The times and seasons kept by the body of Christ often bear a consoling and encouraging witness in contrast with the times and seasons of our surrounding culture.
Fear and anxiety will surely continue to amplify as election day draws near. We feel that if things go a certain way, it will be “the end.” At the same time, the church gathers around the memory of our beloved saints. Not a laundry list of perfect people, but a chorus of voices and faces who have shaped our faith and now rest in mercy.
These are the saints who are mystically and mysteriously worshiping with us each time we come together around bread, wine, water and prayer. These are the ones who have ended their earthly journey, fulfilled their baptism and point to our new beginning in Christ Jesus.
This month may the witness of the saints and the good news in our worship texts ground us in God’s grace, even as worry and stress mount up around us.
Consider the powerful and beautiful description of Christ’s reign from Colossians 1:19 (Reign of Christ Sunday): “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” If everything has been already fulfilled in Jesus, what can any fearful talk of endings do to us? We know Christ to be both our end and our beginning.
Even in the foreboding imagery of Luke (Lectionary 33) comes an assurance of grace and God’s power to hold us. For while nations rage, wars are waged and earthquakes topple us, “not a hair of your head will perish” (21:18). We look to the saints to keep this memory alive in us: though we die an earthly death, and though the things we used to think were solid may change or be toppled, we will not perish eternally. We are forever held in Jesus.
Or hear the encouragement given to the church in Ephesus from Paul (All Saints Day), that the faithful have received a glorious inheritance and are “marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
What an opportunity to remember our baptisms together and proclaim the strength of this seal upon us. Nothing can remove this mark of grace—no election, no turmoil, no inner or outer unrest.
As November draws to a close, we turn our attention to beginnings. We will dive into Advent, with its blue paraments and starry imagery, and keep a rhythm of anticipation and expectation for all the ways Christ is entering our world even now. Maybe all of November we can begin gently, prayerfully singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Can we sing this while we wait in line to cast our vote?
In every ending and at every beginning, we belong to Christ.
