November 7, 2021 – All Saints Sunday
Fr. Cal Calhoun
In the Name of God, the Creator and keeper of the Great Cloud of Witnesses: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
[Lillian Roberts, age 6 mos., was baptized at the 10:00 Service.]
Lillian, your Bishop, Bishop Brian was here last April and we had a baptism. And he wondered if each of us knew what the readings were for the day we were baptized, what might those readings say to us.
You, little sister, have the gift of being baptized on All Saints Sunday! On this day we give thanks for all those who have gone before us in the faith. Our first reading from Ecclesiasticus echoes this idea. It talks about those great ones whose names we know, like Peter and James and John and the rest of the disciples. And we might think of popular saints like St. Francis and St. Christopher, and even Santa Claus, who is a saint of sorts, although commercialism has twisted his story quite a bit. There are some Old Testament saints, like Moses and Elijah and Isaiah. All those famous ones. And then there are the not so famous saints. As I have visited with people over the years, and heard their stories of faith, I am surprised how often a grandmother comes up as one of those most influential in people’s spiritual journeys. We all have those people in our own journeys who have helped us along, prodded us, loved us, maybe even threatened us, whatever it takes to get us to open our eyes to the presence of God in our lives. We remember those people today. I have a few that I remember, a priest and mentor, Mike, my first boss in this work, Craig. There are many from this community who left an impact on me. And then there are those from this community we have lost in the last year: Jeanne, Walt, Marianne, Sandra, Rick, Lynn, and, Joan. And there are the ones we have known and loved, not a part of this community, but a part of our lives, who we have lost in the last year, or a long time ago, and we still miss them everyday.
That, Lillian, that is the great cloud of witnesses. All the past, present, and future followers of God. When we gather for communion each week, we not only ask the Holy Spirit to fill the bread and the wine with the presence of Jesus, we invite and expect all those who have gone before to join us in this celebration, that we call communion or Eucharist, which means thanksgiving. And we give thanks that each week that great cloud of witnesses gathers with us to give thanks for the saving work of God.
In our reading from the book of Revelation, John is giving us an image of what the next great adventure might look like. There is a denomination that claims to be saved you need to be one of the 144,000 who are sealed. In a world of over 7 billion, not to mention those who have walked this earth and died already, who aren’t included in the 7+ billion, 144,000 is a disappointingly small number. That is a really narrow door. Now Lillian, you being the observant woman that I know you are, you probably noticed that there are four verses missing in our reading from Revelation. Right after it says there are 144,000 sealed out of every tribe of Israel, it tells us there are 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes and lists them all. Those are the verses they cut out so we didn’t have to list them all today. Sometimes the folks from that denomination knock on your door to talk about joining them. I have always wanted to ask them which tribe they are from. Usually, when I tell them what I do, they really aren’t that interested in spending time with me. But it has always puzzled me that it seems as if they read the part about the 144,000 and stopped reading. Here is the Good News: “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”
A multitude that no one could count, that is a really big number. Lillian, the biggest number that I can think of is probably our national debt. 28.5 trillion dollars. But you know what? Those dollars have been counted. So, a multitude that no one can count… now that’s something! From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. That tells me that no one, no one is meant to be left out. That is the part that gives me hope. Because I don’t see myself in one of the 12 tribes of Israel, but this multitude, that no one can count from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. There! I can find a place there! And so can you, Lillian! So can you. And so can all of these people!
Now the problem, as I see it, is that we have one more reading. The Gospel. These are Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount. This beautiful bit of poetry is called the Beatitudes because Jesus is calling people “blessed.” The problem here, Lillian, is that most of these people that Jesus calls blessed, those aren’t really the people we think of as being blessed. You probably already know this, but Jesus has this way of turning things upside down. He is fond of saying the first will be last and the last will be first. Take, for example, the poor, or the poor in spirit, either way you look at that doesn’t seem like they are blessed. Those who mourn, they are sad because someone they love has died, or a relationship has ended. It doesn’t seem like they are blessed. Same with the meek, and those who hunger, and those who are persecuted, I mean, nobody goes looking for persecution, right? Now the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those we can picture being blessed, but these others? What is Jesus trying to tell us here?
I think, Jesus is trying to tell us, that this following Jesus business, this spiritual journey, it won’t always be easy. In fact, there are times it will be really, really difficult. And maybe, just maybe, it is in that difficulty that we will find blessing. That difficulty may be the thing that brings us closer to God. We will have to persevere in this journey, Lillian. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.
Br. James Koester of SSJE, that’s the Episcopal monastery in Boston says this about the Path:
“For a path to be a path, you have to be able to see it, or at least catch glimpses of it, every so often. And for that to happen, somebody needs to have walked it ahead of you. We may not be able to see them, but here and there they have left a sign: a shoe or a boot abandoned in the muck, something they have dropped, a pile of stones, a depression in the grass, a way marker inscribed with an arrow pointing the way – or simply the holiness of their lives.”
That is what All Saints is about Lillian. A path for us illuminated by the holiness of the lives of those who have gone before. The ones we never knew and only caught glimpses of on the path and the ones we knew and loved who actually walked the path with us. All that, Lillian, it’s all that.
Lillian, my prayer for you is also a prayer for all these people here: that you always know that you are on the path, that spiritual journey, and that you are always surrounded by those who love you and will help you find that path on those difficult days, parents, grandparents, godparents, and these people here. These people here are going to stand up in a few minutes and promise to do all in their power to support you in your life in Christ. Lillian, until you choose another, this is your community of faith, and you will always be welcomed here. So, Lillian, are you ready to make a splash?
Year B, All Saints Sunay – November 7, 2021 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
