Daily Lesson for October 31, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson commemorates All Hallows’ Eve and comes from the Book of Wisdom chapter 3 verses 1 through 9:

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,

and no torment will ever touch them. 

2 In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,

and their departure was thought to be a disaster, 

3 and their going from us to be their destruction;

but they are at peace. 

4 For though in the sight of others they were punished,

their hope is full of immortality. 

5 Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,

because God tested them and found them worthy of himself; 

6 like gold in the furnace he tried them,

and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them. 

7 In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,

and will run like sparks through the stubble. 

8 They will govern nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord will reign over them for ever. 

9 Those who trust in him will understand truth,

and the faithful will abide with him in love,

because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,

and he watches over his elect.

Last week I watched the memorial service for Matthew Shepherd, the young gay man who was brutally killed in Wyoming 20 years ago and whose life and witness was now being honored with the internment of his ashes in the Washington National Cathedral. The Lesson for today was the first reading in that service and the first verse struck me deeply:

“But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,

and no torment will ever touch them.”

Those words took on additional meaning Saturday morning when I learned of the terrible mass murder which took place in the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania. 

On this All Hallows’ Eve, we remember all the faithful departed and especially all those who have lost their lives to violence and hatred, Jew and Gentile alike. 

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, no torment can now touch them.  Though they died brutally as victims of evil, we take comfort in God’s promise that they are at rest. 

In fact, that is the last thing Bishop Gene Robinson said at the memorial for Matt Shepherd. Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop and himself at times a target of the world’s hatred, closed his homily by saying to Matthew, “Gently rest in this place. You are safe now.”

Matthew is safe now. The eleven who were killed in the Tree of Life synagogue are safe. The nine murdered in the Mother Emanuel Church are safe. All the righteous are safe in the hand of God; and no torment can touch them now.