Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
November 1, 2020
All Saints’ Day
My grandmother was a conservative, Rite 1, Morning Prayer
Episcopalian. She was tall, slim, and
had sort of strawberry blonde hair, at least when she was younger. She was not much of a cook, likely because
she really didn’t enjoy eating. So, you could
say that she and I had very little in common.
And, in fact, we were not even related biologically. She was my grandfather’s second wife, not the
mother of my father. But she and my
grandfather had married 10 years before I was born so we never made any
distinction between this grandmother and our other two biological grandmothers.
Her grandmother name was Ninny, our childhood redaction of Elinor, and we
adored her. She let us cook in her
kitchen, tried to teach us to sew which was an epic fail despite her patient efforts,
and spoiled us rotten. Even as adults,
when some of our differences might have mattered, they did not. We went hunting for Queen Anne’s lace
together, spent hours of time talking at the kitchen table, and shared an unconditional
love that went way beyond our differences.
Today is All Saints’ Day, the day we remember those who
have gone before us and left a mark on our lives. We will hear, because we cannot sing, some of
the greatest hymns of the church. We
will remember our loved ones in our prayers.
We will hear the names of our loved ones spoken out loud as we are
reminded that those who have gone before us join us when we pray. All Saints’ is a beloved feast day of the
church, I think in part because on All Saints’ Day we feel connected with both
our loved ones who have gone before us and with each other. On All Saints’ Day, we experience the communion
of saints in our song, in our prayers, in the candles and flowers, and in our
memories.
But All Saints’ Day is not just about looking back and
remembering, as powerful as those memories are.
Our All Saints’ scripture readings all call us forward, into being our very
best selves and making the Kingdom of God a present reality on earth. The reading from Revelation gives us a vision
of the Kingdom of God in which people from all tribes and peoples and languages
will be one multitude despite their differences. They will be united in their praise of God
and look to the day when there will be no more hunger or thirst, or any
scorching heat, and God will wipe away the tear from every eye. The reading from 1 John reminds us that what
we are now, even as children of God, is not all that we will ever be. What we will be has not yet been revealed. We are called into being even more than we
already are as children of God, which is hard to imagine. And the gospel reading from Matthew tells us
that those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, are meek, who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, are merciful, pure in heart, are peacemakers, or are
persecuted for righteousness sake are blessed.
That does not mean that they are happy, or that these characteristics
are necessarily good things. What Jesus
is telling us is that they are blessed, which means we experience something of the
kingdom of God in them.
What I believe we experience in the beatitudes are people
who know their dependence on God and others.
Those who mourn rely on God and others to be comforted. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
shall be filled-by God and other people.
Peacemakers rely on God and others in their quest for peace. They cannot
do that work alone. And on and on. In the Kingdom of God there are no lone
rangers.
On this particular All Saints’ Day, we stand on the cusp of
what is perhaps an unprecedented week. Covid-19
numbers are escalating in our county, our state, our country, and around the world. Tuesday is Election Day with unprecedented division
and fears of violence and upheaval in the aftermath among those on both
sides. In the midst of whatever anxiety
we might feel, whatever the source, All Saints’ Day calls us to remember three
things. First, as the body of Christ,
and even as the human race, we are one body despite our differences. The one multitude the reading from Revelation
describes has people from all tribes, people, languages, which means all political
parties, theological persuasions, faiths, and anything else that divides
us. When we recognize that we are one
body, we realize that what we do affects everyone else, and their hurt or
suffering affects us. Secondly, All Saints’
calls us into being our very best selves.
As Christians who identify as Episcopalians, we are our best selves when
we keep the promises we make in our baptismal covenant, which include seeking
and serving Christ in all people, working for justice and peace, and respecting
the dignity of every human being. 1 John
tells us that we are God’s children now and that what we will be has not yet
been revealed, which is beyond our imaginations. We are called to live into that reality. And thirdly, All Saints’ Day and the beatitudes
call us to remember our dependence on God and each other. There is nothing we must do alone.
Whatever
the outcome of the election, whatever the situation with Covid or anything else
that divides us, there will be an abundance of gospel work that needs to be done. There are hungry people to feed, homeless people
to shelter, grieving people to comfort, justice and peace to work for, divisions
to heal, and in the midst of it all, gospel news to proclaim. The saints
of God point us to a reality rooted in peace and justice, love and life and
call us forward to work for that reality.
But we can only get there together.
As a friend of mine says “Alone we can go faster, but together we can go
further.” When there is a long way to
go, a lot of healing that needs to happen, and a lot of work that needs to be
done, we at Christ Church know we need to go together. In the midst of our memories, our prayers,
beautiful music and flowers, our smiles and our tears this day, All Saints’ Day
calls us forward to be our very best selves and to work as one body across our
differences to make the Kingdom of God a more present reality on earth.
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