“Then Comes the End” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Matthew 25:31-46)
(No audio this week...forgot to push the record button)


Jeff Gibbs, one of my favorite teachers at the Seminary, loves to stir the pot a bit and say something like this: “Don’t get me wrong – I love heaven and I’m looking forward to it. But remember – heaven isn’t the end of the world.” Now, what does he mean by that?


Too often, we’ll hear something like this at a funeral: “Well, Grandma Schmidtke is in heaven with Jesus.” And that’s the end of the sentence. Period. Das is allis. But, while that is true of the faithful – they are asleep in Christ – there is something more to come. We are not philosophers, trying to throw off this body, thus making death the end goal of our lives. We are children of God, waiting for the fulfillment of all of His promises given us in Christ Jesus – especially our own Easter moment. It’s about more than dying and going to heaven; it’s about dying and rising with Christ when the end of the world comes.


We, at the return of Christ, will be among “the resurrection of the dead” as we say in the Creed. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”


You see here that what happens at the Second Coming hinges on Christ’s first coming. Christ rose from the dead--that happened on Easter morning--and therefore we who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead when he returns. Christ is the firstfruits. “Firstfruits” means there’s more to come. Jesus leads the way, and we follow. He rose, conquering death for us. We too will rise, for he shares his victory with us. You and I have been joined to Jesus and his resurrection in our baptism.


Do you realize that Christ has redeemed your body? I mean this old bag of bones that is falling apart and racked with aches and pains; this mortal body that is subject to disease and death. These bodies that carry high blood pressure and thinning hair; bad eyes and worse hearing; chicken arms, flabby thighs and twelve-pack guts; kidney stones and broken bones; cancer cells and missing appendages: these bodies, your bodies…God is going to do something new with your body, long after it has been laid in the grave. At Christ’s return, the trumpet will sound and Christ will raise you up, whole and complete and better than ever. The blood pressure will be perfect and the hair line won’t be an issue; your eyes will be 20/20 or better and you can hear a pin drop from a thousand yards away into a green grassy hillside; arms, thighs, and abs will be pleasantly shaped – maybe not six pack, but they won’t look as though they slugged down a six pack, either. Cancer and all other disease will cease to exist. I don’t know exactly what that will look like in every respect. The Bible doesn’t tell us. But I do know that you will be you, and that you will have your body except in perfect holiness and whole-ness, the way Adam and Eve were created to be - a body built for eternity - and that that body will no longer be subject to all that ails you now. It will be glorious, in fact, fitted out for eternity.


The return of Christ. The resurrection of the dead. The final judgment. The reading from Matthew 25 gives us a picture of that. Christ the King on his throne. The sheep and the goats gathered before him, that is, the righteous and the cursed. There will be a division, a separation, a sorting out at that time. And the difference will be faith or unbelief. On the one hand, Christ will welcome in the sheep, that is, those who have faith in him--a genuine, living faith, which will have produced works of mercy in life as its natural fruit. On the other hand, the goats--that is, those who had rejected God’s only appointed Savior--they will be judged because they had no faith in Christ and thus had no faith-produced works. It’s not that our works save us, no. But by God’s grace you and I have been given the gift of faith in Christ, and that faith will naturally produce good works in our lives.


You have this faith, don’t you, dear Christian? You are not trusting in yourself for salvation, for that would be a dead end. You know your sins would condemn you. But rather you trust in Christ, the one God sent to save you. Kept in this faith by the Holy Spirit, growing in this faith as the Word and Sacrament sustain you, your life will produce works of love and mercy done in Christ. And this is what will be cited as you stand before the throne of judgment. Not your sins--they have been forgotten, nowhere in sight or memory. Only the good works you have done, the product and evidence of a living faith.


Dear friends, you have nothing to fear on the Day of Judgment. Christ has taken care of that. Your judge is also your Savior. For us, that day will be a blessed day of welcome, of homecoming, of entering into the eternal kingdom God has prepared for us.


And so, when the end comes, that will be only the beginning. Death is destroyed. Eternal life opens before us. Home at last, safe and secure with our Shepherd in our midst. What a day that will be! All the company of heaven, gathered together, alive and joyful, praising God and enjoying perfect peace and fellowship. The grandest worship you will have ever heard. And you and I will be singing in the choir, our voices blending in sweet harmony. I can’t imagine how good it will be--only that it will be!


“Then will come the end.” And the end, the goal, the place where all this is heading, is the glory of God. Christ will deliver the kingdom to God the Father, having accomplished everything he set out to do. Christ will have destroyed death, resulting in our glorious, bodily resurrection. Christ will declare us righteous by faith and welcome us into his eternal kingdom. What this does is give all the glory to God. God has done it all. “Then will come the end,” which is, “that God may be all in all.”

When that day comes, when Christ returns and we are raised and welcomed into eternal life, then God’s perfect plan will have reached its goal . . . the end…which is only the beginning of eternity with Jesus in the resurrection of the body.

Expecting Christ's Return - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Expecting Christ's Return
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Audio of sermon

Dear friends in Christ, this Sunday and next are the last two Sundays of the church year. While in the calendar year, we celebrate with food and beverages and parties, in the church year we are called to somber awareness as we realize the fallen-ness of the world in which we live. We hear the words of Jesus, warning us of the end of the world will come about like a thief in the night. Too, the lessons warn of the signs in nature that will appear before Jesus’ coming, God’s way of giving us an early warning system alert that the end is soon approaching.

Some have made a business of trying to predict when that day will happen – the day of Jesus’ return. Watch the print rags at the grocery check out line – you’ll start to see the latest 2018 predictions as headlines. We laugh at these misguided and erring prognostications, and, like most people, tend to ignore them, reading about the Kardashian sisters or the latest Washington DC scandal instead.

But, then again, if headlines like these are a little too Chicken Little-esque for you, then perhaps we should instead consider the signs from creation. Earthquakes along the Iraq/Iran border? California seems to be a giant tinderbox, waiting to go up in flames. Speaking of tinderboxes, North Korea seems determined to start the next war. The Texas coast is still cleaning up from Harvey. North Africa is again in a time of extreme severe drought and food shortage. Is God getting our attention with creation and with headlines, letting us know the day of Christ’s return is getting close?

When I worked for Mr. Mickan, old timers would come to the shop and ask, “When’s it gonna rain, Raymond?” He always answered, “I don’t know…but I know we’re one day closer.” That’s true of Jesus’ return as well: we know that Jesus return is drawing closer and we’re a day closer than we were yesterday.  But, I have to ask you – whether it’s the curiosity of the calendar, the latest headlines, the rattling of creation, or your own study of the Bible, do you think Jesus is going to return in this generation?

As I read through this morning’s epistle lesson from 1 Thessalonians, I have to wonder – did Paul believe Jesus would return before he and his generation would die? We know Paul believed in the return of Christ and he was looking forward to that great day. We know that Paul was actually yearning for the day that Jesus would return – whether I live or die, I belong to the Lord, he wrote. But, do you think Paul believed Jesus was going to return before Paul tasted death?

I don’t think he did. He didn’t believe that – look at verse 10, where Paul says whether we are awake or asleep, meaning alive or dead, we might live with him. Too, in his letter to the Romans 14:8, whether we live or die we are the Lord’s. SO, did Paul believe Jesus would come in glory before Paul died? No.

But, did Paul expect it? Did Paul expect Jesus to return anytime? Did Paul expect the day of the Lord to be the day he sat down to write to the Thessalonians? Everywhere you read Paul, the answer to this question is the same: absolutely, positively, yes!

Now – I’m going to take all of you at your word. I’ll remind you of what you solemnly say every Sunday. Every Sunday you say you are waiting, you are expecting Christ to come. You tell the world you are waiting for the day of the Lord. Here’s what you say: you say you believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. You say you look for the resurrection fo the dead and the life of the world to come. Unless you are lying, and I’m not accusing anyone of that mind you, you say it, you confess it, you believe it. You are prostekaoing – you are looking forward, expecting, waiting for, yearning for the day of Christ’s return – the day when God puts down every evil and eliminates all injustice and sin and every evil.

Since you are looking forward to the day of the Lord, this reading is for you. Since you are expecting Jesus our Lord, this reading gives you three steps, three pieces, that build on each other as you prostekao – wait – for Christ’s return. V. 2-5, v. 6-10, v. 11.

1) v. 2-5: Since you are waiting Him to come, remember who you are. Paul contrasts the day of the Lord for those who are not looking for the Day of the Lord and have turned away from Him, and those who are looking for His return. V. 3 – for those who reject God’s son, the day will be destruction. In a world without real anesthesia, nothing like safety or life support, the return of Jesus will be sudden agony – like a woman upon whom labor suddenly comes. For the enemies of Christ, Paul says, they will not escape.

But not you. Not you. Baptized and believing in what God has done for you in Christ, Paul speaks to you because you are expecting Jesus. Remember who you are, Paul says.  V. 4 – you are not in darkness, brothers and sisters. V. 5 – you are children of light, children of the day. As you wait for the day of the Lord you are children of the day. Now, how can that be?

It’s because the day has already happened. The darkness, the earthquake, the agony. My God, why have you forsaken me. That was the day of the Lord. Do not be afraid. He is not here. He is risen as He said! That is the day of the Lord. Joined to Good Friday, baptized into Easter, you are children of the day. As you look forward to the day, as you expect the day of Jesus to come with glory and unthinkable power, do not be afraid. Remember who you are – you are children of the day.

2) v. 6. So then – SO THEN! – Paul is building - so, then, live out who you are. Here Paul uses a picture that we are tempted to misunderstand. Let us not sleep as people do but stay awake and be sober. This shows how perverse our culture has become that Paul’s words sound like a bummer and a downer. Don’t be drunk, be sober – almost sounds like “don’t have fun, be serious.” Be boring and dull - good Lutherans, right? WRONG!!! Let me remind you of what it is to be drunk – physically or spiritually.

To be drunk is to be a fool. So foolish that even when others mock you, you don’t notice and even if you do notice, you don’t care. To be drunk is to stagger and fall. You can’t get up and find your way home. To be drunk is to be defenseless. You don’t see the danger coming, let alone be able to protect yourself. To be drunk is to be a child of the darkness, to begin to forget who you are. It’s terrible, shameful and deadly thing.

To be sober. To be sober, however, means to see clearly. You can see things that are beautiful and true. To be sober means to be strong. To be sober means you are able to walk towards your neighbor in love. To be sober means you can follow the master carefully, deliberately, faithfully. To be sober is to be wise. To be sober is to be able to live well and be open to real and lasting joy and truth and beauty. It means you have your wits around you. And when you are sober and you see danger coming you can avoid it. To be sober, v. 8, is to be dressed well – the breastplate of faith and love, faith in Christ and love from God and for your neighbor. And the helmet of hope, the hope Jesus is coming the hope of salvation through Christ. To be sober is good. IT is the only way to live since you are waiting for Jesus to return. And since you are waiting, remember who you are and live out who you are.

3) V. 11 Therefore = Therefore, because of who you are and since you desire to live it out. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up as you are doing. Take your hymnal and open to the back cover. I’m going to ask you to say words you say weekly. Say with me the last two lines of the Nicene Creed.

Children of the day, encourage one another build one another up, speak with each other about the return of Christ, wait for him together. Sing it! Speak it! Confess it! Pray it! Expect it! Live it! Christ is risen! Christ is coming! He is coming soon! Amen!

Waiting Faithfully in the Darkness

November 12, 2017
23 Pentecost
Zion Lutheran Church – Mission Valley
Rev. Jonathan F. Meyer, Pastor

Audio of sermon

Waiting Faithfully in the Darkness – Matthew 25:1-13

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last Sunday was All Saint’s Day, the day when the Church recalls those who have fallen asleep in Christ Jesus, giving thanks to God for their lives of Christian witness and service to others.

Last Sunday, about the time we were getting into our cars to head home or out to eat, dozens and dozens of police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks arrived at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX,  sirens screaming and horns blaring, filling the parking lot and street responding to frantic calls of shots fired into the congregation.

I don’t need to tell you the graphic details – the news media has done a terrifically and terribly vivid job of that for us. It is enough to say this: twenty six saints of God who gathered for worship in that sanctuary last week are now worshipping at rest with the innumerable saints of God who, like all of the faithfully departed, await the resurrection of all flesh when Jesus returns.

We’ve heard these stories before and, unfortunately, they seem to be coming more and more often. Las Vegas and Orlando, cities famous for their tourist trade, now join previously unknown towns of Sandy Hook, CT, Columbine, CO, and Paducah, KY in infamy as cities of mass shootings.  

Politicians and celebrities as well as average citizens line up on opposite sides of the argument and lob cheap shots at each opposing side, using the victims as scapegoats. One side demands control; the other demands wider freedom. One side demands oversight; the other demands looser boundaries.

The irony is both sides are wrong. The double irony is neither side can see it. This isn’t about whether a 30 round magazine is too big or not big enough; or who messed up in allowing this man to run free; it’s not about guns, or religion, or race, or social programs. This is about evil and wickedness and hatred and selfishness, and about the depths of depravity to which a human heart can fall when the devil is allowed free reign there. Once the wickedness and hatred, instruments of the devil, entered into and lodged in that man’s heart, it appears that the Lord allowed the shooter’s heart to become as hard as Pharoah, or Saul, or even King Herod.

Make no mistake, friends:  our enemy is nothing but satan himself. St. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the…spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  and he desires nothing more than for us to take our eyes off of Jesus.

To counter the devil’s attacks, St. Paul says “put on the whole armor of God.”  “Put on…” that’s baptismal language that he picks back up from chapter 4 – put off the old self and put on the new self, created in the image of God.

You see, friends, that is the answer against the chaos of this sin-stained world that we live in: put on the armor of God, given you in your baptism. Trust the gifts of God. For the last two weeks, you have heard the power of the Gospel in the life of Carl, and the gift of God in making us saints – holy – through the blood of Jesus. Pick up and put on the grace given you in your baptism. Nothing is able to take that away from you – not a lunatic gunman, not a political party, not an unemployment notice, not  war or storm or famine or fire or flood.

Faith in Christ – that is the key. In this morning’s Gospel lesson, the bridegroom is delayed in coming to the wedding celebration. The guests are there, but five of them are ill-prepared for the long wait and don’t have enough oil to keep their Scentsy candles going. Five others, prepared with plenty of oil just in case it’s a long wait, are ready and waiting when the bridegroom returns.

This simple parable is a picture of the church on earth. Like the virgins who wait with their lamps, the church waits for Jesus’ return. Unfortunately, there are some who lack faith, or they become faithless as they wait. Fed neither by Word nor Sacrament, their faith grows cold and burns out. They will be caught unaware and unprepared on the day that Jesus does return. For them, without saving faith in Jesus, they will be left outside the marriage feast of Christ’s glorious return.

You, however, wait in faith for the return of Jesus. The wicks of your lamps are carefully trimmed as you wait with patient faith for the day when Christ returns in glory. You gather around Word and Sacrament that the Spirit of God strengthens your faith. You encourage each other as you wait together. You care for each other and support each other in the darkness of this long night until the dawn breaks.

You wait in faith because you know that Jesus has already overcome the world, In 16:33. In his death he conquered sin, death and the devil.

You have probably heard the comments made against Christians praying in the wake of the shooting. Stuff like this: Christians were praying, but it did no good. He killed 26 people. What kind of God is that? Two answers: first, God was answering prayers. We have a tendency, as humans, to be very short-sighted. We expect answers to our prayers today, tomorrow, or at least by the end of the week. God looks into tomorrow’s tomorrow’s and all the way into eternity. So, whether the comments were made by well-intended but misinformed Christians, or were made by combative media, they miss the obvious. As people were praying, “Lord have mercy,” from their sanctuary floor, God was answering many prayers by sparing lives. He answered many prayers by the two citizens who stopped the shooter. God answered prayers with the first responders who entered into an unknown situation to help the wounded and dying. And for twenty-six Christians, God answered their prayers by fulfilling His promise, “Be thou faithful unto death and I shall give you the crown of life.”

You got a glimpse of this with the Gospel lesson. I’m sure you noticed the bridegroom delays. Is it that he is unaware of his waiting guests? Doesn’t he care that his tardiness is an inconvenience?  He is waiting patiently so that others may join the bridal party in anticipatory waiting for His return. Jesus delays, not out of arrogance for those who are waiting, but out of mercy for those who do not yet see the need to wait for his return. Jesus waits…so that others might join us as we wait for His coming.

So, the question is, “How will you wait for His return?” The events of the past week would drive us to fear. The devil uses times like this to pull our eyes from Jesus. Resist that temptation. Instead, look with faith, patient faith, and eagerly wait for Jesus. I assure you that the church leadership is considering what this means for us, here at Zion. You will have to make some personal choices about personal safety and security. You are free to make those choices. But whatever choices you make, remain faithful. Trust the promises Jesus made you in your Baptism. A baptized child of God, nothing is able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Live your life freely as a forgiven and redeemed child of God, that others may see your sure and certain confidence in Jesus. In your faithful living, in your Christian witness, the Lord will use that so that others may join you in patient waiting for the time when Jesus returns.

In the parable, you notice, it’s dark – it’s nighttime. Frequently in the Gospels, darkness is a time of confusion, or faithlessness, or even evil. The devil does his deeds in the dark where he can hide in the shadows. The parable is set at night. This world in which we live, God’s creation – yes, but fallen as well, is in the darkness of the shadow of death. Laura and I had an English prof in college – Milt Reimer – who would end every class with the phrase, “Walk with light,” as his blessing for the class. He meant “Walk with the light of Christ.”  I encourage you, as we step into the darkness around us, to walk with light. Read your Bible – walk with light. Come to the Sacrament – walk with light. Remember your baptism – walk with light.

Walk with light – for the Bridegroom will return soon.

And there was...sound!

I have been tinkering with a small project for a few weeks: how to get the audio recording of the sermon available for folks to listen to at home. Like most churches, we have some folks who aren't able to be at Sunday service for one reason or another - work, illness, lack of transportation, processing deer, missed the time change - and having the audio file, as well as a written manuscript, might be useful.

I've figured out a work-around and, for the time being, I'll try to upload the sermons to Google Drive and post a link for listening each week in addition to the manuscript. I would love to know if you prefer one format over the other.

To all who have read this blog, I appreciate your taking the time to visit. I pray that the messages - particularly the sermons - are helpful to you in growing in faith and knowledge of Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Peace to you,
JFM

Oh - here's the audio from the Reformation sermon.

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn - Matthew 5:4

November 5, 2017
All Saint’s Day – Transferred
Zion Lutheran Church – Mission Valley TX
Rev. Jonathan F. Meyer, Pastor

Audio link here

“Blessed Are Those Who Mourn” – Matthew 5:4

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

When I was a boy, our evening walks were to the church cemetery. We lived just a couple hundred yards from it. So, with the animals fed and the dishes done and no homework for the evening, Dad would lead us kids on a walk to the cemetery. We would go under the overhead sign that read Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and walk through the heavy, steel gates and enter onto the hallowed ground.

There, among the headstones, Dad would tell us the stories of the people buried there. Etched with names like Kokel, Buchhorn, Noack, Richter, Leschber, Kurio, and Mickan, you could follow the history of Zion and much of the history of the Walburg community as well. There is Mr. Oachs – my favorite Sunday school teacher. Lauren is there, the stillborn infant daughter of one of my confirmation classmates from 1988. Nancy was killed in an automobile accident on a foggy night in 1973. Robert, who sat on a bench at his wife’s graveside every night after she died, he fell asleep in Jesus and is now next to his wife. Their son, David, just a few years older than me, died from cancer and he, also, is buried next to his parents.

In their lives, on Sunday mornings, these saints of old, these people whose stones we would walk past and read, these saints would gather together and confess in the Apostle’s Creed – sometimes in German, sometimes in English - that we believe in “the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” Nowhere do those words more powerfully come to life than in a church cemetery. Now, etched into stone, for the generations to read, you can read their confession of faith even while they are asleep in Jesus. Many are written in German; many more in English. With Bible references like, “I am the good shepherd,” or “I am the way, the truth and the life,” or “Saved by Grace,” the headstones speak for them.

And what you see in a Christian cemetery is the church – well, part of it anyway. Even though they are asleep in Jesus, the people buried there are still part of the whole Christian Church. While you and I wait patiently, faithfully gathering around Word and Sacrament, the faithfully departed are at rest, worshipping in faithful and patient silence until Jesus comes and opens the graves of the faithful.

We refer to these people as saints: dearly beloved children of God who have fallen asleep as faithful. In a sense, it’s a disservice to reserve the name of saint only those who have died. The word “saint” comes from the Latin word for “holy.” They are not holy because they have died; they are holy because of Christ. They were made holy in the waters of baptism. And, while they bore witness in both in word and deed during their lives, they continue to make bold witness even in death.

That witness is important to those who gathered to lay their loved one to rest. For the witness of the loved one – their demonstration in word and action – of faith in Jesus is most important.

For without Christ, death is too terrible to ponder. But Christ has conquered death and, in His own death and resurrection, He controls death so that becomes His means to eternally rescue His people from the wages of sin. In Christ there is the sure, certain confidence that they will see their loved ones again on the day of Christ’s return. On that last, great day Easter will take place again. With the symbolic 144,000 – a symbolic number of completeness and fulness, not a literal head-count of who receives eternity with Jesus – these saints of old will join the church of all ages and stand before Christ – like Him, once dead, but now alive into eternity. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted in the resurrection of all flesh.

But that is in the day of the Resurrection. We are still waiting. And for some, that waiting – especially after losing a loved one – is terribly painful. To them; to you, Jesus speaks: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. He doesn’t mean those little pithy sayings we try to toss out to comfort our friends and family members: “Give it time,” or “It’ll get better,” or “It won’t hurt so bad in a few months…” While those may be true, they are not terribly helpful when you have just laid your spouse, your child, your parent, your best friend to rest in the earth. Jesus would have us receive comfort from Him – the giver of the blessing itself. He turns us, in our grief, back to Himself and away from ourselves and our own understanding. 

The last time we took a family walk to the cemetery was on April 29, 2000. We walked to the cemetery – but this time, Dad wasn’t leading us to tell us another story. He was there, waiting for us; his body in the casket. This time I was leading the way and the rest of the family was walking alongside and behind. It was six days after Easter. With Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter still fresh in our memories, we were now facing our own, Holy Saturday. In a very real sense, it was fitting to bury my Dad – or any saint who has fallen asleep in Jesus, actually – on a Saturday, for Jesus Himself was in the tomb on Saturday, His body also at rest awaiting His day of Resurrection.

You know what’s “funny,”  - I don’t remember anything of what was said to us that day, or in the days prior, or in the days after. I can’t remember a single thing that was said in Dad’s funeral sermon. But the morning he died, I preached in chapel at Seminary – it was Tuesday after Easter, the Festival of St. Mark, April 25. I didn’t get the message about his death until after the service. When Laura found me, we went to the dean of student’s office. You know what’s funny? I remember what he said. Dean Rockamann said, “Brother – you just preached a wonderful Easter message. Now, Christ calls you to live what you preached.” He placed his hands on our shoulders and he said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for you, too, shall be comforted in Christ’s Easter promise.”

On this All Saints’ Day, dear saints of God – for you, too, have been made holy in the blood of the Lamb, all of your sins covered in the blood of Jesus – blessed are you, for you shall be comforted. Whether you ache for your parents or children, for brothers and sisters, or friends, hear those words of Jesus for yourself. Blessed are those who mourn for you shall be comforted. 

In a few moments, you will come to the Lord’s Table. I’m glad our altar rail isn’t just a straight rail. In old, Scandanavian churches, the tradition was that the communion rail was a half-circle. Ours is a half-square and, for this purpose, that’s close enough. In the old Scandanavian churches, they taught that what we see with our eyes is the half-circle that is present this side of heaven, when you kneel with fellow saints of God to receive Christ’s body and blood. But the other half of the circle you can see only with eyes of faith – that side of the circle is present in heaven. You get an inkling of this in the communion liturgy: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising You and singing “Holy, holy, holy…”” And, in that moment as you kneel, you – the saints of God on earth – are joined by the saints of God whose bodies are at rest. And the church – both living and at rest – gathered around Christ, who is the Word made flesh, and His Body and Blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins – the church is blessed in His presence.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him; that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.