November 27, 2016 Matthew 24:36-44

“But about that day and hour no one knows, 

neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 

For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, 

marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 

and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, 

so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 

Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 

Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 

But understand this: 

if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, 

he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

****

What if Christ’s return is more like Christmas morning? Not of judgement but of Grace, prepare likewise.

You know the image, it is one people travel hundreds of miles to see. Children on Christmas morning. The Norman Rockwell of footed pjs, tip-toeing down the stairs, and wide eyes at a tree, which overnight became full, as if by magic. You know the image; you know its magic. And I wonder if perhaps, you could imagine this scripture of judgement the same. It says,

“But about that day and hour no one knows, 

neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Imagine angels in heaven, like a Santa Tracker on the news, which follows the setting night, and attempts to predict where in that darkness, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse, or shepherds in the fields watching their flock by night, and to that place, that darkness, they will testify that the light has come. Yet, not even Norad, with its scientific measures can exactly predict, in each little house, at what moment Christmas will come, because about that day and hour no one knows. The scripture says,

“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, 

marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 

and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, 

so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

As culture subscribes, we too have already begun our eating and drinking, and merry making, ignoring predictions of the flood which is to sweep us away. We are easily distracted by ads, and lights, and to-do lists a mile long, and it is to those places too will come the Son of Man. But what if instead of the fear of a naughty and nice list Emmanuel, we hung our stockings by the chimney with care, in hopes that a Saint soon will be there; in hopes that what we have come to prepare, is the ark of long ago, is the a manger of yesterday, is an Inn filled with care for today. What if the flood to which we shall prepare is a flood Christmas morning.

You know the image:

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds; While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,  Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window, I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.”

Or as scripture says

“Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 

Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 

Keep awake therefore, Kerchief and cap, 

for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

As lovely and as loathsome are as these two Night Before Christmas scenes, what if they actually resemble one another? What if what is about to break in when two are out the field, and two are grinding meal together, is as, “peaceful as the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow?” What if the star over the manger, “gave a lustre of midday to objects below?” What if, the scripture’s, “One will be taken and one will be left,” is not a destination for who gets coal in their stockings, and whose boots by the fire are filled with good things? What if instead, “one will be taken and one will be left,” wasn’t admonishment at all but instead an invitation.

I remember as a kid, the unspoken rule that, you don’t go down the stairs alone to Christmas morning. If you have sibling, you cross the hallway, and open their darkened door, and you creep to their bed and whisper, “It is Christmas. We slept through the magic. Let us go see this thing which has taken place,” You don’t go to the tree alone. You want to share in the wonder if it has come, you want not to be alone in the grief if it didn’t. Likewise, Jospeh went with Mary, the shepherd girls, said to one another, “Let us go and see this thing which has taken place,” and the wisemen went as three. So too, we will not be alone when it comes, we can extend an invitation. 

This scripture is a reminder to share in the joy, not through conversion, or impending judgement but by sharing in grace, in gift. You who know to prepare, welcome the other along, travel into Bethlehem together, open your house to a pregnant stranger and her partner, sidestep King Herod’s plan with the wisdom you posses. The scripture reminds us,

“But understand this: 

if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, 

he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Do you remember staying up as late as you could on Christmas Eve as a kid. So too, may your excitement prepare you for this thief in the night. Who shall come, unexpectedly, and you will say, “to my wondering eyes did appear,” but Christmas morning in the form of a child. Come likewise, prepare your hearts to come down the stairs and find the gift of him, the Emmanuel, there. 

November 20, 2016 Luke 1:68-79

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for God has looked favorably on God’s people and redeemed them.
God has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of God’s servant David,
as God spoke through the mouth of God’s holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus God has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered God’s holy covenant,
the oath that God swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we,
being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve God without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before God all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare God’s ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to God’s people by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

****
What would you have to say, if you couldn’t speak for nine months? What would be the first thing you would say? and who would you tell?

I have always loved those last-minute-on-earth kinds of questions; they get to the heart of who we are. My friend Lisa once asked, “If the world was to end in five minutes and you could call one person, who would it be, and what would you say, and why are you not doing it now?” “If the world was to end in five minutes and you could call one person, who would it be, and what would you say, and why are you not doing it now?”

As lofty as the question is, in it's who and what, the question’s practical counterpart of why aren’t you doing it now, is equally important. That, why you aren’t doing it, calling that person now, that what’s stopping you, is just as big of a question as the who you would call and what you would say.

I would call my sister, and tell her I love her. I don’t do it enough and I want to. I don’t do enough because I get busy and I assume she knows. But assuming she knows isn’t at all like her hearing it.

This scripture is one of those phone calls, but it came after nine months of silence. The story began after years of Zachariah and Elizabeth praying for a child, and finally becoming pregnant with John who would later become John the Baptist. An angel Gabriel came to tell Zachariah the news, and he did not believe Gabriel, and therefore was mute for nine months. During this time, Mary who was pregnant with Jesus came to visit Elizabeth who was Mary’s Aunt. After John’s birth, Zachariah and Elizabeth are taking the infant to the temple for the birth ritual, and Zachariah is finally able to speak again and this scripture are his first words.

After nine months, the first thing he utters is praise to God.

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,”

I wonder, if we were silent for nine months, would this be the first thing we say? I have no idea.

The second thing he says, is both praise and prophesy, prophesy about Jesus from Zachariah’s own words, and also prophesy referencing the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel. Zachariah says,

“for God has looked favorably on God’s people and redeemed them.
God has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of God’s servant David,
as God spoke through the mouth of God’s holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.”

The third thing Zachariah talks about is how God has kept God’s promise.

“Thus God has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered God’s holy covenant,
the oath that God swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve God without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before God all our days.”

After nine months, the response to God keeping God’s word is to serve God. And then Zachariah looks at John and says,

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare God’s ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to God’s people by the forgiveness of their sins.”

Zachariah’s son John the Baptist will prepare Jesus’s way, baptizing the people, and Jesus himself. Then Zachariah says,

“By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

In this last verse is a two fold promise, both that Jesus will be born and his light will shine in the darkness, and in the shadow of death, and secondly, that light will beam down like when the heaven’s opened when Jesus was baptized and down came a dove, a symbol of peace, and God said, this is my child with whom I am well pleased.

All this, had been waiting, pregnant in Zachariah’s mouth for nine months. I imagine the words slowly coming and changing and eventually refining into this run-on-sentence of praise and prophesy, and I wonder, if we too were silent for nine months, what words and feelings would gestate in our mouths, and what would we come out saying?

I don't know because I haven’t tried it. I am your pastor, and Zachariah was a priest, and even as religious leaders, I have never taken a couple weeks much less a month, or nine, just to be with God. It is too easy to ignore the calling to be silent before God. To be too busy, to take five minutes - to call my sister; or as congregants, as Christians, to be too busy, to call that one person, and if I had to guess, your words too would be some version of I love you.

But this I love you to Diana, my sister, is if I had five minutes. Imagine nine months, imagine a pregnancy of silence with God. This is what is coming. Advent is coming. It starts next Sunday, as we wait for the birth of Christ. And notice that word, “wait.” Wait, wait, Advent, isn’t a count down, it is a time taking. We are given the time to be quiet, to reflect, to sit, to be in the world, to form our words. We have been given time.

We have been given time, we don’t have to do the things we feel pressured to, the Greening of the Church with the parade, the Cookie Swap, the Youth or Women’s Support Group Christmas Parties, the hanging of the Advent Windows, Angel Tree, the Children’s Program, even the Christmas Eve Service. If any one of these feel like something you have to do, don't do them, instead, do that which makes you feel pregnant with God.

We have been given time, we don’t have to do the things we feel pressured to, the Christmas cards, the decorating the house, the cooking and the baking, the shopping, the traveling, if any one of these feel like something you have to do, don't do them, instead, do that which makes you feel pregnant with God.

We have been given time, we don’t have to do the things we feel pressured to, the pain of sitting around a table and pretending all is well when it is not, the looking happy and singing Christmas Carols when its our first Christmas without a loved one. I imagine before this year in scripture, Zachariah and Elizabeth would have found the holidays hard as parents who desperately want kids. I would have told them too, if any one of these feel like something they had to do, don't do them, instead, do that which makes you feel pregnant with God.

And they became so, and so are we welcomed to become pregnant with God. Zachariah turns to infant John the Baptist and says, And you child, will be the prophet of the most high, and likewise, Zachariah turns to us and asks us to also be prophets of the most high. So how will our lives show this prophesy? In business, in distraction, or in the way we take the time to nurture the God within us.

Advent starts in a week, and this is our week to prepare, to clear our schedule, to assess where our hours, our energy, money, and our talents, are going, and to ask ourselves, is it going to make us feel pregnant with God, or farther away. Will our Advent Season, look like calling that person we love, or continuing to do the things which are keeping us from making that call. We have been given the time, You Child have been given the time. Amen.

November 13, 2016 Luke 21: 5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, 

how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, 

Jesus said, 

“As for these things that you see, 

the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; 

all will be thrown down.” 

They asked him,

“Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 

And Jesus said, 

“Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ 

and, ‘The time is near!’ 

Do not go after them. 

“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; 

for these things must take place first, 

but the end will not follow immediately.” 

Then Jesus said to them, 

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 

there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; 

and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 

“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; 

they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, 

and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 

This will give you an opportunity to testify. 

So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 

for I will give you words and a wisdom

that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 

You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; 

and they will put some of you to death. 

You will be hated by all because of my name. 

But not a hair of your head will perish. 

By your endurance you will gain your souls.

***

I called my dad Wednesday morning. At thirty-three it’s hard to know what comes next after historic events like this week’s election. Having studied American History and Foreign Policy, I tend to trust that my dad will be able to look back and predict into the future. “Kate,” he said, “This hasn’t happened before.” “The closest was Andrew Jackson, in 1828, but the country wasn't a tenth as divided as in this election. People didn’t like Andrew Jackson,” “Well he was horrible to the Indians,” I quipped. My dad continued, “No, he wasn't a very good person, and people in the cities were angry about the election, but Jackson pulled more rural votes from a white male electorate, but it’s not like this. This is so much more contentious. I don't know what happens from here.” 

I thought I would call my dad, and he would pull out some random election from fifty years ago, and essentially tell me that we as a country would come together again and everything would be fine. But he couldn’t tell me that. This was something he’d not seen nor studied. Likewise, my ninety-three year old, Grandpa, said this summer, “Well Pal, it hasn’t been this bad since Calvin Coolidge and this is worse.” He made a joke, but I don't like that one of the oldest as well as one of the most well-versed people I know, both were in new territory. And I too have been seeing things for the first time. 

Both before and after the election, it was easy to see how the media on both sides, bent the facts into opinion. I don't remember growing up that you could watch the news and tell for whom people were pulling. It made me nervous, and question if there were unbiased reports at all. And like a gross characterization of national political discourse the things that people posted on Facebook were egregious, not only for their insensitivity, to put it mildly, but also for the lack of any honest discourse, which can never, happen on Facebook. One is allowed to post their opinion, and to find camaraderie in that stance, but by the same token, it is not the way to change minds. What I believe is there is degree to which such stances, without conversation, have lead to the increasing polarity of our nation. We live in country like the signs of the scripture,

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 

there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; 

and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 

In the scripture’s context, the temple, the greatest building in the world and a symbol of power and might has been brought down because of Roman civil wars. Note that the gospel doesn’t say, because of one leader or another, but instead because of infighting. We too are living as citizens, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, the likes of which have never before happened in our history. I see two uprisings, one stirred up by president elect, Donald Trump, where citizens of rural and conservative America like embers caught flame again. And the other uprising, marked by protests in Portland, where more liberal voters were surprised at the complacency of their own constituency, and the change in wind’s direction. And then there are those, almost fifty percent, who were too disenfranchised, or disappointed or disgusted to vote at all. And so here we are, wondering who our neighbor is, a Trump supporter, Hillary, third party, or someone who didn't vote. Well, I will tell you, that what is more important than knowing whose side someone is on, is knowing that conflict itself can be measured by the percent of people you know who are for and against your own beliefs, the rise of conflict can be measured by own taking of sides. Therefore the opposite of escalating conflict is the ability to maintain conversation. It means that the more ardently we take sides, the less likely we are able to moderate. 

For myself, I will tell you, being a pastor in this time has stunk. It is a hard thing to be fervently opposed to something you consider unChristian, and not feel allowed to speak openly against it. It makes for a lonely and somewhat secretive-icky-feeling when I and other pastors have to weigh our words so carefully, have to remain silent when Jesus himself was if not anything else, a political prophet, during his life on earth. This stipulation means that when I break the silence, I feel a little more like Jesus the prophet, but when I abide to it, I recognize my call to Jesus of the parable, who gives us something to think about, something with which to wrestle. It is hard to decipher, which we are called to be at different times, a political prophet, or a teller of parables. But I think, being a pastor, and for that matter a Christian, makes us consider that to be a prophet is to be the teller of parables. That you don’t preach against people, you preach issues, you preach stories. It’s taught me that prophesy can come in things like protest, but what is the point when we have lost the ability to humanize our neighbor? Instead, if the point of protest is change, rather than simply camaraderie, I believe it is done more carefully through parables like the Good Samaritan, or the Woman who was about to be Stoned. 

This scripture too is a parable. It is a story where we can easily place ourselves, no matter for whom we voted, or didn’t, and in a nation never so far divided, it can seem the end of the world is upon us, “with dreadful portents, and great signs from heaven.” But as Christians, if we are able to imagine ourselves into this parable, we are also given an opportunity, an opportunity to testify in Jesus’ name.

But this testimony, I imagine looks a little different than the rhetoric to which we as a nation have succumbed.  It isn’t someone making a Facebook meme, with a politician’s face and some ill-chosen words, it isn’t a debate where interruption equates winning, it isn’t even gathering up like kindling, all the possible angles to enflame the other side. Instead it is to empty ourselves of all our defenses. 

Jesus says, 

“So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 

for I will give you words and a wisdom

that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.”

When we think about the type of dialogue which is hard to critique, withstand or contradict, it is the human dialogue. It is someone who comes just as they are, with the hope of having a conversation, not wanting to change your mind, but wanting to bridge, to let you know how they feel. They come humbly and personally and with love for the other paramountly. You know the difference in these types of conversations. This is how Jesus speaks, answering the question, “Who is my neighbor?” saying to the crowd, “You without sin, throw the first stone.” Through parables, the listeners are able to get beyond their sides, to find their common humanity, to find the divinity in coming together. 

Also on Wednesday, people of two opposing parties and myself unclaimed, happened to be in the church. I your pastor and another person were pretty raw, while a congregant was reasoned and calm. He walked in on us, “talking politics,” in the church, something that I don’t tend to do, but that being raw that morning, happened, more about issues than a person, but it happened. Not with debate, because I came with no defense, just my feelings, my wonders, my worries, and that other congregant, listened and with grace, stated he typically was on the other side, but he listened, heard and encouraged.  I remember thinking in the moment, here I am the pastor, who isn’t supposed to talk about politics, and this congregant is moderating, is caring, is being Jesus in this parable. It wasn't just the congregant, it is you as a church, it is who you are. I think, and have said before, that this is your greatest gift, your ability to think differently, to discuss hard and opposing issues and love one another in light of your differences. I think it is because you know each other’s humanity. You have courageously lifted personal prayers of the people which tell of the hearts of your lives, you have seen each other through deaths and births, hardship and success, failings and triumphs, and it is really hard when you love each other that much, and you know each other that well, to villainize someone who thinks differently than you, to come with all your defenses. You come instead with openness and love, and this in this time, gives me more hope than any political swing there could be. 

So I think our calling is to take who we are as church out into the world, and model to our nation, not to prepare our defense in advance, but to know that Jesus will give us words and wisdom that no one can contradict. Words and wisdom that see the humanity in one another.

For this we shall be blessed, The blessing reads,

 “But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Perhaps, this endurance is what my dad, and my grandfather couldn’t recollect, what our nation’s history has not yet foretold. I told my dad at the end of our conversation, that this was the part where I think my calling that had more hope than his. I got to see a way above the polarity, into unity, and it was my job, and it is ours as Christians. We get to see another way and to receive the blessing of each soul thereunto.

October 30, 2016 Beatitudes Luke 6:17-31

 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. 

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; 

for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 

“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. 

“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. 

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. 

****

Its getting harder, these funerals. Each one means I know you a little better and love you more deeply, having counted more days with you and those who love you. I no longer have to ask as many questions to glean the essence of a congregant. Instead, I feel it, and you provide the details and memories of the years before I came. I have been here long enough to ask you for what you would like to be remembered, and I know who, with deep grieving, will have a quote that ties the service all together - because you were close as sisters. 

Knowing you this way makes your dying harder but I would want no other role than to tell your story and to lift it up to God. I like that being the pastor lets me do something. When providing care for loved ones after a death the best advice is just to listen, to ask questions, but really, to be present. But I get to do something. I get to channel my own grief into something beautiful, and then I get to cathartically express it, but it’s a balance, and the pendulum edges of sadness and duty are getting deeper, because it’s getting harder; I love you more. 

On the drive from home to Pat’s service, I was already teary, but shutting the car door, I moved from personal space to pastoral space with a calling to fulfill. Jim Kauth, as a preacher and a congregant, described the pendulum well, saying there was one moment where the corner of my mouth turned downward, a face he knew was the beginning of breaking, but with a breath and focus I pushed through with renewed fervor. He said he was proud of me, but more than anything I felt so known, and to feel known is to feel loved. That’s where we are in this little church, and it’s only been five years. 

So I am thankful I get do something when you pass away. I imagine you relate to the feeling of needing to do when you make and deliver more food than a person can eat, or check in randomly with someone because it’s a Tuesday and they might just be feeling down, or you write more cards than can be counted.

You too know the feeling of needing to do after death but there is way this scripture is traditionally read that implies that everything is already done. “That blessed are the poor because theirs is the kingdom of God,… and woe to the rich for they have already received their consolation,” but I don’t think this scripture is about a pie in the sky mentality - that all will be righted in heaven and therefore what is wrong on earth need not be addressed. Instead, I think this scripture is about doing now and I think heaven is about life on earth as much as it is about life after death. 

What precedes the Beatitudes is a multitude of people coming to hear Jesus and be healed, to be cured of diseases, of troubles, and of unclean spirits. “All in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed, all of them.”  In this passage the people are doing, they have travel far, they are listening and they are reaching out to Jesus and Jesus healed them. If Jesus believed heaven is for those who wait, why would he have healed on earth?

When he says “Blessed are you who are hungry now for you will be filled,” Jesus is telling the disciples and the crowd that the kingdom of God is when the hungry are fed. When he says, “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.” Jesus is telling them that equality will come not when they are dead but now when the hungry are fed. 

Jesus believes heaven is present in those who do. When he says, “Blessed are you when people hate you,” and, “Woe to you when all speak well of you,” He is reminding us that until we all are loved our words carry little praise for those we do already. When he says, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh,” he knows that we will smile and shake our heads with the love of knowing Louise Trapp and remembering her saying, even in her last weeks, “I feel like dancing.” He knows these two emotions are coupled. Likewise, when Jesus says, “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep,” He is reminding us that after awhile, these funerals will get harder, but their sadness means we will have loved another more with each day. Jesus tells us that Blessed is something that happens on earth when people do.

He ends the Beatitudes with the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you,” and I think this is what this scripture has to do with death. When a beloved dies we ask ourselves why, and part of why’s answer comes in the way they lived, the things they did for others. So, we ask, “What about their life will we carry with us into ours? What did they do for us that we want to carry for others.” It gives death meaning to say, “Do to others as I have done to you.” I loved Pat’s honesty, and Louise’s optimism and Nola Whitley’s Alzheimer's subsiding when she would sing Jesus Loves Me as she did to her Sunday School classes with her kindergarten teacher background. When I see the ceramic Roosters on my porch from Kim Berry’s funeral I smile remembering her well-meaning love you to pieces sass. I am sure, likewise when you remember other loved ones you take the things they did and hold them in your heart. Molly posted a photo of a sunrise the other day reminding her of the vivacity a teacher friend who passed away. Molly was celebrating in life and sharing it in the same way her friend had taught her. It is as if her friend was saying, “Do to others as I have done to you.” and Molly was responding, how we live today honors the dead of yesterday.

This scripture is reminding us not to wait, but to do. To live as the saints before us have taught. To live in a way that creates balance between the poor and the rich, the hungry and the full, the outcast and the admired, and those who weep and those who laugh. That even if the weeping is getting harder, it’s because we knew and loved someone more and in that doing, death gives life its meaning.