“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love, and then we return home.” -Aboriginal Proverb
In this season of “Stories of Home,” this quote is particularly meaningful, especially as we pause this weekend to dwell in the richness of All Saints’. Many of us can imagine the faces and the presence of the saints who enriched our lives. We can imagine those who taught us to love and live in faith and hope, knowing that we, too, are just visitors.
On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, we will gather to light candles, to read the names, and to remember the saints from Central who have died in the past year. To embrace the promise of resurrection and to live in the sure and certain hope of a place with God is the essence of what it means to “return home.”
Our text will invite us to consider the beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel that remind us that Jesus tended the crowd from a level place, that is on the plain. He said, “Blessed are you.” He said this to inspire anyone who would listen to reconsider God’s love and care for all people and what the kingdom of Heaven is sure to be for the last, the lost, the least, and the little. And, for what it’s worth, Jesus’ vision of the kingdom was not a future or distant place. The kingdom of heaven was to come near so that all would experience the goodness of God’s creation.
So, you’re invited. You’re invited to light candles, to remember your beloveds, and to imagine the goodness that God intends for your life as you observe, learn, grow, and love.
See you in church,
Pastor Stephanie