang earlier:
 
“Blessed to be a blessing,
privileged to care,
challenged by the need
apparent ev’rywhere.”
 
“Let your heart be tender
and your vision clear –
rouse yourself to action,
serve God far and near.
Let your heart be broken
by another’s pain,
share your rich resources – 
give and give again.”
 
Our hymns, in case you have not noticed before, are often Biblically based.
 
So, may we let our hearts be broken for a world in need.
 
May we hear Jesus as he tries to help us notice the injustice of the world and the systems that perpetuate poverty.
 
And, may we hear the call to do something about it – or at the very least to acknowledge the ways in which we benefit from the system so that we can notice when there are others who do not.
 
That is what Jesus is asking of the rich people in our passage today.
 
Notice the ways in which the system allows you to be able to give out of your abundance.
 
And, notice when the system keeps someone oppressed so that when they give of themselves, they must give everything they have because that is their only choice.
 
It is a call for us to wake up to the realities of other people’s lives.
 
It is not a call for us to feel guilty about what we do have, but it is a call to be aware that our own realities are not necessarily the same as other people’s realities.
 
If we are to truly love our neighbours, then we must notice when they are affected by a system that keeps them from thriving.
 
So, may we do the hard work that Jesus calls us to do and allow our hearts to break for others – allow ourselves to notice and empathize with the struggle of our neighbours.
 
May we let our hearts be tender, and may we continue to serve God far and near.
 
Amen.
 
Let us pray: God of grace, thank you for sending your Son Jesus to teach us and help us better understand the complexities of human behaviour. Thank you for reminding us that loving others means recognizing injustices and working toward balancing the scales. Jesus demonstrated genuine love and concern for others, and calls us to follow his lead in all things. Amen.

​Young at Heart Message
 
Today is the Sunday in many churches across the globe when Christians celebrate All Saints’ or All Souls’ Day.
 
It is also the time when people from across faith traditions celebrate and honour their loved ones who have moved on from this life to the next.
 
I wanted to better understand the significance of this day, so I did a little research that I’d like to share with you all today.
 
Some of you may already know much of this, but some of it was new to me, so I thought I would pass it along to you.
 
Let’s start by talking briefly about Allhallowtide.
 
Allhallowtide is the three-day celebration that includes all the various customs (both obsolete and still observed) of Hallowe’en, All Saints’, and All Souls’ Days.
 
Generally speaking, it is considered a time to remember the dead, including martyrs, saints, and all faithfully departed Christians.
 
The first day of Allhallowtide is All Hallows’ Eve and it falls on October 31st – of course, it’s known more commonly as Hallowe’en. It is also known as the Eve of All Hallows or the Eve of All Saints’ Day.
 
The word “hallow,” by the way, is synonymous with “saint” or “holy person.”
 
Traditionally, it was believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints’ Day, and All Hallows Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world.
 
In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking vengeance, people would wear masks or costumes to disguise their identities.
 
Today, children (and adults!) perpetuate this custom by dressing in costumes and going door to door to collect candy and treats.
 
While our current Hallowe’en customs do not necessarily reflect the spiritual significance of the evening, it was also historically a time when some believed that the veil between the material world and the afterlife thinned.
 
If any of you have ever seen the Disney movie Coco, it represents a good example of cultures that still believe this thin veil exists and that those who have gone before us seek our help in getting peace in the afterlife.

The second day of Allhallowtide is called All Saints’ Day, and it falls on November 1st.
 
This is a day that some Christian traditions honour all the saints and martyrs – both known and unknown.
 
It seeks in particular to honour the blessed who have not been canonized and have no special feast day in the Catholic Church.
 
The third and final day of Allhallowtide is All Souls’ Day and it falls on November 2nd.
 
This day commemorates all the faithful departed.
 
Many Christian traditions today, including our own, tend to combine All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day into one celebration to honour those who have gone before us and to acknowledge the impact our ancestors have had on our lives.
 
If you have not already noticed, today we are doing exactly that and are focusing our worship on honouring our ancestors along with those faithfully departed souls who have been associated with Good Shepherd or who have had an impact on our own faith journeys.
 
In other words, today we honour the saints in our own lives who have helped us become the people we are today, and who have impacted our faith and our relationship to the church.

The Message

It is curious, then, that the lectionary chooses the passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus resurrects Lazarus to commemorate All Saints’ Day.
 
Nothing like causing those of us who have lost loved ones to wonder why Jesus couldn’t also raise our loved ones from death! Or, at the very least, it might cause us to wonder why Jesus couldn’t have healed our loved ones so they didn’t die.
 
This passage about Lazarus is interesting because it only appears in the Gospel of John, and Lazarus isn’t mentioned again after Jesus resurrects him.
 
So, we don’t actually get to know what happened to Lazarus after this scene.
 
Some traditions do make claims that he becomes a Bishop, but there is no agreement on that, and there is definitely no mention of him again in the Bible.
 
So, we are left hanging with regard to what happened to Lazarus after he was resurrected.
 
However, I suspect that we don’t hear about Lazarus again because what happens to him after the resurrection is not the important part of this passage.
 
In fact, I am not even sure the resurrection is the most important part of this passage, believe it or not, at least with regard to the celebration of All Saints’ Day.
 
For those of us who have lost loved ones very close to us, I think the hope in this passage is actually Jesus’ reaction to the situation.
 
It is not realistic for any of the characters in the Bible to expect Jesus to resurrect all of their loved ones (in fact, most of the characters in this passage are confused or even scared, and even Lazarus seems a little confused about what happened).
 
If resurrection (or prevention of death) was something Jesus promised to everyone, it would have happened a lot more frequently in the Biblical accounts of his life.
 
Instead, I think the reason this passage is in here is to demonstrate that Jesus experiences grief much like we do when a loved one is lost.
 
Not only does Jesus experience grief, but he walks alongside us as we experience grief and he weeps along with us.
 
Jesus may have had the power to save Lazarus, but he does not, in part because he cannot possibly save everyone.
 
The world is too big and there are too many people in need for Jesus to conceivably be able to save everyone.
 
Not only that, but logistically, the world would be a very different place if everyone just got to live forever or was cured whenever they asked for it.
 
This passage, instead, is meant to demonstrate that when we weep, Jesus weeps too.
 
When we grieve, Jesus grieves, too.
 
Jesus does not leave us in our moments of grief and loss, nor does he cause death, pain, or grief.
 
Instead, Jesus joins us in our grief and loss. He sits next to us, wraps his arms around us and wraps us in love and tender care.
 
He weeps alongside us and never once leaves us in our time of despair.
 
It may feel to us sometimes like God causes our pain, at the very least because our prayers for God to cure or heal a loved one cannot always be answered.
 
But Jesus shows us in this passage that pain and grief is bound to happen, and when it does, he is right there with us.
 
This passage is offered to us on All Saints’ Day because it is a reminder that in Jesus we find hope and we find rest.
 
We find a God who shares in our grief, our pain, and our sorrow. A God who wraps us in loving arms as we experience the pain of memories of our loved ones.
 
This Sunday we celebrate, we grieve, we mourn, and we experience the profound love of God as we remember those we have loved and lost.
 
In our grief, we find hope in a God who loves us so deeply that they would send Jesus to walk with us in our pain and to experience that pain right along with us.
 
In that hope, and with all our love, we honour and celebrate the people we love who have gone before us and paved the way.
 
May we celebrate and honour them today by lighting candles in memory of our loved ones, and then by receiving God’s grace through the sacrament of Holy Communion.
 
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
 
Since we are going to be remembering the souls of the departed in just a moment, I want to offer a prayer to help us prepare our hearts for this time of remembering. Let us pray:

I give you this one thought to keep.
I’m with you still.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush.
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not think of me as gone
I am with you still at each new dawn.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
Do not stand there at my grave and cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

Amen.