"Huddle Talk"

(Please read Luke 6:20-31)

It seems right to refresh our memories this morning with the words of Jesus that have become known as “The Beatitudes” (or blessings). Surely, these Scriptures could be the makings for weeks of thoughts but that isn’t why they have been given to us as Scriptures for All Saints Day remembrances. Jesus is looking at his disciples, then and now, and telling us that walking in his footsteps will most certainly not be easy, but the rewards will be great. It’s as if Jesus has brought disciples into a huddle and spelled out the guidelines for the saints of all of the ages. Take heart, my friends! Saints aren’t constrained by wearing cumbersome ornate robes nor are they made obvious by a constant halo floating above their heads! Saints are fishermen and tax collectors and you and me! They are those who have lived, and continue to live their lives according to Jesus’ “huddle talk”. Jesus warns the saints-in-training as he offers the “blessed’s” and the “woe’s” to us. It will not be an easy way of life. That which society claims as blessed is far from it! That which seems so difficult has been raised up! As one friend shared with me, “Jesus, in the Beatitudes, is setting his disciples then and is setting us now, apart. Being set apart is never easy but it is the way of the “saints”.

There is a time in many of our churches when we pause and give thanks for those in our lives who have taken to heart Jesus’ call to discipleship and accepted the shifting in their own lives of what all society thinks is “blessed”. Although the day after Halloween is All Saints Day, many will reflect, as a part of our worship services, on those who have been “set apart” in the ways that Jesus shared with his disciples.

You and I are, in part, products of those very special people in our lives who have chosen not to make excuses when Jesus looked at them and said “be set apart”. This morning, let us be thankful for these examples to us and remember that those saints we have never met have affected our lives by the trickling down of God’s strength and love from one generation to the next.

I am thankful for those who have claimed Jesus’ words from the huddle as the road to discipleship, trusting in the blessings to come. I am so thankful for those who loved me enough to partner with God in order to help shape my heart. Also, I am thankful for those in YOUR life who did the same for you. Why? Because you are becoming increasingly important to me in my life. I see this same partnership in you. I see faith in you ... and Christ in you ... and I am a better person for this. Who knew that the people of faith in your life, those you hold dear as "saints", would affect my life through you? God knew. I am truly thankful that God has chosen to cross our paths.

Today, I "Sing a Song of the Saints of God" which includes so many who have taught us all the meaning of love and friendship, of faith and courage, and who have encouraged us all in the ways of Jesus Christ. As the song goes ".... and there's not any reason, no, not the least, why I shouldn't be one too."

Let us huddle together this day, listening once again to the words of Jesus, hearing the familiar Beatitudes as the often difficult way of disciples and saints and trusting that there will not only be a blessedness in our own lives but through our lives, others will be “set apart” as well.

Gracious and Loving God, give us hearts of the faithful and loving "saints" in our lives that we might be a reflection of your goodness to others as well. Give us strength as you set us apart and as we accept this often difficult way. There are those who can’t afford for us to make excuses for an easier way. In your promises and in your constant presence, both now and always, we do indeed rejoice and leap for joy! Amen.

anna