All Saints’ Day

November 2, 2008

There is a cartoon from The New Yorker magazine where two demons are standing on rocks surrounded by the fires of hell and one says to the other, “I’m not sure about good and evil anymore, but I have a good sense about what is appropriate and inappropriate.”  The consideration of good versus evil, right from wrong, appropriate up against the inappropriate is the focus of moral theology and Christian ethics.  In these disciplines, we study how the decisions we make and the actions we take in the world reflect our faith.  We examine how they square up with the teachings of Jesus Christ.  We ask the great moral dilemmas of the ages.  When is taking a human life acceptable?  Under what circumstances is stealing permissible?  Is war, the killing of God’s children, ever justified?  If so, what is the criteria?  How do we decide issues of justice?  The water runs through my land, am I obligated to give you access to it?  Are water, food, education and medical care guaranteed human rights?  What does “you are your brother’s keeper and love your neighbor” look like when answering these questions?  Along with the right to life, living wills and stem cell research, moral theology addresses the issue of lying.

In her classic text, Sissela Bok makes the case that lies may be the most destructive threat to our moral center.  She argues that lies undermine our sense of security and make us suspicious.  Living in a world where lies are exchanged and permissible creates doubt and erodes confidence.  Who and what can one trust in this environment?  How does one determine what is real and what is deception.  Ms. Bok suggests that lies do not have a shelf life, they live on forever.  Once told, a lie travels out in the world creating chaos and dis-ease.  Lies are toxic like fluorocarbons released in the air, “Pssht.”  Lies hover in the atmosphere, blotting out the light and clarity of the truth.  They cling to one another, getting thicker and heavier.  Lies take on a life of their own and cannot be contained. 

Apparently, one lie encourages others to follow.  Every untruth uttered works to create a climate where the next untruth is a little less offensive and a little more expected.  Lies are like pollutants, emissions released around us that become so routine, we hardly notice.  “Does this dress make me look fat?”  “No.”  Pssht.  “Did you finish your homework?”  “Yes.”  Pssht.  “Did you take that money out of my wallet?”  “No.”  Pssht.  “Did you shred federal documents?”  “No.”  Pssht.  “Did you tell the whole truth at the congressional hearing?”  “Yes.”  Pssht.  Pssht.  Pssht.  Soon we’re choking in a smog of uncertainty and distrust. We have very low expectations for truth.

Lies attaching to one another, building on one another, running together, creating a groaning negative effect, circling the globe, hanging through time: this is a dismal picture into our future.  But, what about the converse?  If lies and untruths, fibs and prevarications never die and hang over the world forever, what about honest responses?  For every lie adding grayness to our world, does a righteous answer blow away its effects?  Do truths create clean places in the smog of deceit?  Do they allow light, confidence and hope to shine in the world?  Lies are powerful.  They choke, constrict and they persevere!  Truth, their natural counterpart, must be just as strong.  Truth must necessarily breathe, expand and live on, as well. 

The power of truth is what we celebrate on this, the Feast of All Saints!  Today, we recognize that good deeds, honest responses, acts of compassion do not dissipate or pass away.  They live on forever.  The faith of our fathers and mothers, grandparents, uncles and cousins in generations and generations past, still hovers in the air around us.  Their prayers for peace and prosperity, health and wisdom, welfare and care for their loved ones and the less fortunate surround and join our prayers today.  The truths they told, the Bible stories they passed on, the ethical choices they made, hang in the ether and influence our decisions.  Their faith forms our faith.  Their Christ-like acts of kindness shape our hospitality and our compassion.  Their commitment to worship and service nudge us in the same direction.  The truths they told created cracks in this deceitful world and made a lighted way for us to follow.  The saints who went before us, inspire and guide us.  Their example reminds us of God’s grace and promise.  They remained faithful and God remained true.  They gave their fidelity, God gave his blessing.  God guaranteed their legacy.  So now, their faith, their truth, their essence will not be forgotten.

Though their lives may pass away, their influence will endure.  The saints will be remembered in the actions and faith of all subsequent generations.  And who are these saints that we honor this day?  What are their names and what of their deeds?  The early church sent forth a proclamation.  In every mission, church and cathedral, there will be a day of remembrance.  The pious acts of the saints, heroic deeds of martyrs, will be retold and marveled.  We will recall Stephen, one of the first apostles, young and strong, standing before the crowd, refusing to renounce his faith on pain of death, saying “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” as the mob hurled stones at him, breaking his body and crushing his skull.  We will memorialize Perpetua and her servant Felicity.  We will recount how Perpetua, a 22-year old new mother and daughter of a Roman nobleman, stood up to her captors.  In prison, under the coliseum, her parents brought her infant son to her every day to feed, pleading with her, “Just say you are no longer a Christian and you can come home!”  Instead, she and Felicity faced the lions and were torn apart bit by bloody bit.  We will not forget Polycarp, the church elder who served as a model priest teaching and pasturing his flock.  When arrested for worshipping Jesus Christ, instead of the local gods, he refused to desist.  “We will execute you, then burn your body.”  “Burn me alive,” he replied.  “I will not abandon my God.”  The story goes he was tied to a stake, set afire and never uttered a cry. 

These are extreme, mysterious and terrifying accounts of faithfulness.  Is theirs the way to sainthood?  Are they the models we’re to emulate?  They did practice singular devotion and courage.  They set a remarkable standard for committed faith.  Certainly, Stephen, Perpetua and Polycarp demonstrated love of God in body, mind and spirit, but they are not the only examples of faith and their deeds and deaths are not the only ones remembered.  Entering into the great cloud of witnesses is someone’s aunt who taught Sunday school for years (it may have felt like eons in her mind.)  Adding his legacy to the faith of the ages, is the father who took corn and beans from his garden to the family with more children and less yield.  Standing as an example of God’s faithful servant is the soldier who served his country dutifully and never lost a sense of common humanity.  Every teacher, mother and friend who offered prayers for another is a saint to be remembered and honored.

We who remain active in this world, we who still have time to serve in this realm, sending up prayers for peace and justice, waging battles against want and chaos, need the encouragement and example of those who have gone before.  We remember them and draw strength from them.  We recall their acts of kindness and breathe in their love of God and the truth they left behind.  We look to the lives of the saints to shape our own faith and to begin forming the legacy we will pass on to the next generation.  As we pray and serve in the world today, those who follow us are taking notice.  Their faith heritage resides and rests on us.  We are the next saints.  We remember and honor those who came before, so we can model and inspire.  We are the next saints.  This is our responsibility and our great privilege. 

What will we pass on?  What light will we leave?  How many truths will we send out into the cosmos to overcome the hovering lies?  Will our acts of compassion be numerous?   Will they inspire?  Will we honor the legacy left to us? 

Giving thanks and paying tribute to those who came before us, taking measure, considering the example we leave behind, is our charge in the Feast of All Saints.  This day we remember, we recommit and as the church instructs, we welcome the newest saints.  The Feast of All Saints is a day set aside to initiate new members into the household of God.  Today, we invite God’s Holy Spirit moving through this body to create the world’s latest, freshest saint! Today we baptize Garrett Connor Zinno.  This day, he joins the throngs of God’s beloved and blessed, sealed and marked, protected forever.  What manner of saint will he become?  How will he change the world?  In what ways will he inspire and give honor to God?  What lies will his truth overcome?  Let us be mindful.  Let us be attentive to the example we set and the legacy we leave him.  Let us be prepared to be astounded by the truth our newest saint sets loose in the world. 

For Garrett, for our good witness to the world, for the lives of the saints we love, we say, thanks be to God. 

Amen.