Psalm 149

We do not read from deutero-canonical material when we gather, so we will read Psalm 149 this week. It is a joyful song, that calls for Israel to sustain its uniqueness among the nations. Given the Gospel reading, it is clear that we must interpret the language of violence in this passage spiritually. Given our context as ones bound to love our enemies, what is the "two-edged sword" and the enemies we need it for?

Ephesians 1:11--23

The Christian Scripture have an underlying structure that we read in our Ephesians passage: it is what God has done in Christ in which we already participate by grace through faith -- what is often called "the indicative" -- what God already has done in Christ. From this "indicative," an exhortation arises -- a command, what is often called, "the imperative." This is our response to God that arises from our participation in God through Christ by the Spirit -- the bodily involvement and ethical obligations that arise from living fully out of what God has already done. As you read through the passage, maybe you can divide between the "already's" in the passage and the yet to do.

In the context of this already and not yet, what prayers for us does the passage record. Why is it important for us to remember the hpoe to which we have been called? Why would the passage have this arise out of commendation of the love towards all the saints? Who is Christ throughout the passage?

Luke 6:20-36

I find it fascinating that All Saints Day uses the Sermon on the Mount/Plain for the Gospel reading on this day. From what NT scholarship tells us, this collection of the teachings of Jesus was the earliest collection of sayings collected and written down by the early church. It seems to have been connected as a whole very, very early, and to have been used for instruction of those who had come into the church. It seems to represent a concise summary of the essential teachings of Jesus as his followers remembered them in order to pass down to those who followed after him.

The first verses speak of the "upside-down kingdom" of the rich and poor. If you notice, this is not a command, but a description of what actually has happened and will happen in the kingdom of God when it comes in its fullness. You notice the reversal that is to come in socio-economic terms.

Yet it does not come through violence. The kingdom is a kingdom of justice, but a justice that does not require violence, but accepting the consequences of their non-conformity with the social world around them.

Why is it so important to have the kingdom for the poor announced at the same time as non-retaliation, non-violence as response? What is relationship between participation in a kingdom in which the poor are bless and yet comes into the world without violence? Why is mercy so important?

How is it that the saints that you mentioned at the beginning embodied mercy? What does it require to live the sermon on the plain?

Have a wonderful evening as you celebrate the lives of the saints who have gone before us!