Pastor Christa von Zychlin
Our Savior’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Hartland, WI 53029
All Saints Sunday, 2003
21st Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Nov. 2, 2003
Four Dimensional Love
Jesus words for us today come from the gospel of Mark chapter 10,
where a teacher, a very educated man, a lawyer-type, comes up to Jesus and says
So, what would YOU say is
the most important thing for living a good life?"
And Jesus without hesitation says, "The most important thing is nothing new,
it's that same old commandment from
Deuteronomy, the Shema which we Jews recite twice a day: Hear O Israel, the
Lord your God is ONE and you shall love the Lord your God with all of your:
____________
(what does Jesus say? Let's read it together from the front of your
bulletins)
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."
Let's do a little
exercise together to help us remember them (this may seem a little childlike to
you, but remember that God said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to little
children)
We are called to love God
with:
with all your heart (put your hand over your heart)
with all your soul (cross your arms over your chest, in an old
symbol of prayer)
with all your mind (point to both temples)
with all your strength (show your muscles)
Good.
That is the most important thing we can do as saints of God, love God with a big
love, with a 4-dimensional love that involves our whole self: heart, soul, mind,
strength.
Why is that so important? Because God loves us with a big love, God loves us
with his whole heart, his whole soul, his whole mind, his whole strength.
That's what climbing down into this world as a human being and dying on the
cross was all about: God loved us with his whole self.
And God loves your heart, soul, mind, & strength. Ever think about
that? God loves your heart, emotions, your particular way of feeling; God loves
your soul and your way of approaching Him and praying to Him and singing to Him
in worship; and God loves your mind, the way you think... ( I may wonder about
the way you think... your mother may wonder about the way you think, but God's
the one who designed you that way) and God loves your strength and the way you
use your strength to build things, buy things, bend things, shape things to make
this a better, more joyful, interesting, and healthier world.
Who are the saints? Saints
are people who in some fashion have loved God and their neighbor with their (do
the gestures with me) heart, soul, mind, strength.
Which way of loving do you think comes easiest to you? Which way of loving
would God (and probably some other people, too!) like to see a little more of
from you?
************
I'm simply going to tell
you about 4 people I have known, who now live with God, four saints, definitely
with a small "s", but people who loved, however imperfectly, their God and their
neighbor:
Carrie is a woman
who loved with all her heart as she raised her two grandchildren after their
mother, her daughter, was killed in a murder-suicide by her own husband in a
drunken rage. By the time I knew her, those children were raised, Carrie's hair
was white, and she walked ever so slowly, with a cane. But she had big doe
eyes, that would well up with tears every time we celebrated either a baptism or
a funeral in the church. She wore her emotions on her sleeve, Carrie’s love for
God and for the children of the parish was brimming over, it's almost as if
every time she saw the kids go up front for the children's sermon she'd remember
her own grandchildren's innocence before before before that horrible day when
both their parents died. How Carrie loved God with all her heart for having
saved those two little girls and allowing them to grow up, scarred, but not
ruined by their tragic early years.
Carrie’s the one we chose as godmother for one of our own kids. We figured she
had one foot in heaven already, and when she passed away some years ago, and we
received the news, we knew Carrie would never stop praying for our son, her
special godchild.
Is there someone in your life, a saint, who loved God with her or his whole
heart?
Opal is a woman who loved with all her soul. Opal was the bagger at the
Piggly wiggly where I worked as a cashier for endless hours of my teenage life.
She had wavy gray hair that fell down to her waist, because she believed a
Christian woman ought not cut her hair. Opal was a born again Assembly of God
Christian who never met a spiritual practice she didn't like:
Fasting? She looked forward to it. Prayer services? Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and
twice on Sundays, she was there.
Speaking in tongues? She only wished everyone would receive the gift as she had
received it. Acts of charity? When Rachel, my fellow teenage cashier got
pregnant, It was Opal who bought her the really nice baby carriage and told her
that if her parents kicked her out of the house, as they threatened to do, then
she, Opal would gladly open up the attic bedroom in the tiny house she & her
husband rented. I have no idea what became of Opal, I never saw her again after
she quit because Piggly Wiggly decided to sell liquor, and that was not right
in Opal's eyes! But I think of her often, and I have never since met someone
with quite the firey soul love of Opal the bagger.
Is there someone in your life, someone who has maybe passed on, who loved
with a deep soul love?
Mr. Sittler is a professor Wayne & I knew who loved God with his mind. He was
always asking questions of his students, because he really wanted to know. “So
children”, he would say, even tho we were both in our twenties at the time: “
What was your internship congregation like? What were your greatest challenge
there?” Mr. Sittler would quote poetry from memory, he was endlessly curious
about nature and science, about the crafts of cabinetry and organ building, and
when his wife developed Alzheimers and he cared for her, he was saddened but
still fascinated by the way her mind worked, her new love for Sesame Street, but
also her continued strong response to classical music, even when other interests
had long since faded away. Mr. Sittler’s was one of the first deaths I
experienced where I felt real loss. I can't wait to hear what he's discovered
in heaven in the years since he’s arrived there.
Is there someone in your life, maybe someone who has passed on, who loved
with his or her mind?
My own father is someone I think of who loved God & others with his strength.
I 'm not sure I ever saw my father respond to a hymn with emotion, I can't
imagine him sitting still for a prayer service, I'm not so sure that he
thought a great deal about the sermons he heard... even during mine he had
a tendency to close his eyes and snore softly about ten minutes into it.
but he loved God and his neighbor with his strength-- Through the strong
furniture he built for his family, through the deep foundations he helped the
neighbor pour for his new garage, and through faithful and dependable financial
gifts to God's church. My father didn’t show other kinds of love much at all,
but he loved God and his family with his strength. When he died, 7 years ago, I
found myself needing but also loving my Father in heaven in a totally new way.
And I became a stronger doer and a better giver than I had been before.
How about you? Who do you remember and who do you miss this All Saints day? Who
has helped you to learn what it means to love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind, and with all your
strength?
Let us give thanks to God for all his Saints. Amen.
