Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
What we celebrate this Sunday has been known by different names, but none quite as striking as the church triumphant. However, if we are mourning the loss of a loved one recently, especially if it has come prematurely, it may be nearly impossible to see any triumph in this event. Triumph would mean for us to beat the disease, to have more time, to survive the accident. Triumph would mean victory, but losses are likely to feel like what they are, defeat. It is not so in the community of saints, in the church of living stones. Here, God’s promises of everlasting and abundant life have consequences (see Is. 25:6-8 and Re. 7:9-17). Luther says it best when describing “the holy community” in the Large Catechism: “ … there is on earth a holy little flock and community of pure saints under one head, Christ. It is called together by the Holy Spirit in one faith, mind, and understanding. It possesses a variety of gifts, and yet is united in love without sect or schism … Here there is full forgiveness of sins, both in that God forgives us and that we forgive, bear with, and aid one another.”1 Here, we are all made right!
1 Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 437–438.
Bridging Faith 