Nov 2 2019 - Psalm 55 – All Souls Day

Day and night the watchmen make their rounds upon her walls, but trouble and misery are in the midst of her.

First, a diversion. This is last of an ancient three day celebration of the dead, starting with All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween), All Saints, and concluding with All Souls. Like many celebrations, this one predates Christianity, but was repurposed for the Christian church. And back in the day, saints were considered only those who’d been officially recognized as sainted officially by the Church – St. Peter, etc. Normal people who may have been faithful but weren’t officially ‘sainted’, spent time in limbo, before their final communion with God. Those people, those normal everyday dead good faithful people were celebrated on All Souls Day. Now we’ve reclaimed the more ancient idea of the communion of all saints, that whether we’re officially recognized or martyred, we join the communion of saints, and the death of all faithful people is celebrated on All Saints, yesterday.

All Souls has become a day to recognize the dead, if you’re not quite sure whether they’re technically saints. It’s also a day where people around the world celebrate a connection with dead relatives in joyous and colorful celebrations. Think Dios de los Muertos celebrations, and sugar skulls. All Souls is a great day to remember and be in communion with the dead, in a more personal, less exalted way. I think there’s room for both, as I enjoy celebrating the named model saints, and I like remembering the saintly qualities of my parents and grandparents. I like thinking of them in the great communion of saints. But today, on All Souls, I remember them in the house. In the basement. Doing the mundane. No less saintly, but today I remember their mortalness.

But back to the readings for Morning Prayer. I’m struck by the image of watchmen on the walls of the fortified city every day and night. Sometimes I feel like that’s how I walk through the world; with guards protecting me. But the psalmist continues that despite the watchman continually protecting the city from external threats, trouble and misery are in its midst.

So what are the watchmen protecting the city from, if there’s already trouble within the walls? Not always, but sometimes there is misery in me, at the same time I’m desperately trying to fortify my walls from outside attack. Maybe I should first rid the walls of the trouble and misery, if that’s possible. 

This morning, I’m thinking about how to turn my protective efforts inwards, to rid the city of trouble and misery within. Or at least acknowledge that much of the threats and challenges come from within, rather from outside. In my world, I have a loved one whose health is increasingly compromised because of the decision to stop taking prescribed medicine. That’s outside my walls. I can put the guards on the walls to protect and address what’s outside, but that doesn’t do anything for the trouble and misery within.

There is trouble and misery outside my walls. I will do my best to alleviate the pain and fear and confusion, with love. But I need to refocus on the trouble and misery inside. I will be best able to be a caretaker if I first fortify inside my walls, make peace, get rid of trouble and misery. They have no place inside my walls. God grant me the strength to fiercely get rid of those internal troubles, so I can focus on the problems outside my walls.

Nov 1 2019 All Saints Day – Collect for All Saints

Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you

Today is the Feast of All Saints. It’s the day when the Church intentionally remembers all who’ve died, loving and bringing God’s kingdom come. It includes the saints I can name, and those that are spotlighted in book, Holy Women, Holy Men which I use in Morning Prayer. People such as Abraham and Sarah, Augustine, John Wesley, Martin Luther, Francis, Florence Nightingale, Bach, Sojourner Truth, Jonathan Daniels, Oscar Romero. The list could go on, and on, and includes people who aren’t famous to the world, but who lived doing God’s work – poets, architects, bureaucrats, mothers and fathers. On and on.

Hebrews 12, which is one of the readings for this morning, opens with “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..” I like this idea. While they were on this planet, they worked their piece to bring God’s dream here. And in death, they remain God’s servants, doing God’s work. All Saints is a day when we who remain on Earth can acknowledge that in death, lives are “changed, not ended”, which is what we profess at burials. Imagine that. Surrounded by the great saints of the world, and surrounded by the great saints in our own lives.

And while today we remember that, it’s true always. We are always surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses. Whatever earthly drama or life I’m living, there is someone - known or unknown, famous or obscure – who’s been through it, and done it, shining God’s love around them. To me, that’s why it’s ok to pray to and for saints. It’s not in lieu of praying to Jesus. It’s to acknowledge that some humans have had lives or experiences to which I can relate, or which I want to follow, given my earthly experiences. Brother Lawrence, who wanted to do great things in his monastery, but was relegated to washing dishes. He wrote a great little book about how to do any job – even washing the dishes – for God. When I find myself grousing about parts of my life that are less than glorious, I can appeal to Brother Lawrence to show me how. He’s just the human model of how to do God’s work, but sometimes that human model is what I need to see God’s direction.

Following the saints – all of the saints – is a way for me to be closer to the reality of lives changed but not ended. To see what God’s call looks like in people throughout time and space and to model my life on theirs. And when I can follow them, I can experience the ‘ineffable joy’, or a joy which is too great to be described by words.  

This morning, I’m thinking about that great cloud of witnesses that surrounds me, about the saints that the world knows, those known to me, and those known only to God. Today, I want to pause, greet them, thank them, and follow them.