All Saints Episcopal Church

The beatitudes which we have heard today and which begin the Sermon on the Mount are more than promises for the weakest among us: those who mourn and the peacemakers, the meek and the merciful. The beatitudes are more the constitution of the new Israel, the new humanity that God brings into being in Jesus. They are to function much as the Torah functioned for the Israelites.

This morning we hear that the Pharisees wanted to put Jesus to the test; they wanted to lay a trap for Him that would damage His reputation and place His knowledge of the ancient teachings of the Hebrew faith. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus said “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Jesus, in giving this answer, and in adding the words, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," passed the test the Pharisees put to him.

When we are anxious, we look for someone to blame.

On Oct. 19, our new youth minister, the Rev. John Herring, a recent graduate of The School of Theology at the University of the South (Sewanee, Tenn), was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Alexander.

Is it possible that this story of the kingdom is what happens when the kingdom of God is among us and so a story of what the world does to the one who does not wear a masque for the ball as it were? And so in the person whom the king casts bound into outer darkness is the one who sees the truth and names it? Could the kingdom be present in the victim? If so, then the way Matthew tells the story is no accident, no mere arrangement of the material by subject. If it is the whole story that reveals the kingdom and not a simple analogy then it becomes another prediction by Jesus of his own passion.

Rules from "on high" make me nervous. They make me question. Thankfully, though, there's already an answer here. Jesus and the Great Commandment are the answer for any question I might have for this great authority [of the 10 Commandments].

When we choose to follow God in Christ, we choose to follow God in self-giving love in Christ.

Rector Geoffrey Hoare discusses current events, church polity, parish matters, and pertinent theology. Rector's Forums are a great way to learn more about the parish, the Episcopal Church, and the Christian journey.

When I find myself like those people [in the parable] who worked all day, I think I am allowing my value and identity in this world to be governed by how I am doing in relation to others. As we know, however necessary it is for our development that we compare and contrast ourselves to others, there is a sense in which putting on Christ or living into the promises of the Gospel means finding our desires re-ordered and our identity increasingly dependent on God alone.

We are to forgive. Why? Because we have been forgiven. Our debt has been paid. The sacrifice for us has been made. Our brokenness made whole. Jesus came and lived among us and then reached out His loving arms on the hard wood of the cross, that we might come within the reach of God's saving embrace. We are to forgive, as we have been forgiven.

A brief presentation about stewardship at All Saints' by canvass co-chairs Diane and David Barber and parishioner Geoff Pope.

On a day when we are celebrating the extent and variety of ministries in and of this community of faith, we are presented with scriptures about behavior... The ministries we celebrate are, at their best, ones in which we find it true that in service we are freed and in giving we receive. The ministries we celebrate today are those in which real and right relationship, --glimpses of real human connection through all the barriers that we construct and which define us in so many ways-become possible.

Paul isn't speaking to the individual here. He is speaking to a church, the church in Rome in the first century. And he's speaking to our church here, too. These are community instructions, instructions that assume the individuals will fall short from time to time, that some will be better at parts of the list than others.

The youth from the J2A class, part of the Journey to Adulthood youth formation program, report back to the parish about their experiences on their pilgrimage to Greece this summer.

"Who do you say that I am?" How do you answer that question?

When someone else's humanity touches our humanity, we are moved to respond.

Today we say welcome to our candidates for baptism. Welcome to the body of Christ. Welcome to the Church, a flawed place, with flawed people where amazing things can happen. Welcome to a relationship with God for whom problems are neither too trivial nor too big.

What we have here is an outline of the life of Christ and, by extension, an outline for the life in Christ, the life of the Christian. He took, he blessed, he broke, he gave.

"I AM CONVINCED, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." It is my prayer that God convinces you, too.

Paul's concerned that we know that doesn't mean we get to do whatever we want without some concern for the other, without some vision that holds everybody together, where the vision is what dominates, and not one group or another group seeking power. Morality means being concerned for the other.