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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

November 2, 2022

All Souls

The Invitatory

Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

The earth is the Lord’s for he made it: Come let us adore him.

Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

‘Where, O death, is your victory?

  Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

It is very tempting on this day in remembering family members, friends, co-workers who have died to think of them in terms of what they accomplished, rather than to reflect on their lives as a whole. We may do them and ourselves a disservice in this effort. Paul dispels this notion almost immediately. These accomplishments do not obtain enduring value to God. What wins the approval of humankind has no value at all in the sight of God. It may be that these earthly measures hamper our pursuit of real treasure.

What we labor at to render our lives “worthwhile” does not endure. As Paul states, “It is a mystery.” What this means in practical terms is there is a truth that our human senses can never discover, that no scientific investigation will ever reveal, nor intense research will ever unravel. This change that we anticipate is a direct result of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the singularly unique and most upending act that ever took place on this earth. The result of it, as Paul says, is that there is a change coming to us, and it will be accomplished in different ways for all of us. Some will die, some will not. All the generations of Christians before us have died. Today we remember them. What is important is whether you live or die, the mystery is "we shall all be changed.” All who are and have been mortal, subject to death, are no longer so; we must become imperishable, unable to die. That is the change. That is the great event, the great change that is coming. This occurs for all who step out of time into eternity, but it will also occur when Jesus steps back out of eternity into time.

Having recently participated in the funeral of a dear friend, I felt sorrow as I said good-bye to her, but I also was aware of hope. And this hope lies in the expectation of what our faith promises: "Death is swallowed up in victory." The fear of death is gone. On this day we celebrate the lives of all whom we remember and give thanks for the victory which they has come to them.

We are afraid of death because it is an unknown, over which we have no control. We cannot evade it -- it is beyond us. We are in the grip of other forces, and, what bothers us is, we fear judgment. Beyond death lies accountability for how we have lived, and what we have done. That is why death is such a fearsome thing. It is made all the more so by the law that says we cannot escape the evil of our past. God cannot set it aside nor can any man. It must be faced. There can be no deliverance from it. That is what makes us afraid of death. The good news revealed in the resurrection of Jesus is that the power of sin is broken. Jesus has overcome this for us.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy Name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

    as we forgive those

        who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

    and the power, and the glory

   for ever and ever. Amen.