Service Notes
On All Saints Sunday, the Very Rev. Tom Purdy weaves together the absurdhumor of Jack Handey, the Beatitudes from Luke’s Gospel, and the real lives ofsaints—both famous and personal—to ask a serious question: What if Jesusisn’t joking?
Beginning with a “Deep Thought” about Grandma’s fall that people laughat—until they realize she’s not joking—Fr. Tom turns to Jesus’ Beatitudes andour instinct to treat them the same way. How can the poor, the hungry, thegrieving, and the persecuted be called blessed, happy, or fortunate,especially in a world of food insecurity, natural disasters, and deepsuffering?
From Mary’s Magnificat to Jesus’ first sermon in Nazareth, and throughthe stories of Ignatius of Antioch, Charles Wesley, Anson Dodge, and DeaconessAnna Alexander, Fr. Tom shows that God’s “upside-down” way has always been atthe heart of the Gospel. The saints we honor didn’t have easy or pain-freelives—but they learned to trust that Jesus’ vision of blessing is more realthan the world’s.
Fr. Tom then turns to the “everyday saints” in our ownlives—grandparents, teachers, mentors, pastors—who have shaped our faith inquiet, imperfect but holy ways. Finally, he reminds us that we are alsocalled to be saints: to live as if Jesus really meant what he said about thepoor, the hungry, the grieving, and the least among us.
This All Saints sermon invites us to:
- Wrestle honestly with the Beatitudes and our assumptions about blessing
- See the saints as real, flawed people who trusted God in hard places
- Recognize our abundance and share it with those in need
- Live as if Jesus’ “upside-down” teaching is actually the right way up
In the end, Fr. Tom leaves us with a challenge and a hope: when it comesto the Beatitudes and the call to love our neighbors, Jesus wasn’t joking.
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