God is “Lord of all,” as the apostle Paul reminds us in our epistle lesson. All—not just some—not just those who look like me or pray like me, but ALL! As the children’s hymn proclaims: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” (Woolston, Root) We are all children of God, every last one of us on this earth, no matter how different we are, no matter how differently we may worship the Holy One.

God continually inspires us, each and all, with love and wants us to share that love near and far, throughout the world. That is the message of Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats (Mt. 25:31-46), where the hungry are fed, the thirsty satisfied, the stranger welcomed, the naked clothed, the sick ministered unto, the prisoners visited, all by those who have come to know God’s love. Loving service, modeled so perfectly by Jesus, is the way we are called to incarnate God’s love in the world around us. Thomas Merton, 20th century monk and spiritual teacher, encourages such loving service as he points out, “What we do that is pure in His sight will avail for the liberty, the enlightenment, and the salvation of His children everywhere.” (Book of Hours, p.171)

God is Lord of ALL, not just us sentient beings, but of all creation. As we become aware of the complete interdependence of all creation, that we are not separate as we have assumed, but one with all creation in God, we begin to see “this fragile earth, our island home” needs our loving service in ways that we have not hitherto imagined. We begin to recognize that we can no longer merely think of what is good for me and mine, that we are being called to consider the common good, what is good for each and all of God’s creatures throughout the world, regardless of all our perceived differences. Indeed, as Paul tells us, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek [read European, African, Asian, American; read Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist; read animal, vegetable, mineral, etc.], the same Lord is Lord of all.”