Preparing for Worship - November 5, 2023

In many of our churches, “All Saints Day” will be celebrated in our worship this coming Sunday. Some churches may be using alternate readings. I will list them at the end but only comment on one of those readings.

The first lesson is from the New Testament again, as last week, from Revelation 7:9-17. John sees another vision of heaven, where an uncountable number of people of every people and nation and language, stand before the throne of God and the Lamb (our risen Lord Jesus) and sing praises for the salvation brought to them. They wear white robes, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. The tribulations of this life are gone, and they are saints, in perfect peace and joy, in the presence of the One True Triune God.

The Psalm is Psalm 149, as God’s “humble” people praise their “Maker and King,” who has “adorned them with salvation” and “takes pleasure in them.” His people make melody and dance and give “high praises” to God, in return. They will be present with Him on the day of “judgment” of all unbelievers and will be honored as His godly ones.

The Epistle lesson is from 1 John 3:1-3. Before the visions given to the Apostle John in Revelations, he speaks of the certainty of who “we now are,” the “beloved children of God,” through “the love given to us by God the Father,” through Jesus Christ our Savior. (See 1 John 4:11-13 for the great certainty of this for us who believe in Christ Jesus.) We do not know just what we will be in heaven, but we will be sinless and purified and able to “see Jesus as he is.” In the meantime, we try to be “pure,” but are so only by the grace and forgiveness of Christ and His counting us as righteous by faith in Him.

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 5:1-12, the beginning of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus tells us that we are blessed only if we know that we are “poor in spirit” and “mourn” that we are sinners and “hunger and thirst for righteousness" that comes only from God and is credited to us through the saving work that Jesus did for us. Seeing the meekness and mercy of Christ Jesus, we then try to be “pure in heart” and “merciful peacemakers” toward others, and willing to be “reviled and persecuted” in standing with Christ (though we sometimes fail).

The alternate readings for this weekend are:

• Micah 3:5-12
• Psalm 43
• 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
• Matthew 23:1-12

In 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, Paul reminds his fellow believers how they “ought to walk in a way that pleases God.” He especially encourages them to “abstain from sexual immorality,” which was a very serious problem in the ancient world and still is often today. He calls believers to “love one another with brotherly love.” They do not have to be spectacular as Christians. Rather, he says, “Aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands… that you may walk properly toward outsiders (those who do not believe) and be dependent on no one.” Again, we are still “poor miserable sinners” and live finally by the grace and mercy and forgiveness of Jesus our Savior.