Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). As I write this bulletin cover, we are in the midst of a global pandemic. Humanity has certainly been humbled in 2020. Many of us this year have learned far more about humble living than we ever dreamed possible.
Philosopher Michel de Montaigne said, “On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” All Saints’ Day is a day when we remember that every human being that walks this planet, no matter how high our throne is, must come to grips with our own mortality. We must realize that we are a tiny wave in a big blue ocean of life. For some, that thought is terrifying. For others, the thought is as soothing as a day at the beach.
Yet All Saints’ Day is not a day when we should lose ourselves in the infinite universe. It is a day when we should proclaim a personal relationship with our Savior. Christ preaches authenticity in our Gospel today. How are we living out our faith authentically?
Many of us did not get to hear the names of our deceased loved ones read this past Easter during our traditional sunrise service. What are you going to do this All Saints’ Day to honor the resurrection hope offered to those who joined the more immediate presence of the Savior? This year we learned that we cannot count on things to be done the way they always have been done. We have to find new and authentic ways to proclaim, “The Lord Is Risen Indeed!”
Let us utilize these new proclamations not to be seen or heard by others, but to feel a connection to Christ’s redeeming love.
Ben Lippert, pastor, Schoenbrunn Community Moravian Church
New Philadelphia, Ohio