The Sunday after All Saint's Day - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 

                Luke 6:20-31, November 2, 2025

                The words we heard from Luke today may sound vaguely familiar to you. Maybe they sound similar to words you’ve heard from the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 5. Matthew’s account goes like this, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: (Matthew 5:1-2). Then, come the nine verses starting with “Blessed are” and ending with “for they.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9).

            Luke’s account is a little different than Matthew’s. In Matthew’s account, Jesus is atop a mountain and looking down at the people. It’s referred to as The Sermon on the Mount.

            Gospel reading started today in Chapter 6 verse 20. But it’s important to hear what happened just before this. Verses 17-19 are: “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. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said” (Luke 6:17-20). Then, as Jesus is looking up at them, he tells them the three blessings and three woes we heard. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24).  

            There’s a movie that came out in 2017 called Same Kind of Different as Me. It’s a true story about a wealthy art dealer, Ron Hall. Ron lives in Texas with his wife, Debbie. He’s a self-absorbed, shrewd businessman who’s main concern is his wealth and success. This puts a strain on his marriage.

            Debbie is the complete opposite of Ron. She is a woman of deep faith. She volunteers at a local homeless shelter. Debbie invites Ron to come with her to volunteer one day. It’s not something he wants to do but he goes anyway. While working, they meet a man named Denver Moore. Denver is a hard man. He grew up in poverty, faced a lifetime of racism, and now has no home. The life he has lived has made him wary of anyone’s kindness.

            As much as Ron and Debbie try to get to know Denver, he doesn’t want anything to do with them. But Ron and Debbie don’t stop, they are persistent. They continue to try to build a relationship with Denver. Over time, Denver begins to lower the walls he’s built around him. Ron and Denver begin to build a relationship and eventually a strong friendship.

            As their friendship continues, Debbie is diagnosed with cancer. Denver, who earlier had walls around him that were built from a lack of faith and trust in others, becomes the greatest source of comfort and spiritual strength for Ron.      

Denver, the man living in a homeless shelter, who seemed to need help, becomes the one who ministers to the helpers. For Denver, his faith and wisdom was shaped by his suffering. What he gave back to Ron was a new understanding of God’s heart and what real love looks like.

            This is the message Jesus is teaching us in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. Jesus came down to the people. He stood amongst them, on a level field. Before he even started talking to the disciples, he healed the people. Then Luke tells us Jesus looked up at his disciples and began teaching. Jesus looked up, which means, Jesus was probably kneeling, on the ground, with the people. Can you see this image…Jesus kneeling on the ground, healing people, then looking up to teach the disciples, maybe as he was still healing and caring for others? I think that Jesus was teaching more by doing than by his words.

            Denver was a man with nothing, yet he had everything. He revealed to Ron the richness of God’s Kingdom. Denver taught Ron to love beyond all the social barriers he had been taught, beyond prejudice, and fear. Both Debbie and Ron served in the homeless shelter out of obedience to what God commands us to do. But things turned on them. Their hearts were transformed when they saw Christ in Denver, who in their eyes, was a broken man.

            At a previous church I attended, once a month we would go to the Emmaus House and help serve breakfast to the unsheltered community. One month when we went, my daughter was home from college and asked if she could go. She worked in the kitchen, cutting and prepping and then later on the plating assembly line. She helped clean up and then we went to the car.

            When we got in the car, she was crying. When I asked why, she talked about how amazing it was to serve that community. What she saw were people, who were gracious for the food they were given. People who when I asked what they needed, didn’t ask for money, they asked for a sleeping bag to protect them from the cold nights.

            My daughter got up that morning, so proud that she was going to walk into that building and be the hands and feet of Christ. But when it was all done and said, what she realized was that Christ was already there, waiting to meet us. We don’t take Jesus to people; so often we meet Him in them.  

            Last Sunday we started our stewardship campaign, “A Chorus of Generosity.” The Gospel of Jesus on the plain, the true story of Ron and Denver, the story of my daughter serving at the Emmaus house, that’s what A Chorus of generosity is all about.

            When we give of our time and talent and treasure, we’re investing in God’s mission. Giving from what we’ve been given so we can become who we are and lifting up the gifts of others so we can become who we are together. That’s the mission worth investing in, and celebrating, and singing about for all to hear. A chorus of voices, in unison and harmony.

            The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Sean Rowe spoke at the joint meeting of the Diocese of Georgia and the Diocese of Atlanta I recently attended. Bishop Rowe said that we are to put the most vulnerable and marginalized at the center of our common life – not leave them in the margins and serve them there.

            He said that when we are faced with choices in our parishes, when we are making choices on how we serve, when we are making choices on how to better our community, we are called to follow the teachings of Jesus, so there really should be no choice at all. Our mission is very simple: when it comes to decisions and choices, there is only one choice, follow the teachings of Jesus.

            St. Thomas’ church is a special community with a special song to sing, for the love of the world, for the love of God, and the love of neighbor. Make a joyful noise, all the earth. Lift up your voice and sing. Amen.