Sermon and Gospel: Matthew 5.1-12
5 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you, persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
SERMON: “Blessed Are We.”
There is something solemn and sad about this Season of Autumn that we are in – there is something even more solemn and sad about the Month of November. It the most dreaded month in Denmark as it is cold, rainy and seems endless… November, November, November. In the Nordic Regions November is not considered a blessing but a curse to endure.
Even if November here in Southern California for sure is more livable and much less depressing than the Nordic Novembers, we too feel the change in temperature, in mood, with the falling leaves and rushing winds.
November is November.
November is solemn, sad and soul searching, - as this season of Autumn and especially November makes us reflect on the season of life, our mortality, and everything passing.
And so, we begin November here in Church on that solemn note with our All-Saints Sunday Service. A day to celebrate and remember all the Saints and Sinners that went before us: the great accomplished ones in our books and history, but even more everyone in our own private books and personal stories.
It is a day of Remembrance.
But a Remembrance with faith, hope and love.
Blessed are they. Blessed are you. Blessed are we. Jesus’ Sermon on The Mount with the beautiful Beatitudes paints our lives, our hopes, our faith in a more colorful deep tone than November would do without these words of comfort and faith. So blessed are we, to be here to listen.
The Season and November Mood reflect the kind of sadness and melancholy we feel at All Saints. The grief that possesses us and overcomes us like waves of love without a shore to find rest. The sorrow when reminded of what and who we have lost. It can be raw and new, but it can also be decades old and still present. Because we do not get over grief, we get through and then we live with it.
Music is one of the most powerful means of evoking deep emotions. Emotions like feeling moved, awe, wonder, transcendence, nostalgia, sorrow, sadness, love and tenderness. We may experience goosebumps or feel tears dwelling in our eyes. We may remember fine moments through music.
Today’s Service is filled as always with music. But also filled with music that might evoke these deep emotions on a day like today:
Prelude: Hallelujah……Leonard Cohens powerful Song and Postlude Eric Clapton’s moving song Tears in Heaven.
I have asked Rush to play a special solo today.
A new Danish Hymn with text by Dy Plambeck and Melody by Marianne Sogaard.
We sang it this spring with Rasmus Skov Borring at the Sing a Long… and I have been moved by the music and the text so many times since.
And It is truly an All-Saints Song.
Oven over træerne hører jeg et skybrud
Min kælder står under vand
Jeg lægge planker hen
Over alt det jeg har mistet
Alle de mennesker jeg har elsket
Befinder sig stadig
Et sted i mig, et sted i mig.
CLOUDBURST
1. High above the trees
I heard a cloudburst.
My basement is underwater.
I lay planks over all I have lost.
2. Now that darkness surrounds me.
I will see you in the living room.
In the light from the glowing lamp
I close my eyes to be alone.
||: All the people I have ever loved.
Still are in
A place in me a place in me :||
3. Night comes with a dream.
That we are walking together
Through the streets
I lay out planks.
But you do not cross over.
4. The city is quiet now.
Like a fish on its belly
In contaminated water.
I close my eyes.
To be with you.
||: All the people I have ever loved.
Still are in
A place in me a place in me :||
This beautiful song and poem are about love and loss. About being in a place where dream and reality collide. The one that is no longer there, somehow is still there.
It begins with a cloudburst.
A violent loud burst of rain, wind and clouds. The image of the strong forces of nature, that you can hear from afar and where many founts of water pour down and overflows the basements, describes how death can be felt. Separation. Divorce, Loss, broken relations. The cloud burst is violent and piercing.
I lay planks over the sorrow that overflows my existence. To avoid falling in too deep, to avoid drowning.
From the violent cloudburst, we enter the cozy living room – a place of comfort and memories. And the person tries to suppress the memories, the feeling by closing her eyes to be alone.
Then the poem takes us out again, to the streets, walking in a dream with the beloved and closing her eyes to be with him again and hold on to that dream.
The chorus lifts the song and us with hope, faith, and love.
All the people I have ever loved.
Still have a place in me, still lives in me….
Isn’t this how we feel when we grieve and mourn?
As a hospital chaplain said inspired by this song: “The human being that has been an essential and fundamental part of your life, is not suddenly left out of your life when they die. The biological death is different from the existential death. Grief is not just a story about what and whom you have lost, but even more a story about what you can never lose.”
All the people we have ever loved.
Still lives in us.
All Saints is a day where we acknowledge that our lives, our faith and our hopes are lived in that crossing of past and present, reality and hope, biological and existential. All of this, all the time, everything that has been, is and will be is in God’s Hands. Everything is melting into eternity.
When Jesus went up the mountain and gave his Sermon he began with the beautiful Beatitudes. Blessing people who all were just like us: during life, depending on others, grieving losses and longing for peace.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peace makers, the persecuted…. blessed are they and we as God is with them and us though all blessings and curses.
Today we look back on what was and who we lost.
Today we look ahead on what we hope will be a time and a place with no sorrow, no tears, no pain, no cloudburst and November blues.
Jesus asks us to look ahead and beyond. Dare to dream and remember, dare to live despite everything that might hurt us as we know that blessings are only found when we dare, when we share, and when we care. When we are in the moment that might build bridges to the past and to the future.
November is. All saints it is.
Blessed are we to be here. With our faith, our hope, our memories and our love.
Thanks be to God. We are not alone. Amen
Prayer:
Almighty God,
We come with our sorrows and worries and lay them on you: we pray for strength to live and cope.
Make us strong when we are weak.
Give us light when there is darkness.
Give us faith when we doubt.
Give us hope when we despair.
Tell us that the ones we love are with you: loved, blessed and comforted.
We pray for all without hope, all weak, vulnerable, sick and dying. We pray for all who mourn and cry.
Give strength and wisdom to those who have power, position and privilege in the world. Let them rule with love as the Golden Rule.
Be with your church and your people.
Bless us to live, hope and believe. Bless us to be. Amen