All Saint’s Day
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. Amen.
I love saints. I grew up in the United Methodist Church, so we didn’t deny that there were saints, but we also didn’t really talk about certain saints. We mostly shared the idea that all Christians were saints in their own way, that we were working on our own sanctification through grace. This is a theology I can get behind and do believe, but I also think there’s something powerful about talking about certain saints. They are part of the reason I was drawn towards The Episcopal Church.
I found The Episcopal Church in seminary. I moved to Atlanta knowing no one, and the first friends I made were all in the Episcopal Studies program. I went to their Wednesday night worship service with them, and the saint days especially took hold for me. Here were people who were able to contextualize Christianity. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, they were able to be the Body of Christ in their times and their places. Jesus had the advantage of being fully divine alongside being fully human. These people were 100% human, yet the Holy Spirit flowed through them and made great things happen in the world. They amazed me and drew me in.
I was so intrigued and so enamored with the calendar of saints that for a while I really got into the separation of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. All Souls’ Day is the day after All Saints’ when the Church remembers all the departed, whether they were examples of Christian living or not. I was taken by All Souls’ because for the first time I felt like I could honestly remember and celebrate family members and friends who had issues, but whom I loved.The concept of All Souls’ freed me up to celebrate more people with my Church community without feeling like I was somehow erasing their flaws. I couldn’t honestly say that my grandmother who struggled with alcoholism all her life was saintly, but she was God’s beloved child, so I celebrated her on All Souls.
Eventually I understood why the celebrations are blended in most congregations. Really what we are celebrating today are All Saints and All Souls, all those who have gone before us into God’s heavenly realm. Some were amazing examples of Christ in the world, a few of them even made it onto the calendar of Saints, we honor and celebrate how they were able to share God in their own contexts and own times. Some were simply trying to live from day to day the best way they knew how. Some were broken, some were battered. All are loved. All left an impact on this world and we recognize them for who they were, fallible humans who are now in God’s embrace. They are all part of the choir around God’s heavenly altar table singing, “Holy, holy, holy.”
Perhaps in these days when we remember and honor them, they come a little bit closer, into that liminal space between the earthly and heavenly realms. That’s the concept behind All Hallow’s Eve, it’s a night where there is a thin spot between heaven and earth, when the spirits may even possibly be seen and felt. Perhaps Mexican culture expresses this best in the celebration of the Dia de los Muertos. It is both an embrace of our own mortality and an acknowledgement that our ancestors are still with us, both in how they impacted our lives and in their continuing love for us. The otherworldly feeling that comes with the acknowledgement of their impact on the world alongside the embrace of our own mortality is celebrated and highlighted.
Today, we celebrate their lives, and we embrace our own mortality in a powerful way with a baptism. Today we celebrate with Leia as she is sealed into a new life, one that embraces the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is already at work in her life, leading and guiding her, but now we give her life to God, asking God to use her as a witness in this world. We recognize how powerful the Holy Spirit is, powerful enough to turn her back to the right path if she should be led astray. Powerful enough to make her a saint too. We pray that she may experience the wonder of Christ, that she may feel God’s presence in her life. May she learn and grow in love and companionship with others who will help her on her way as she lives the life God dreams of for her.
I pray today with Paul in his letter to the Ephesians that we all may be filled with God’s wisdom, that we may be able to see God’s glory and God’s hope for us. We are called and inspired by the Holy Spirit. God has dreams for each and every one of us. God built our character and knows our hearts. God gave us quirks and interests, things which make us feel alive and complete and whole. May we be inspired to do those things. May we feel God speaking to us through scripture and through prayer.Those who have gone before us can help us find the way, both in their successes and their failures. Both the saints and sinners have a message for us if we listen.Their stories help us move into the future. Their examples can inspire us and help us find the best path forward. May we be people who are able to contextualize Christ’s message for our time and our place. May we be saints too. Amen.
