All Saints..

​  I know people that are always sad.  Always grieving the loss of...(and a whole list of people and things can fill this space).
     I also know people that can always smile.  John Immel was one of those.  My memory of him is that he was always smiling!
    Where are you in this spectrum of being sad....to always smiling?
     It's ok to be both.  In this Sunday's Gospel reading, we read, "Jesus began to weep"  (John 11:35)  Yet Jesus and all of Scriptures gives us reason for joy:

"The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10)
"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness"
(Psalm 100:1)
"A cheerful heart is a good medicine" (Proverbs`17:22)
"Rejoice and be glad" (Matthew 5:12)
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice"  (Philippians 4:4)

   This Sunday we will be celebrating All Saints' Sunday.  And it will be a day filled with tears, and with joy:  tears as we grieve the death of loved ones.  And joy in the promises of eternal life; death is not the end, but rather entrance into life with God forever.

    So we will weep as we realize that our loved ones who have died are no longer with us.  And it is a grief that doesn't go away, at least not while we are on this side of death.  So we support one another, and we grieve with one another.  For we are not alone; everyone has loved ones that have died before us.  And death will come to all of us.

    But death and weeping does NOT have the last word.  As we read in the Scriptures for this Sunday, there is weeping, and there is also promise of hope and joy! 
   Jesus wept; but he also raised Lazarus from the dead.  And even moreso, in His death and resurrection, we have the promise that we all will die and rise again as God's redeemed people.
   Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us, "There is a timer to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance."
    Psalm 30:5 promises, "weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning".

   So let us weep on this All Saints' Sunday as we remember those who have died.  But let us also be filled with the joy and gladness that God in Christ gives to us all!

In Jesus' name,

Pastor Steve