O Death Where Is Thy Sting?

REMEMBER TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK 1 HOUR SATURDAY NIGHT!

Today follows on yesterday’s celebration of the Feast of All Saints, those holy one’s of God who known and unknown, with the New Testament Epistle reading appointed for today which is taken from Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth where he writes:

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15: 50-58).

We often do not think of this, but death results because of sin; it is the break in our relationship with God.  In essence, we choose to reject God and to put Him aside, and to make ourselves the center of the universe, to take center stage.  Imagine the arrogance of humanity to put God aside; yet, that is what we do, and that is sin.  We fail to see our proper role in God’s universe.  But Paul reminds us that we have been brought to new life in Jesus Christ, God made man, who repaired the breach in the relationship, and who destroyed death itself.  Jesus puts things to rights and places God exactly where God belongs, center stage, and through that we have been changed.

Let us pray:  Help us, we pray, in the midst of things we cannot understand, to believe and trust in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to life everlasting. Grant us, with all who have died in the hope of the resurrection, to have our consummation and bliss in thine eternal and everlasting glory, and, with all thy saints, to receive the crown of life which thou dost promise to all who share in the victory of thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

There is a work day for the Community Garden tomorrow starting at 10 a.m.  Karen Lehr says there will be a “meeting/lunch from noon to 1:00. I'll be bringing vegetable soup. Bring a side dish if you can, but come anyway if that doesn't work out. Hope to see a lot of you, get us all up-to-date, and some needed work done in the garden.”

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Rosalind Crockett who is looking for a place to live, Bishop Doyle and his family as they celebrate the Liturgy of the Resurrection for his father who died this week.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550