A Word from Joel - November 6
“Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7-10
On Sunday, we celebrated All Saints Day, a holiday in which we remember our deceased loved ones. All Saints Day celebrates the ongoing connection between the living and the dead, who are not as separate as we imagine them to be. All Saints reminds us that life and death are not opposites but intermingle, and we do well to remember that. In the face of death, what we need is to remember. The Bible is full of calls to remember. Remember the good things that God has done. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. To prepare his disciples for his death, Jesus broke bread, and when he had given thanks, he said take and eat this is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me. From the cross, a criminal said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Remembrance is at the heart of our faith because we so easily forget. Psalm 139 reminds us that there is no where we can go to escape God’s loving presence .In the Hebrew imagination, Sheol is the place of the dead. It’s not hell as we imagine it. It’s simply the dwelling place of all who’ve died. It has nothing to do with punishment, nor is it to be feared: “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” If God is there, then there’s nothing to fear. If we can learn to both live our lives and die our deaths, trusting that we are surrounded by the sustaining love of God, then there is truly nothing for us to fear.
Remembrance is an act of love, and love is the heart of God’s politics. When asked what is the greatest commandment (which is another way of asking, “What is the meaning and purpose of life”) Jesus responds, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. It’s all that simple, and it’s all that hard. Love is the heart of our faith, which means love is the heart of our politics, love of God and love of people—all people, without exception: American and foreigner, citizen and migrant, conservative and liberal, cis and trans, queer and straight, people of all colors and creeds, love them all. That is our politics.
On this post-election day, remember that love holds us together. Love remembers, and forgetting dismembers. Love reminds us that despite all our differences, we belong to each other. In the end, our hope is not in our ability to remember but in God’s. In your faith and in your doubt, in your joy and in your grief, in the suffering that threatens to dismember you, know that God remembers you. The love at the heart of all things holds you and everyone you’ve ever loved in the divine embrace. Where else could you be? “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” God’s loving remembrance will never leave nor forsake you but holds you close both now and forever.
On Sunday, we celebrated All Saints Day, a holiday in which we remember our deceased loved ones. All Saints Day celebrates the ongoing connection between the living and the dead, who are not as separate as we imagine them to be. All Saints reminds us that life and death are not opposites but intermingle, and we do well to remember that. In the face of death, what we need is to remember. The Bible is full of calls to remember. Remember the good things that God has done. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. To prepare his disciples for his death, Jesus broke bread, and when he had given thanks, he said take and eat this is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me. From the cross, a criminal said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Remembrance is at the heart of our faith because we so easily forget. Psalm 139 reminds us that there is no where we can go to escape God’s loving presence .In the Hebrew imagination, Sheol is the place of the dead. It’s not hell as we imagine it. It’s simply the dwelling place of all who’ve died. It has nothing to do with punishment, nor is it to be feared: “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” If God is there, then there’s nothing to fear. If we can learn to both live our lives and die our deaths, trusting that we are surrounded by the sustaining love of God, then there is truly nothing for us to fear.
Remembrance is an act of love, and love is the heart of God’s politics. When asked what is the greatest commandment (which is another way of asking, “What is the meaning and purpose of life”) Jesus responds, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. It’s all that simple, and it’s all that hard. Love is the heart of our faith, which means love is the heart of our politics, love of God and love of people—all people, without exception: American and foreigner, citizen and migrant, conservative and liberal, cis and trans, queer and straight, people of all colors and creeds, love them all. That is our politics.
On this post-election day, remember that love holds us together. Love remembers, and forgetting dismembers. Love reminds us that despite all our differences, we belong to each other. In the end, our hope is not in our ability to remember but in God’s. In your faith and in your doubt, in your joy and in your grief, in the suffering that threatens to dismember you, know that God remembers you. The love at the heart of all things holds you and everyone you’ve ever loved in the divine embrace. Where else could you be? “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.” God’s loving remembrance will never leave nor forsake you but holds you close both now and forever.
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