November 2, 2021 – All Soul’s Day

All Souls’ Day is also known as All Souls, the Holy Souls, or the day of the Faithful Departed – it is celebrated on November 2 in Western Christianity; that means it remembers the souls of Christians who have died. Those who celebrate All Soul’s Day typically remember deceased relatives on the day. The Catholic Church teaches that the fate of those in purgatory can be affected by the actions of the faithful on earth. Its teaching is based also on the practice of prayer for the dead mentioned as far back as 2 Maccabees 12:42–46. In the West there is ample evidence of the custom of praying for the dead in the inscriptions of the catacombs, with their constant prayers for the peace of the souls of the departed and in the early liturgies, which commonly contain commemorations of the dead. 

“There are three reasons for Jesus [being a puzzle]. The first reason for our being puzzled is that, for most of us, Jesus’ world is a strange, foreign country. I don’t just mean the Middle East, a major international trouble spot then as now. I mean that people in his day and in his country thought differently. They looked at the world differently. They told different stories. The second is that Jesus’ God is strange to us. That idea may itself seem odd. Isn’t God simply God? We need to try to catch a glimpse of what Jesus meant when he spoke of God. The third, hidden puzzle: throughout his short public career Jesus spoke and acted as if he was in charge. Jesus did things people didn’t think you were allowed to do, and he explained them by saying he had the right to do them. He behaved as if he had the right, and even the duty, to take over, to sort things out, to make his country and perhaps even the wider world a different place.” (“The Three Puzzles”, Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 9-11)

What people need today is a Lord and Savior who speaks, acts and teaches like he is in charge. And we have just a Lord and Savior in Jesus. But, we have too many people today who just do not recognize the need for a Lord and Savior in their lives. And yet, we see, day after day, that our society and world are going to Hell in a hand-basket. Now, that is just my own opinion, and you may have another opinion about how modern and progressive our world and society are. And yet, people are dying of malnutrition and starvation, people are being marginalized and oppressed, people are being denied basic, human rights, and those on the top are living on the backs, shoulders and wills of those on the bottom. And, so many Americans think the world looks upon us with envy. I think many throughout the world look upon us with pity – because we have lost the ability to care – to care for one another, and to care for our spiritual wellness. If you are looking for something to pray for, I would suggest you pray for America’s spiritual well-being. I would suggest you pray for more Americans to look to G-d for a relationship through Jesus Christ to help us all help one another.

Pastor Dave

November 1, 2021 – All Saints Day

All Saint’s Day is also known as All Hallow’s Day, Hallowmas, Feast of All Saints, or the Solemnity of All Saints – it is a distinctly Christian festival celebrated in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. It is celebrated on November 1 by the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Methodist Church and the Lutheran Church among other Protestant churches. Christian celebration of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day stems from a belief that there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven (also know as the Church Triumphant), and the living (those we call the “Church Militant”). In Roman Catholic theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the vision of Heaven.

“Jesus is deeply mysterious. This isn’t just because, like any figure of ancient history, we don’t now as much about him as we might like. Jesus is mysterious because what we do know—what our evidence encourages us to see as the core of who he was and what he did—is so unlike what we know about anybody else that we are forced to ask, as people evidently did at the time: who, then is this? Jesus puzzled people then, and he puzzles us still.” . (“The Three Puzzles”, Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 9)

Why would some consider Jesus mysterious? You may think that you know enough about Jesus to form your own opinion, and if that is the case, I give you a lot of credit. Me, on the other hand, I continue to read and research Jesus because I want to know more about this mysterious “Son of G-d”. But getting to know Jesus will require getting to know the context in which he lived, including his worldview and the Jewish “spiritual” worldview. Each carries their own effort – both of which there is plenty of written material to review. We know who the Roman Emperor was at the time Jesus lived: Tiberius – we know who the Roman prefect of Judea and Idumaea was when Jesus was tried and convicted: Pontius Pilate – we know who the Jewish Tetrarch of Galilee was when Jesus was tried and convicted: Herod Antipas — and we know who the “high priest” was at the time of his death: Caiaphas. These are historical facts.

Things really become mysterious with Jesus when he appears seemingly “out of no where”, somewhere in his thirties, to do quite remarkable things, which led the Roman and Jewish authorities to send him to his death on a cross, seemingly as a way to keep him from claiming the title “Son of G-d”. Yet we today, as had so many over the centuries, call Jesus “Son of G-d”. They never saw anyone do the things Jesus did – we have not seen anyone do the things Jesus did. But the more I study, pray, and discern the works of Jesus, the more I appreciate the mystery, the majesty, and the love of Jesus.

Pastor Dave