All Saints, Alleluia's while being devoured...

All Saints, 2019C

As we reviewed the bulletin for today at staff meeting, we noted how jarring the 10:30am services positioning of Taverners’s Funeral Ikos is when juxtaposed with the jaunty, and somewhat silly, ode to the saints,  I Sing a Song of the Saints of God. 

Just take a gander, 

From Funeral Ikos

Why these bitter words of the dying, o brethren,
which they utter as they go hence?
I am parted from my brethren.
All my friends do i abandon and go hence.
But whither i go, that understand i not,
neither what shall become of me yonder;
only God who hath summoned me knoweth.
But make commemoration of me with the song:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From, I Sing a Song of the Saints of God

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and God’s love made them strong;
and they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake,
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast:
and there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn’t be one too.

And, in short order we move from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the despairing to the giggling, from anguish to absurdity, from tears to laughter.

It’s perfect.

Seriously, it’s perfect! 

It’s perfect, because it is, oh, so human. 

And, as we walk through this life, we will be touched by the deepest of sorrows and the greatest of joys. We will be, in our full and wonderful humanity, immersed in grief and resplendent with hope. 

Which is where I found resonance with the Lukan sermon on the plain with Jesus’ litany of blessings and woes. Blessings and woes…

Poor, hungry, weeping, laughing, rejected, welcomed, rich, hungry, mourning, rejoicing.

Our tendency is to think of this passage as a listing of absolutes. If you are this then this, if you are that, then that. But, it’s not that simple, for aren’t we all both poor and rich? Sad and happy? Rejected and rejecting? In a way, it feels as if Jesus is telling the disciples about what it means to be human, and about what it means to follow Christ from our position of shared humanity. 

So, we rejoice in our blessings, but are warned in our excesses. We are cautioned in our cruelty and celebrated in our kindness. Because this is a life of both blessing and woes. 

A litany of life, a litany of what it means to live in the complicated milieu of everyday life. Blessings. Blessings, juxtaposed with a caution against cruelty, a caution against taking for granted the gifts we’ve been given, a caution intended as an encouragement to kindness.

This is fullness of life with an exhortation to discipleship. Pray for the cruel, forgive those who’ve done harm, live with kindness towards creation. Be, like Christ, in word and deed. Be, a saint. 

Now, quick digression, this passage does not mean that we ought to put ourselves in harm’s way or stay in harm’s way if we find ourselves there. Reconciliation cannot happen while harm is still being done. Redemption cannot happen if we stay in places where we will be abused. Get out, get safe, get help and then pray. 

Do you understand? Because this is important, God does not require subjecting ourselves to abuse for the sake of our abuser. 

And, if anyone tells you otherwise, they have a seriously messed up understanding of the love of God. And, while I’m thinking of what God does NOT require, I have a couple of other things to add…

God doesn’t require perfection, for God alone is perfect.

God doesn’t require suffering, for the sacrifice has been made complete. 

But what then does God require? 

Remember the words of the prophet, Micah (6:8) what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

In the midst of our humanity, imperfect as we are, God requires that we live in fullness of life with compassion for all. Because, it is in compassion and kindness that we partake of our place in the kingdom. It is in compassion and kindness, despite ourselves and in our striving, that we live as saints. We are called to live a life of faith, which means, in short, living a life of love. Hear the words of Paul, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.”

Belief is expressed though action—the action of love. The action of care, the action of compassion in a life filled with both blessings and woes. 

Blessings and woes, blessings and woes for all the saints…

Which is why the liturgical mash-up of Funeral Ikos and I Sing a Song of the Saints of God is, in fact, a perfect pairing. 

A perfect pairing for our celebration of the saints. The saints, who witness to what it means to be human and to experience the full range of life’s journey with compassion grounded in love of Christ. 

So, today we celebrate the Feast of all Saints with both absurdity and alleluias, with the serious and the silly, with weeping and with laughing—witnessing to what it means to be fully human and to embrace the presence of Christ in our midst and in our being. 

And, just to note, if I was slain by a fierce wild beast, I’d be pretty bitter too. So, alleluia, alleluia! Sing the songs, laugh at death, and proclaim God’s love. This is a day for feasting and song. This is a day for mourning and laughing. This is a day to live as saints in the midst of the full communion of saints. 

A communion made tangible by photos of our saints, the sound of our children, and our companionship in this place we call our church. In our experience of life’s blessings and woes, we are part of something so much bigger than all of us and this, this is amazing, miraculous and truly wonderful. 

Alleluia, alleluia! Amen! 

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Typically, the sermon would be followed by the Nicene Creed, Prayers of the People, and the Confession. Since today is a baptismal feast day, we will continue with our collective reaffirmation of baptism and omit the confession. The prayers of the people are placed, as the liturgy allows, within the body of today’s Eucharistic prayer.

That said, before we continue with the renewal of our baptismal vows, and as a reminder that saints are to hold each other in prayer, please write your name and, if you wish, your contact information on the slip of paper you received as you entered the church.  We will exchange cards at the peace. Your homework is to pray for the person whose card you have during this year’s stewardship season. So, from now until St. Clements’s Feast Day on October 24^th, pray for the saint whose name is on the card--and, if there is contact information, reach out to the person you are praying for.