Devotion.al

Tag: saints

  • Dead and gone. Dead and here.

    Dead and gone. Dead and here.

    ‌📖 Read

    ‌Matthew 22:31-32; Hebrews 11:33–12:2

    ‌🔎 Focus

    ‌

    “‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the .”

    Matthew 22:32

    ‌“[] will come again to judge the living and the dead”

    The Apostle’s Creed

    ‌”I believe in…the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting”

    The Apostle’s Creed

    ‌‌✟ Devotion

    ‌The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish) has become a cross-cultural celebration/observation in the US, as the holidays south of the border gain prevalence due to population changes. There is a belief that the Conquistadors brought the Day of the Dead to the New World with them, and because the Black Plague was their backdrop, it became a more morbid observation of .

    ‌In many cultures, there is a belief that for a time period (from a day to a week), the “veil” between the dead and the living is “thinned”, so that the two “sides” of the veil can interact. It probably was over varying times, but as the Western Church (particularly the Roman Catholic Church) spread, it likely coalesced to today (and yesterday for some).

    ‌Is the thinning of the veil true? Perhaps. It could also be, because its a day set aside for that belief, that we become aware of the separation between the living and dead. Then there was an older belief that the of saints was such that the thinning was irrelevant, because believers were already unified.

    ‌The spreading of the Day of the Dead across cultures might be something more that an excuse to party or to eat or display Calavera (edible or cast skull-shaped items). The modern culture, particularly in the US, does not do death well. The Dying with Dignity movement, hospice, and other things are a shadowing of this, too (not to disparage either).

    ‌We fear death. The Day of the Dead and even Halloween (with its macabre and scary themes) are signs of it. They are a play, so-to-, that we “cheated” death. Yet, death comes for us all.

    ‌All Souls Day is a day set aside to recognized, , mourn, those who had died. We don’t mourn those we’ve lost very well. “They’ve gone to a better place,” is a common refrain. However, their death still impacts our being, and All Souls Day is a good day to recognize that.

    ‌🤔 Reflection

    ‌Have you lost anyone this year? If so, thank God (as you are able) for their life and their impact upon your life? If they harmed you, God to be released from the burden of the pain, and to heal the wounds.

    ‌Whose death do you forget (on purpose or accidently)? What can you do to them?

    ‌Why is it important to remember the dead in our lives as relationships, rather than historical fact?

    ‌🙏 Prayer

    ‌Thank you, God, for the reminder of those you have placed in our lives for good. May we recall the of the people. Amen.

  • Hallowed and Halos

    Hallowed and Halos

    ‌📖 Read

    ‌Matthew 10:32–39; Matthew 28:16–20; Hebrews 11:33–12:2

    ‌🔎 Focus

    “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my in heaven, but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”

    ‌Matthew 10:32–33 NRSVue

    ‌

    “I believe in…the of saints”

    The Apostle’s Creed

    ‌

    “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,”

    Hebrews 12:1

    ‌‌✟ Devotion

    ‌In my tradition, we may speak the Apostle’s Creed every so often, but we don’t really process the communion of saints. Part of that (if not almost all of that) is an ignorance and disregard for traditions because too much is tied (in our minds) to the Roman Catholic .

    ‌Another significant part is the way that life after death is considered. Many traditions and thinking have a clear divide between life on earth and life beyond this one.

    ‌Both of these lead us to conclude a more philosophical understanding of the communion of saints than the writers of the Apostle’s Creed understood. Many (if not most) don’t really see, understand, or even believe that the saints are among us. There is no question that some traditions invoke the saints as if they are gods, but the general disregard of the saints is throwing away everything because of a flaw.

    ‌Some traditions hold that when we (especially as a church body) in the power of the that we are indeed worshiping with the saints who have died before, because they are with and in Christ. There are some traditions that believe that we are worshiping with the saints to come, as well, for the same reason.

    ‌This is not some call to fully transform or change your thinking in regard to saints, but to understand how often saints are not part of our thinking. I’m sure there are one or two churches in my tradition that have a name such as Saint Matthew’s, but generally that is left to the Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and the Anglicans.

    ‌Rather than think of a church (for example) named after a saint as something weird, perhaps think of it as a statue of a person. We all know that the statue is not the actual person, but that the statue represents a particular life of impact. So, too, are the saints. Lives of impact.

    ‌We often do not see the impact our lives have, from the smile at a stranger, to a laugh with a friend. Yet, there is no person on earth who does not have impact upon the life of another.

    ‌When we read some of the stories of saints, we can become overwhelmed by their story, thinking we could never be that way. Yet, saints never called themselves saints and were also overwhelmed by the lives of the saints before them.

    ‌Some of the stories seem mystical or magical or even miraculous. Yet, none of these people saw themselves as great, they saw themselves in the of Jesus Christ.

    ‌‌🤔 Reflection

    ‌Do you believe that you are living in the grace of Jesus Christ? Why or why not? If so, how? If not, how might your thinking change?

    ‌What makes a person a saint to you? How might you develop one or more of those traits in your life?

    ‌‌⏏️ Act

    ‌Take some time and search for info on the life of a saint. As many saints have “feast days”, look up the saint for your birthday, or the day you gave your heart to Jesus.

    ‌🙏 Prayer

    ‌Jesus, through your example and life, you inspired saints to follow you. , thank you for emboldening the saints of the past, today, and the future. Father God, thank you for your loving embrace of all who are broken in this world, including ourselves. Amen.