On this All Saints Day, I give thanks to God for each of you and each of those you remember today. We gather this morning to praise God and participate in this countercultural holy day, which has been a part of the life of the church, since the earliest days. Nadia Bolz- Weber, Lutheran pastor who has become known as truth-teller writes, “Apart from those who have fallen in combat, Americans tend to forget our ancestors, and we spend as little time as possible publicly mourning them. But in the church, we do the very odd thing of proclaiming that the dead are still a part of us, a part of our lives, and are even an animating presence in the church. Saint Paul describes the saints as a “great cloud of witnesses,’ so when they have passed, we still hold them up, hoping perhaps that their virtues—their ability to have faith in God in the face of an oppressive empire or a failing crop or the blight of cancer—might become our virtue, our own strength.1 ”
It is the animating presence of God and God’s people that we understand as we reflect on the Invisible Sting that I spoke to the children about. When we recall the pillars and founders of our faith, we acknowledge that we are connected through the communion of saints. When you remember your grandmother who took you to church or your great uncle who silently showed you generosity as he gave to each hobo that came to the backdoor with grace and dignity, you are celebrating the communion of saints. The book reminds us as do the psalms that our location in life does not limit our connection to God or those God has placed in our lives. We honor them and God as we recall their lives.
We have often imagined that remembering our loved ones must look like this. Le Jour de Morts, was painted by William Adolphe Bouguereau, in 1859 is one image of how we might carry out our dedication to those who have gone before. But I wonder if it might also look like: All Saints Day I, painted by Vassily Kandinsky during the same time period. Kandinsky, a former Russian Orthodox pilgrim, suggested that the experience of the painting was to be the spiritual experience. The energy of the painting recalls for me both moments with those who I remember with joy and those who lives were lived in complexities and paradoxes.
Is this not exactly who our loved ones are today? Those who we admired and those who we wondered about. Those who we tell beautiful stories of grace and generosity and those who we who rather not bring up a certain part of who they were. Bolz-Weber, continues, “It has been my experience that what makes us the saints of God is not our ability to be saintly but rather God’s ability to work through sinners… I have come to realize that all the saints I have known have been accidental ones – people who inadvertently stumbled into redemption like they were looking for something else at the time, people who have a wee bit of a drinking problem and manage to get sober and help others do the same, people who are as kind as they are hostile.2 ” Our loved ones are just like that. Those who live lives that when we are most honest are testimonies to God’s work, rather than their own. Those who urged us to finish school, when they themselves had not. Those who gave sage parenting advice when we have some wonderings about how they raised us. Those who called us the best in us, when their was not always seen. God’s love shined through them.
Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us that saints are “distinguished by their extravagant love of God, which shines brighter than anything else about them.”3 As we remember those who died over the last year, we celebrate that life continues. Babies have been born in many of the families of those who we are remembering today. Grandchildren and great grandchildren have come into the world. They want to and need to hear the stories of great grand mom and granddad of aunt and uncle. Notice in our photographs this morning, some families have taken the bold step of including their loved one in playful moments. Does this not remind us all of the extravagant love of God? These are stories that families will always tell as they remember. Stories that are told between a slight tear and gentle smile.
Our gospel lesson reminds of the tenderness and strength that Jesus offers each of us in our grief. Tenderness in his response. Many children who were instructed to memorize a bible verse of their choosing selected one from this passage – Jesus wept. Short and to the point. Death is a loss and our emotions can be overwhelming. Jesus joins us in our grief. Cries along with us. However, we are not left only in that moment. Jesus brings healing out of death and calls us to unbind our grief and mourning in order to experience new life. Unbind us and let us live in a world carrying our memories as close as our skin, but without the burden of grief. Through Jesus, God looses us from the pain that might limit us and the desperation that might hold us down.
The psalmist asks who can go the mountain of the Lord? Who is can come before the Lord? The answer is simple, all of us who have clean hands, pure heart. There is not only one way of cultivating a pure heart or clean hands; there is not only one way of extravagantly loving God. Rather, what unites the diversity of the saints is that they seek God.
Each week in this series, I have ended my message with a challenge for the week to come. I thank you that you have taken with earnestness these challenges. The response from last week with good works, has been filling our emergency food pantry, bringing smiles to the faces of many, and as you will hear in a little bit, opening us all up to how God might use, even us. Today, I challenge you throughout this week to tell the story of a saint of God, who inspires us. Perhaps, it is a grandparent or a neighbor, your brother, or even a young girl, who valiantly fought cancer. Tell their stories, complete with moments of extravagant love and honest humanity. We need to hear again that God did not leave us along, but rather gives us one another to urge each of us onto perfection. Walks beside us in the trials of life and lifts us up on God’s very wings to know the fullness of God’s promises. Call each of us, again to the extravagant love of God.
This is the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
Thanks be to God, Amen.
1 Bolz-Weber, Nadia, Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People. Convergent, 5.
2 Bolz-Weber, 7.
3 Brown, Barbara Taylor. “God’s Handkerchiefs” in Home by Another Way. Chicago: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1999. Page 211
Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up,
O ancient doors that the King of glory may come in.
Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah
Gospel Lesson: John 11:32-44
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, November 1 ~ Saturday, November 7
Sunday: “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?” Psalm 24:3. God extends grace to all. Give thanks to God for those who have shown you the way of following God.
Monday: “Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.” Psalm 24:4. God’s call to us is live fully and authentically, embracing that which is of God. Ask God in prayer to show you how to live with clean hands and pure hearts.
Tuesday: “They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation.” Psalm 24:5. God is generous with us. Consider how you might offer blessings generously to others.
Wednesday: “Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah” Psalm 24:6. We are made stronger in the company of those who seek God. Where are you surrounding yourselves with those who seek God?
Thursday: “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” John 11:33. Jesus wept. Jesus weeps with you. Lean on the compassion and presence of Jesus.
Friday: “Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40. Notice today where Jesus is showing you God’s glory.
Saturday: “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him and let him go.” John 11:44. Where do you need to unbind that which Jesus has already healed?