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November 13, 2006

Anne Jensen November 5, 2006

Anne Jensen All Saints’ Day - 2006

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“I sing a song of the saints of God…”

Here it is-- All Saints' Day, and we, who are very much alive, are invited to recall the faithful departed. The hymn we just sang holds up the virtues of those saints, “patient and brave and true.”

In New Testament usage, saints are those who aspire to the holiness of the Holy God whom they serve. Because the Holy Spirit dwells within them, they too are made holy. A saint, therefore, is one who reflects the sanctity of the God he or she serves: to be a saint in this sense is a sign not of perfection, but of faithfulness.

Particular saints have days given over to their commemoration, but on November 1 all saints, famous and anonymous, are commemorated. One of the themes of the day is the saints in bliss, those who "from their labors rest" and who enjoy the felicity of God beyond the realm of time and space. These saints have fought the good fight, and we remember them, even those whose names are unknown to us. There is another aspect to this notion of sainthood; it emphasizes the living identity of saints as fellow believers, those all around us--"everyday saints" who exist neither in stained glass nor in heaven, but in the rough-and-tumble of our daily lives.

I agree with Peter Gomes, who wrote, “Of all the Christian holidays, I find this one, in all of its senses, to be the most reassuring. I like the idea of the great and heroic ones who have gone on before: their names remind us that great lives were called to do great things for God. I like thinking of the saints beyond, not simply resting, but waiting for us to join them: they assure us of a future. And I like thinking of saints as ordinary people like ourselves, seeking to be faithful and holy here and now.”

So what’s in this holiness? We find the heart of holy living in the summary of the law: Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, with all your souls, and with all your mind, and love your neighbors as yourselves,” and the two are not to be separated. Thus we cannot simply sit in humble adoration of the divine at the expense of the human. Nor can we be filled, indeed even obsessed with feel-good good works and at the same time neglect the duty and reverence owed to God.

Katherine Jefferts Schori, who was installed as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church yesterday caught this truth in her homily. She called the Church to her vision of "shalom." She said, “Shalom doesn't just mean that sort of peace that comes when we're no longer at war,"

"It is that rich and multihued vision of a world where no one goes hungry because everyone is invited to a seat at the groaning board, it's a vision of a world where no one is sick or in prison because all sorts of disease have been healed, it's a vision of a world where every human being has the capacity to use every good gift that God has given, it's a vision of a world where no one enjoys abundance at the expense of another, where all enjoy Sabbath rest in the conscious presence of God," she said. "Shalom means all human beings live together as siblings, at peace with one another and with God, and in right relationship with all of the rest of creation."

“Shalom is created,” she said, “when all people are at home with each other and with God. When Augustine says "our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee, O Lord" he means that our natural home is in God.” In another approach to what home is, she refers to Robert Frost’s poem “Death of the Hired Man” in which he wrote, "home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in." Building on this, the Bishop said, “We all ache for a community that will take us in, with all our warts and quirks and petty meanness – and still celebrate when they see us coming!"

She continues, "That vision of home going and homecoming that underlies our deepest spiritual yearnings is also the job assignment each one of us gets in baptism – go home, and while you're at it, help to make a home for everyone else on earth," she continued.

"The home we ultimately seek is found in relationship with creator, with redeemer, with spirit." Home is where the faithful departed find shalom and where they await us. And not only that, they surround us and cheer us on even now.

This morning we are baptizing Virginia Sybil Such, Karen and Asa’s daughter, and we welcome her to this communion of saints. She will be sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever. When I met with Karen last week, she told me about her experience last year on All Saints’ Day., and she graciously gave me permission to share it with you. It is a real-life example of experiencing the Communion of Saints. Karen had wanted another child and didn’t think she could have another one. At that time last year she was singing in the choir and had just learned that the baby she carried was going to be just fine—no chromosomal problems at all. In the midst of the hymns and homily, in which Frannie gave us the image of the church balcony with all the saints gathered, looking down on us, smiling at us and loving us, Karen had a profound sense of her deceased mother’s presence. Filled with joy and gratitude she was overcome with tears, and she couldn’t stop the weeping. Our deacon, ever in tune with human need, provided her with Kleenex. The early church mothers and fathers wrote of the gift of tears and that it expresses a deep spiritual state. It is with great joy and thanksgiving that we baptize Virginia Sybil, who is named after her grandmother, a year later on this All Saints Day.

As we renew our baptismal vows, let us hold onto the image of the everyday saints, who in baptism are made holy by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. We do not go on this journey alone; we together, are the body of Christ, and our faith is not just individual. Faith is demonstrated by how we together as the church work to re-establishing God’s shalom.

Remember the words we sang just a few minutes ago:
“They lived not only in ages past,/ There are hundreds of thousands still;

The world is bright with the joyous saints/ Who love to do Jesus' will.

You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea, /In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,

For the saints of God began just like me, /And I mean to be one too.”

In our prayers we ask for assistance in the daily hard work of holiness, the daily grind of sainthood. It is reassuring to know that those saints who went before us were aided by the very God whom they loved and served, and that this great cloud of witnesses is rooting for us now.

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