Reclaiming All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day November 1, 2020 The Rev. Mark Pendleton Christ Church, Exeter Reclaiming All Saints’ Day 1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be Gilled. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:1-12 A feast day is meant to stand out from all the others. Long before there were national holidays like Labor Day, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, the feasts of the church year were anticipated as a time to pause from the routine, drudgery and work of the daily life. These were days of community gathering, family meals and visiting, rituals, processions and vigils. All Saints’ Day has a long and rich history. Each year I like to re-claim this feast day from the dominance of the ever-popular Halloween, which was Mirst known as All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saint’s Eve. Hallow, or holy, is not a common word in everyday life except for when we pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. What I like most about All Saints’ Day is that it is about people – the saintly, the holy and the ordinary people of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Christmas is about the birth of Christ, God being with us. Holy Week and Easter are centered on the life, death and resurrection of Christ that leads us deeper into the mystery of new life. Pentecost is the gift of the wind, breath and Spirit of God dwelling inside us and pushing out into the world to do God’s work. All Saints, and the day that follows on November 2nd All Souls’, is about the interconnectedness of human life: past, present and future. Everyone born into this world shares the experience of life. We live, rest, sleep, play, thirst, hunger, love, grieve and suffer. We are born into vasty different circumstances around the world – rich and poor and all states in between. Born and raised in remote villages, packed cities, suburban sprawl -- in the Global South and the Global North – into homes of faith and no faith at all. We know the names of the great saints of the church, Saints Peter and Paul, St. Augustine, St. Patrick of Ireland, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Nicholas, the inspiration of Ole’ St. Nick and Santa Clause. At their best, their lives inspire us to believe in what is possible: to see the light and the possibilities in us to be Christ’s hands and heart in our world. Frederick Buechner, one of my favorite authors and one-time chaplain at Philips Exeter Academy, of course said it best when wrote of saints: “all the foolish ones and wise ones, the shy ones and overbearing ones, the broken ones and whole ones, the despots and tosspots and crackpots of our lives who, one way or another, have been our particular fathers and mothers and saints, and whom we loved without knowing we loved them and by whom we were helped to whatever little we may have, or ever hope to have, of some kind of seedy sainthood of our own.” As an aside, each year the Episcopal Church (Forward Movement) holds a unique tournament to complete with the NCAA March Madness: Lenten Madness. Saints complete against one another as people vote online to move their favorites through the round of 32, then onto the Saintly 16, Elate 8 and the Faithful 4 to see who wears the golden halo. Past winners have included Harriot Tubman last year, C.S. Lewis, and Mary Madeline in years past. It’s a light-hearted way to learn about lives of holiness and faithfulness. If they inspire us just a little then I believe we are in a better place. In our gospel reading today, we hear the familiar Beatitudes -- or blessings -- from the Sermon on the Mount. With this list and inventory, Jesus gives us a hint of where and with whom he will begin creating this new community that will live into what he calls the Kingdom of God. Jesus builds his new community of saints from the bottom up and from the outside in. As Jesus gathers his followers in Galilee, we learn how he does not begin with the privileged and the powerful. Who does he meet, heal and gather along the way to his Minal days in Jerusalem? Lepers, Misherman, tax collectors, and women. He begins with those who have loved and lost, who have wept, who have known pain, and who are often beaten down and forgotten. He called them blessed: the poor, those who mourn, the hungry and the merciful and pure in heart. Jesus telegraphs that the road to blessedness and holiness is often paved by those who draw close to God when an unjust world bears down around them -- when it seems as if God is far off and silent. They are the seeds of the Kingdom of God. They are the laborers, advocates, friends and midwives of something new being born into our world and lives. Over these last weeks and months, as many Americans are taking a hard and sober look at the state of our society when it comes to questions of power, injustice, and race. It has been both self-reMlection and reckoning. Speaking as a white male from a position of privilege, I have spent some time with a small group of others learning about how we got to this point: what we never learned in school. The ‘Seeing White’ podcast we have recommended to the parish has been eye-opening. The death of George Floyd in May was not the Mirst brutal death of a black male and it will not be the last, but the tragedy did something to move many people off the sidelines. Privilege is a loaded word. It is not a perfect word. But for me it has reminded me of how I have heard the word “blessed” be used and misused, as in, “I have blessed to have what I have” or “We are blessed to live in this country” or “I feel blessed to have achieved what I have.” Those uses seem to me a world away from how Jesus intended. To be blessed it not to be lucky or fortunate, it is rather to be close to God. Saints come in all forms. What they have in common is an openness to have their lives offered for the good of others. On All Saints’ and on the following day All Souls, or All Faithful Departed, we as a living community say: we remember you. The holy and the celebrated saints. Those brave souls who toiled in the leper colonies, cared for the sick, rushed to the wounded in battle, gave away their riches to the poor, brought the light of the gospel to those in darkness and stood up and with God’s people in times of testing. We remember our fathers and mothers, who went to work and cared for us, and our ancestors, and friends who meant so much to us. We will read the names of those known and loved by members of this community who died this past year. In the Communion of the Saints -- this great cloud of witnesses -- we believe that they too have not forgotten us. To believe this we need to be open to mystery and faith – there is nothing here we can prove or document. Yet anyone who has ever felt and known the peace and presence and memory of a loved one or friend who has passed way knows what I’m trying to express. Lastly, it has been many months since we have gathered around this altar to celebrate Holy Eucharist. And I know that until there is a vaccine it will be many more months until so many of you return in person. Today we will invite you to pray with us a prayer of Spiritual Communion. It is prayer of longing and waiting: “Since I cannot at this moment receive you in the Sacrament of your Body and Blood, come spiritually into my heart. I embrace you and unite myself entirely to you. Let me never be separated from you in this life or in the life to come. Amen.”