Summary of All Saints’ Day Sermon for November 3, 2013
“Blessed are you who are poor . . .” Luke 6:20a
What does it mean to be poor? For the follows of Jesus, this was very simple. It was them; the poor Galileans, those who lived near the Sea of Galilee, who were poor fishermen, farmers, and shepherds. The poor were those whose land was wrongly taken from them by the “glorious” Roman empire, who were excessively taxed by corrupt officials. These were the followers of Jesus, and they were poor. To them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven.
What does it mean to be poor today, in our context? We have an abundance of material possessions. Our basements, closets, and attics overflow with our accumulated treasures. Are we poor?
I believe that the basic philosophical assumption of our government, of some biologists, of our legal system, and of our economic theory is making us poor. The assumption is that to be human is to be a rational individual who makes choices to maximize profit. The problem with our wider culture’s basic philosophical assumption is that it is wrong.
We can be rational, such as in a classroom doing math. Philosophers and scientists can use reason to make great discoveries. But life’s most important decisions are not rational. Are you married? Was this rational? Do you have kids? We know that wasn’t rational! No, we make these most important decisions based on our feelings. We chose whom we love based on how we feel when they walk into a room. We love our kids and grandkids because of how we feel when we see them pour out of the car, running toward the house on Thanksgiving.
We are terrible at being individuals. How many of us are Vikings fans? Why! We are Vikings fans not because they are good, or because of our individuality, but because of our social networks and friendships. We like the Vikings because we are social creatures. We choose which products to buy based on the recommendations of friends. We are social and relational creatures.
No wonder we seem to be maximizing the wrong sort of profit when our basic understanding of what it means to be human is wrong. No wonder we have so many problems in our society. Our philosophy of human nature is pointing us away from what brings us true happiness.
Some biologists, and I suspect not the good biologists, speak of humans having a “selfish” gene, totally ignoring how fundamentally social and generous humans are to each other.
This assumption that people are selfish has lead us to become cynical about old fashioned virtues that transcend the self. Virtues like beauty, music, art, truth, loyalty, friendship, family, community, generosity, awe, and faith.
(Paraphrasing Marilynne Robinson) When good people slip up, we assume the truth about their defective and selfish character has been revealed. When bad people do good, we call them hypocrites.
And so we are made poorer.
Blessed are the poor.
We need a better understanding of what it means to be human. Scripture offers us one. In Genesis it describes us as having been created, male and female, by God, and as God calling us “good.” It describes us as being formed out of the earth and filled with God’s Sprit. We are connected to creation and made for relationship with each other and with the Divine. Scripture says that we are Redemeed by God’s act of love in Jesus Christ, and that we are sustained and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
According to Scripture, we are saints – by God’s love and grace. In our Risen Lord we find the riches that we so desire. We find in God the source of abundance and goodness that can truly satisfy us – the riches of relationship and love with the divine.
I’m not naive enough to think we can build a legal system, a government, or an economic model on people being saints. But perhaps this is a way we can build a church.
Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day – a day when we remember all those who have gone before us, and a day when we celebrate who we truly are.
