Rector's Sermon - Sunday, 6 November 2005

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Revelations 7:9–17	Psalm 34:1–10	1 John 3:1–3	Matthew 5:1–12

            For many, the popular celebration of Halloween is about dressing up in funny costumes and acting out harmless fantasies. Yet in its extreme manifestations, Halloween reflects a fear of unseen horror, completely unexplainable and out to harm us. There are forces in the world that would like to trick us into believing that the dead are overwhelmingly malicious and will come back to perpetually haunt us. We are told that there is no breaking the cycle and there is no escape from their grasp. Christianity, on the other hand, makes the audacious claim that cycles can be broken by new life in Christ. Death does not have the last word over us. Christianity is the religion of the empty tomb. It proclaims that what is of ultimate significance in this world is always transformed by resurrection. Indeed the past can serve as positive inspiration and courage for us. Saints are regarded so dangerous by the rulers of the world precisely because saints refuse to believe in the finality of death. Saints are indeed those who have stood up and said no to the heavy hand of the world.

       The custom of dressing up in costumes on the eve of All Saints began with Christians who dressed up as one of the prophets, apostles or honored saints of the past. It is instructive how the world has changed this custom from dressing as one of society's best examples of enlightenment and goodness, to dressing in symbols of the crazy, the evil, and the irrational. Curious how our society prides itself on being so rational, scientific, logical and unfettered by the so-called blinders of religion, yet beneath the surface is so afraid and likes to obscure its past.

       I am not suggesting that your children should not dress up in the persona of their favorite rock star, who obviously has serious personal issues, and go trick or treating for candy. However, I do think it's critical that we not see the saints in terms of the world's false taunts of being goody-goodies. The festival of All Saints is not simply a sunny morning of relief after the main event of a naughty night of mischief.

         This morning we remember many of our loved ones and will hold them up in our prayers. We knew them as our teachers, spouses, parents, siblings, friends and neighbors. They were not simply goody-goodies. They like the saints of the ages had their faults and failings. More than a few of the famous saints were those who were very difficult to live with and were best admired from afar. However, Saints are those who throughout history, each in their own way, have responded to God's initiative. Saints are those who have lived by hope in God's promises.

       The sermon on the mount is the traditional Gospel for All Saints, for it is a description of those who respond to God's initiative and who live by hope. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The word used for poor in scripture encompasses in its meaning those who are oppressed and downtrodden. Saints are among those who are oppressed, yet even while part of their life is under siege they have the courage to say no to the world's intention to keep them that way. Saints are also those who mourn. The word mourn also means to grieve over injustice, to feel the cruelty done to others. "Blessed are the meek." The word meek in its totality means those who are free from the iron shell of ego and self-centeredness. Hence they are sensitive to the pain and trials of others; The one leader described in the Bible as meek was Moses. Why? Because it was Moses who in the midst of a comfortable life in retirement herding sheep, turned, heard the call of Israel's' repression from Egypt, and went back to Egypt. Moses was the man who stood in defiance of the mighty power of pharaoh.

       Note that Jesus's description of the saints says nothing about being superior to others, about being charged to divide the people into sheep and goats. The saints are just those who don't give up on God's promises, who continue to cultivate the characteristics of the vision of God's new commonwealth, and who continue to care, even if it hurts. They are those who reach out to others with kindness and compassion, even though they themselves often fall short.

       In our prayers we will have mentioned some people by name during this service. There are many others, friends, parents, children, and mentors, who are dear in our hearts, who have shaped our lives, who are close by us, influencing us still. They, too, shine as stars, witnesses to a reality that is not controlled by what the world chooses to emphasize or remember.

       Some had a name that lives long after them; some had a name that quickly vanished. In the eyes of the world they seem to have perished, but that is foolishness, for they all are in the arms of God. We too are called to be saints, not because of our record of perfection or innate superiority, but because we are able to say no to the viciousness and injustice of the world and yes to God's promises as we live today in the hope of resurrection. We are held tightly by the hands of those before us. We are the hands for a future generation, and we, too, are called to become saints, the lights of faith to generations to follow.   

    And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.