Sunday in the Octave of the Feast of All Saints, Nov. 6, 2022.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18. As for me…my spirit was troubled within me.
Ephesians 1:11-23. So that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
Luke 6:20-36. Love your enemies.

Merciful and generous God, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Today we are observing All Saints’ Day in the Church, because today is the Sunday within the Octave or eight days starting November 1. Today we are also observing Pledge Stewardship Sunday at Emmanuel Church, the day we set aside to encourage everyone who wants Emmanuel Church standing and thriving to make a commitment to financially support this parish in the coming year, to provide for clergy and other staff. I don’t think of Pledge Stewardship Sunday as a deadline as much as a lifeline for the coming year. We will be facing some significant financial challenges in 2023, so we would appreciate your generosity more than ever! The same amount given as last year will not go as far because of inflation, so if you are able to give more than you did last year, your giving would make an even greater difference.

If you think that today’s Gospel lesson is teed up for a stewardship sermon, you’re right! Although, truth be told, nearly every lesson in the Gospel of Luke is about stewardship, which is right-relationship and the right use of resources. Luke is like the lab-science workbook of the four Gospels. Today’s lesson is perhaps the best-known collection of sayings from Jesus, except that they are Luke’s versions of the famous sayings. We are more familiar with Matthew’s version, which lists the blessings and not the woes, the blessings and not the demands. As someone mentioned in this past week’s Tuesday-morning Bible study, “This reading is problematic.” To which I responded, “Which readings aren’t problematic?”

In Luke, the setting is a level place; it’s not the Sermon on the Mount, so it’s called the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus has been praying on the mountain (where God is in ancient topology); then Jesus comes down to where the regular people are, down to their level, which is also our level. He has met a large crowd of his disciples and a great number of people from many different places, who have come to hear him and be healed by him. Jesus has a lot to teach them. Notice how he starts with blessings. Jesus declares God’s blessing on those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, and rejected. Jesus starts with blessings, not woes.

According to Jesus, this rag-tag group from all over the place is blessed many times over. “Rejoice and leap for joy,” Jesus says, “for you are incredibly blessed.” Do you hear the good news in that? Rejoice and leap for joy, for you are abundantly blessed. You who are poor, hungry, weeping, or rejected are indiscriminately blessed. You are generously blessed by God, so leap for joy.

Apparently other disciples of Jesus within earshot were not poor, hungry, or weeping, at the moment anyway. We know how quickly things can change. What comes next was scandalous; the Church has been trying to soften the blow ever since, because it’s still scandalous. Jesus says: “Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are well fed, satiated, satisfied. Woe to you who laugh haughtily, with derision. Woe to you when people speak well of you.” Ouch! Then Jesus tells both those disciples who are happily surprised and those disciples who are sadly scandalized, this is what discipleship means:  here is what discipleship looks like. He says: 

Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Offer your other cheek to someone who strikes you. Take off your shirt and give it to anyone who takes your coat. Give to everyone who begs from you. Lend and expect nothing in return. Be merciful just as God is merciful. Above all, maintain and assert your dignity, no matter who is trying to steal it.

Now I don’t know about you, but I find discipleship instructions like this unbelievably difficult, especially in a week like this one coming up (well, any week actually). The place I immediately go when I hear these instructions is to think about how hard it is to love my enemies, turn the other cheek, and give to everyone who begs from me. It’s not just hard; it’s impossible. Others of you tell me the same thing, and it occurs to me that when we hear this difficult text, we imagine ourselves to be in the position of people who have resources, who struggle to love our enemies, who struggle to bless and pray for and respond to those who hurt, abuse, steal, and beg. We imagine ourselves in the position of people who do not wish to be taken advantage of or to reward bad behavior.  I think that perhaps Jesus is hoping that we might pause a moment to shift our understanding, to widen our perspective for the purpose of pursuing peace.

What if we understand ourselves to be other people’s enemy? What if we understand ourselves as people who curse? What if we understand ourselves as people who, if not personally violent, have had violence done on our behalf, both locally and globally? What if we understand ourselves as people who take and use up more than our fair share of resources in the world, including clothing, fossil fuels, water, and so on? What if we understand ourselves as beggars, who must recommit ourselves to doing to others as we would have them do to us, understanding our own desperate need for mercy and love, for compassion and generosity?

This is when a church holiday like All Saints’ Day comes in very handy, in my opinion. All Saints’ Day calls us to reflect on those faithful disciples of Jesus who have gone before us. We celebrate and give thanks for the saints, known and unknown. And we pray for grace to follow their examples, because Lord knows, sometimes it’s just too hard to follow Jesus directly. So we have faithful Christians, whose witness can help us follow. One of my favorite meditation exercises for All Saints’ is this:

• Take a minute right now and think about some of the people who have modeled faithful discipleship for you. 
• They might have been aware that they were modeling discipleship for you, or they might have been totally unaware. 
• Say their names in the silence of your hearts. 
• Call the spirit of those people into this place, into this time, because we need their help.
• Feel how much fuller this sanctuary is now; feel how much fuller your hearts are.

Remember: you are, we are, incredibly, abundantly blessed, and you are, we are, in dire need of mercy and love, so let’s act like it. Let’s live as if we are incredibly and abundantly blessed, because we are. Let’s live as if we are in desperate need of mercy and love, of compassion and generosity, because we are. This Gospel message applies to each of us individually; and, as importantly, maybe even more importantly, this Gospel message applies to us collectively as a parish. 

This message reminds us to count our many blessings where we are poor and hungry, weeping and excluded; and warns us when we are rich, well fed, laughing sarcastically, and highly regarded that Jesus calls us to live much closer to the edge, away from self-sufficiency and toward dependence on God. This Gospel message reminds us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who mistreat us, that God will turn their hearts. Give to everyone who begs from us. Lend and expect nothing in return. Be merciful just as God is merciful. Jesus is reminding us as a gathered community, “We are incredibly and abundantly blessed. We must live as if we are indiscriminately and generously blessed because we are.” Our attitude must humbly recognize our own need for mercy and forgiveness and love. 

You know, the vision here is of the shalom, the well-being of and from the Most High, Who is all mercy and all compassion. It occurs to me that we will never get to shalom, well-being for all, without loving our enemies and recognizing that for some, we are the enemies. Perhaps you will be struck, as I have been at Damien Geter’s beautiful motet setting Walt Whitman’s text about weaving strength and courage, which is beautifully paired today with our cantata about wavering fidelity to the Holy One, about knowing and not knowing why or what. We believe in shalom, dear Lord. Help thou our unbelief; and weave in our hardy life for the great campaign of peace, especially when our fidelity is wavering. As a faith community, we need strength,  courage, and grace to follow the saints who have gone before us, who have entrusted this parish to our care, to our stewardship. Pray that God grant us that strength,  courage, and grace so that we may become an even bolder witness to God’s love for all people. If you haven’t rejoiced and leapt for joy recently in the midst of whatever your struggles, I recommend doing it in the week ahead, for you are abundantly blessed.