What I Know (And What I Don't Know)

All Saints Day - 2023

I realize that many of you believe I either can't or won't utter the phrase, "I don't know." Many of you have heard me say, "I could be wrong", but it is far less often that I will admit to not knowing something. Part of it is the way my memory works and that I can either remember the answer to the question or I can think about related issues and potentially answer your question from a different angle.  

One thing I am pretty sure of, though, is that no one wants to hear their pastor start an All Saints Day sermon with the things she doesn't know. If any day calls for certainty, it's this one. In this time of remembrance, stirred loss, and shared grief and hope, we all want me to lean hard on what I do know. This might even be a day to exaggerate a little and make sure the words about grace, mercy, inclusion, and holy reunion are spacious and comforting to blanket any and all doubts. 

 

So, let's get out of the way what I don't know. Despite the movies, books, poems, and even personal narratives of life after death, I don't know what heaven is like. You would be correct to point out that I'm generally considered something of an expert on the book of Revelation, so surely I know something about heaven. An expert on Revelation knows about... Revelation, not heaven. 

 

The imagery in the book is meant to be a consolation to the Christians of the late-first century. A significant portion of the book uses images from the Roman Empire and turns them on their head. I find it difficult to believe the God of all creation is employing the same interior and exterior decorator as some mid-first century two-bit Roman emperor just to make a point for eternity. The actual descriptions of heavenly realms- the pearly gates, the sea of glass, the gemstones- are meant to awe the minds of John the Revelator's audience and remind them of their ultimate home in this place of unparalleled beauty and splendor. 

 

I don't know what heaven is like and I don't know how we will get there. To the criminal who asks to be remembered in his kingdom, Jesus says, "Today you will be with me in paradise." How does the corporeal body of the Messiah go to the tomb and the spirit of the Savior descend to the dead and the essence of the second person of the Trinity greet someone in paradise all on the same day? I don't know. 

 

Jesus promises paradise on the day of death to that man, but St. Paul tells the Thessalonians that those who have died in the faith are patiently waiting for Christ's return. They will not be forgotten on the last day and they will be caught up in the blink of an eye. Are the dead waiting for Christ or are they already with him? The Bible tells it both ways (and more). I don't know. 

 

I don't know when the life of the world to come will become the life of now. Even Jesus himself tells people that only the Father knows. It is a mystery. It is, in fact, so mysterious that I'm always surprised and dismayed when people claim they know when it will be or how to make it happen. If it was even above Jesus' pay grade, I think it's definitely above ours. We wait, we pray, we hope, we trust. But the truthful answer to the question, "When", is "I don't know."

 

I don't know when. I don't know how. I don't know where. I kind of know what- that God will wipe away all tears and there will be no more pain or dying. 

 

For me, and I hope for you, the two things I do know and trust are enough. I know who and I know why. 

 

I trust that God who made all things and who promises to make all things new, in some way, somehow, beyond our understanding, knows and holds all those who have gone before in light and peace. The scripture points to God's creative nature, God's renewing power, and God's grief over destruction. The entire book of Jonah is not meant to awe us with a narrative about a whale who gets indigestion but to help us more deeply understand the God who has no desire to see a city full of people and animals destroyed- either by their own bad behavior or someone else's. That is a preserving God, a saving God, a healing God, a seeking God- a God who would choose to pour divine love into a human form and come among us so that we might have a deeper and better understanding of that renewing, restoring, and then resurrecting nature. 

 

I know that God has provided for our beloved dead and even those who have been forgotten by this plane of existence but remain remembered and cherished in another. 

 

Knowing who and why get tangled together in my mind because I cannot separate the who of God from the why of the nature of God. 1 John tells us in the next chapter that God is love. Not God loves or God loved or God will love, but God IS love. The bedrock source of the universe, of all that is seen and unseen, known and unknown, spoken and unspoken is Love. A holy parent, defined by love, will always welcome home all of the children- whether they die of old age or in tragedy or from illness, whether they are prodigal in deed or spirit- they have a place in the mansion with many rooms.

 

On this day, I could have given you a sermon on the many things I do know- on the Greek translations of meek, peacemaker, or mourning and their applications in the life of faith. I could talk about these verses in Revelation being the image of Gentiles surrounding the throne of God, the expanded vision from the earlier verses in the same chapter which affirm God’s keeping of promises to the 12 tribes of Jacob who also surround the throne. I could speak about the history of All Saints or the reason we put a time of remembering the dead in close proximity to harvest festivals and a clear change in the seasons. Those are all things I know. 

 

But on this day, on this day of remembering and questions and hope, those are not the most important things to know. The things we don’t know are also irrelevant. 

 

Here is all we need to know: there is not a person remembered today in this space, or any other, who was not made, known, loved, and saved by God.  

 

There is not a person remembered today in this space, or any other, who was not made, known, loved, and saved by God.  

 

Each person we remembered was known first by their Creator and that Creator is love. Love does not end. Love does not relinquish responsibility. Love does not stop welcoming. Love keeps a perpetual porch light on- not in hope, but in certainty. That light will remain on until everyone comes home and is at the table. 

 

I don’t know how, when, or exactly where. 

 

But I know Who and Why. And that’s all I need to know. Amen.  

Prayer on the Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene

Holy Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles, Friend of Jesus, Soul Freed from Seven Demons, pray for us.

Brown-skinned prophetic sister, comfort those who are grieving and exhausted. Bring the consolation of company, rest, and return for their labor.

Watcher at the foot of the cross, give us the strength to bear witness to those falsely imprisoned in jails or by systems. Grant us the willingness to speak against a culture of fear-mongering and death.

Weeper at the tomb, strengthen us by your example and knowledge to keep walking, keeping speaking, keep singing, and to demand, still, that we want to see Jesus. And help us to radiate joy when he speaks our name.

Holy Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles, Friend of Jesus, Soul Freed from Seven Demons, pray for us.

This prayer was originally written for and posted at RevGalBlogPals.

Litany for the Feast of All Saints

...based on Isaiah 25:6-9; Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 24

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,

All that surrounds it and all who dwell therein have a home in God.

The Lord has taken chaos and brought forth beauty, creativity, and community.

The bounds of creation extend beyond our imagination.

Science and mathematics spiral out in response to God’s omnipresent expanse.

Who may ascend into the Lord’s presence and who dares to seek God’s holy face?

We believe in rest and peace in God’s light for all who died in the faith.

We dare to claim the same comfort and mercy for those who died in fear, pain or without clarity of heart or mind.

Because grace and mercy are upon God’s holy ones, and God watches over those who have been saved.

Our grief is not in vain because God is faithful and has promised to destroy death- our final enemy.

Our grief is also not false because we do miss those we love, who loved us, and with whom we look forward to reuniting.

Those who have not been named are not forgotten.

They shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of their salvation.

Those who rest in the Lord will understand truth.

Those with whom the Lord abides will perceive his loving presence.

God will wipe away all tears, bring healing to the nations, and console those who mourn.

This is most certainly true.

The communion of saints is around us, within us, ahead of us, and beside us. It exists outside of time and place.

This is most certainly true.

We give thanks for those whose faithfulness and love brought light and life to us and to all around them. We are glad to continue their work through the help of the Spirit.

This is most certainly true. Amen.

Future Tense

I'm currently at the Collegeville Institute in Minnesota for a writing workshop week.

We are using building that once was called the Ecumenical Institute, where work to unite churches and faithful people was done with earnestness and great hope.

Today is also the Feast Day for St. Columba, among others, who helped to bring the Christian faith and establish its roots in Scotland (and elsewhere in Britain). I have been to Iona Abbey, one of the monasteries associated with Columba. The pictures here are from Iona.

Listening to crickets chirping, loons calling, and seeing an actual sunset out my window (doesn't happen in AK this time of year), I am thinking of those whose faithfulness makes our lives possible.

God's provision for the future through the faithful is moving and provocative. What am I doing on a daily or even semi-regular basis that God may use to improve lives in the future? The reality is I may never know. But I remain committed to sharing the gospel, to seeking Christ in my neighbor, and pursuing the well-being of all. In that action is a life and in that life there is all the future that will be- ever in God's hands.

Video Share: John XXIII

I really enjoyed Fr. James Martin's book, My Life with the Saints.

He's made a video series about some of the saints he discusses. This one is interesting. Martin's own reflections based around John XXIII were rooted in his reflections on life in the priesthood and were very moving (to me).

Death and Revelation

Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 12; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

            Let’s talk for a few minutes about two things we rarely discuss: death and the book of Revelation. I’m going to start with death. Our culture, by which I mean- modern, western society, does not like death. We have lost our cultural markers for those who are grieving- the wearing of black clothes or armbands, the special stationery and door wreaths, the waiting for a year or years before resuming some activities, if needed.

            This week, I ran into a woman whose husband died four years ago. She told me that one of the hardest things is that no one will mention him any more. She longs for stories of his life and to laugh about things he did, but she doesn’t find the space to do that often. People don’t mention Tom, she said, because they worry that they will make her sad. “I know he’s dead!” she stated emphatically to me. “I want to be reminded that he lived!”

            This tension around death becomes more pronounced when a person dies under unfortunate circumstances, whether by their own design, by accident, or very suddenly. The grief of friends and family, then, is compounded by the additional circumstance. What do you say to the parents of a child who died from suicide? How do you comfort the family of someone who never went to church or resoundly rejected God, especially if you believe differently than they do? What are the words for a child whose parent dies in prison? We aren’t sure what to say or do and we want to do something, but we hesitate. Then the moment seems lost and then we worry too much time has passed… And so it goes.

            The grief sits on the surface for a while and then it seeps in to the bones. The ache becomes familiar and then, like the other aches that come with age and living, on some days it hurts more than others. We need the words to deal with this ache and the words to console and comfort those around us who are experiencing it as well. Even if someone dies a “good death”- in his or her sleep, at a very advanced age, in mostly good relationship with all around- there is still grief at the loss of what was and what wasn’t.

            Now how is the book of Revelation (and it’s just one revelation) like death? We don’t want to talk about it either. It’s there, but we avoid it for as long as possible. It’s a little scary, a little confusing, and it stirs up so many mixed emotions that we’d just rather not. Ironically, Revelation- as a book and as a piece of writing- is meant to be comforting. The entirety of the vision is supposed to be a consolation to those who are living the life of faith and may be persecuted for it. It draws the community of believers back into worship and service together. Furthermore, Revelation points again and again to the expansive nature of God’s grace.

            The part of Revelation that directly precedes today’s reading is the part about the 144,000. Within the vision to the author, this reveals God’s continued welcome of the faithful of the 12 tribes of Israel. The numbers in this part are symbolic and meaningful, underscoring God’s enduring relationship- maintained by God’s own faithfulness to the covenant. Many of you may have heard of that number before.

            However, our narrator goes on. He looks again. There are more than the 144K, there are multitudes, more people than can be counted, more people than can be seen, more people than are accounted for, except to God. These are people of all colors, all races, all nations, and all tribes. They are gathered around the throne. Who are these people? Are they the people who got theological formulae correct throughout history? Are they the people who spoke Jesus’ name at the right moment and were whisked away? Does this include the people who led good, moral lives, without regard to faith or trust in God?

           

            There’s a real problem with those categories and it is the problem that Revelation seeks to solve. It is also a problem that we need to wrestle with so that we can recognize death for what it is and respond in faith and care. Each of those groups- people who believed “rightly”, people who said the “right words”, people who did the “right things”- puts them around the throne of God based on their actions alone. Often when we come to All Saints’ Day, we think of the lives of the people we’ve loved and lost and we console ourselves with an image of them in God’s perpetual light by thinking of what they did right.

            These lights, these candles, these lives- symbolized here and held in our hearts- are not shining lights of their own good works. They are shining lights of God’s good work, of God’s salvation, of God’s grace through Jesus Christ, of God’s hope and enduring promise. The joy, the happiness, the blessing of the saints is not that they achieved the title through their own skill. That’s cheap grace. They are saints because through them we have seen the Lord. They are saints because through them we have glimpsed the true cost of grace. They are saints because we are able to see in their lives and in their deaths, regardless of the cause, how the Spirit shepherds the lambs of God’s flock, the sheep of God’s fold, the sinners of God’s redeeming love.

            A multitude gathered around the throne, singing praises, with no more questions, healed and whole, at peace, consoled, in prayer for those still running the race, in clean robes washed in Christ’s blood, with all their questions answered, in reunion and communion with one another and Jesus the Christ, and- in somehow, in someway- with us. People tell me with trepidation that they still speak to their dead loved ones, that they want to talk about them, that they haven’t fully said good-bye, that they’re not done grieving. They wait to see if I think they’re crazy. Then I tell them that I find consolation in Revelation and we know then that there are two crazy people in the room.

            We don’t know what we don’t know, but we can have faith in what is still unknown. I don’t believe in heaven and resurrection and the life everlasting because of people who “come back” with reports or because I think God rewards good lives or because Jesus died and that made everything okay because he was a good chap.

            I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the communion of saints, the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come because I trust that God is that BIG, that grace is that amazing, that the revelation of God’s wiping away all tears has merit and truth based in God’s character, covenant keeping, and dedication to life in creation. I believe in these things because they have been revealed to me, through the power of the Spirit, not just through scripture, but also in the lives of the saints. The saints who have died too soon, who died in unfortunate ways, who died after long lives, who died at peace and who died in pain. Their lights shine on, but not through their own merit. Their lives, then and now, reflect the glory of God- creator, redeemer, and sanctifier- who does (as we learn later in Revelation) make all things new. That gives me the courage to talk about death, to remember the dead, and to walk forward accompanied by Jesus, the firstborn of the dead and the Word of a Living God.

Amen.

Sunday Prayer: All Saints

A reading from the Wisdom of Solomon (3:1-9)

 But the souls of the righteous are 

in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them. 
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster, 
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace. 
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality. 
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself; 
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them. 
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble. 
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord will reign over them for ever. 
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect. 

John the Holy Forerunner

A Sermon for the Feast of John the Baptist

   

         John the Baptizer hardly ever gets his own attention. It seems like we hear quite a great deal from him in Advent and then at Jesus’ baptism, but we hardly ever talk about him. In Advent, the discussion is more about Zechariah’s, his father, lack of faith compared to Mary’s trust in God. After Jesus is born and grown, the actions focus on who God is in him and what God is doing. John is a footnote to that story as well.

            This week when I asked for questions about John the Baptizer, only one person dared to ask anything and they sent the question in a message, rather than in any kind of public forum. The question ran along these lines: Do you think John ever wondered if he might be The One? Did he always know he was the forerunner? What was it like to always know that you were second?

            I had to think about that for a while. John would have grown up hearing his own birth narrative and that of his cousin, Jesus. He was probably raised in a very particular way, given his father’s priesthood and the specificity of his dedication to God. He may have even been a Nazarite with strictures on cutting his hairs, touching dead bodies, sexual practice, and eating. In fact, the camel’s hair clothing and the locust and honey diet are supposed to help us understand that he lives the life of prophet- like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Amos.

            Given the way that John is depicted, as such an obvious bridge between the promises of the Messiah and the advent of the Messiah, it is hard to think that he ever thought that he might be the One Who Is to Come. Yet, don’t you think every little boy of the time thought he might be the Messiah? If your stories of God’s anointed are of David to the tenth power, when you and your friends played Roman invaders versus Holy Warriors, don’t you think one kid always climbed on top of the rock and declared himself “The Messiah”?

            Would John have thought that might have been his name? Names were important as we saw in today’s reading. People did not speak the name of God and the names that were bestowed on children carried weight and power. And in other Christian denominations, John receives much more serious treatment and gets other names. He is the Baptizer, the Forerunner, a prophet among prophets. As the Holy Forerunner, his entire work is pointing to the One Who Is to Come. Given the seriousness of his nature and his focus on his work, I’m not sure I would blame him if he had occasionally wondered if he might be the One. Somehow, I doubt it though. Once Jesus appears on the scene, John knows him and is inspired by God to understand who and what Jesus is. Still John wonders and eventually asks, “Are you the One Who is to Come or are we to wait for another?”

            And there it is, folks, the doubt of the Holy Forerunner. The question of the ages… Jesus, are you it? Who among us hasn’t asked that question? And has anyone hear fulfilled their own call with what appears to be the certainty of John the Baptizer? He lives into what he believes and still dares to ask… Are you the one? He’s AT THE BAPTISM… and he dares to ask… Are you the One?

            What was the work that John was doing again? What does his father prophesy that he will do: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.” (Luke 1:76-77) John prophesies at the side of the Jordan- telling people that the times- they are a’changin’. He is offering a baptism, outside of the temple and separate from the culture of sacrifices, for the forgiveness of sins. He speaks truthfully of sin and separation, of false truths and false leaders. He speaks of transformation, of lives altered by an experience of God’s promises and trust in their truth.

            In a time of permanent Advent, John says the Light is coming and you better be ready! And the message he brings attracts people. John has disciples. John is condemned by the temple leaders. John gives the ruler, Herod Antipas, serious indigestion. And it is not because John is saying that “I’m all right, you’re all right.” It’s not because John is saying, “God is love.” It’s not because John is saying that the Messiah will bring joy.

            People are coming because of the promise of new life. People are attracted because it seems like this is something to give them hope. People are coming because they are being told that God has not forgotten them. That God is still acting. That the voice of God in the world has not been silenced. That God is speaking to them about the expectation of changed behavior and the reality of promises fulfilled.

            People wanted to hear the message that John was preaching. People want to hear the message that John was bringing. In truth, I think we ask ourselves “What would Jesus do” because it seems easy. You can either tell yourself, “But I’m not Jesus” or you tell yourself that Jesus welcomed and care for all kinds of people. Both of these things are true, you’re not Jesus and Jesus did minister whole-heartedly to all kinds of people. But we are not baptized into Christ for an easy life or for comfort or for consolation. We’re baptized into a life as co-workers in the kingdom and what if our work is supposed to look a little more like John’s?

            What if the work to which we are called is political, like John’s- calling out injustice against women, children, men- all races, all nationalities, all faiths? What if our task for the kingdom is to call out leaders who bend the rules for their own benefit, but ignore the possibilities of their power to bring justice and change? What if our work is theological, like John’s - not be Jesus, but to point to Jesus, to explain who Jesus is to us and to the world? What if our work is prophetic- affecting what we eat, what we wear, where we live, with whom we are seen? What if our work is revolutionary, like John’s - to call for change in hearts (including our own), in minds, in churches, in communities, in governments, in the world?

            And what if we are called to this work at the very same time we ask the question, “Jesus- are You it? Are you The One?” Keep in mind, John asked that question through his disciples, while he was in prison for doing the work to which he had been called. He knew he was the Forerunner, he knew he pointed to the Light. He was just checking, one more time, to be sure Jesus was it. And then he kept going, right to his death.

            We wait. We wait for a new heaven and a renewed earth. We wait for the kingdom where justice and peace are at home. We are Easter people, resurrection people, living in the second Advent, waiting for Jesus to return (Jesus- are You it?) In a world that lacks justice and peace, where people commit the same sins over and over again… maybe in this perpetual Advent- the world needs a little more John, a little more promise, a stronger expectation of change, a demand for righteous action, and an unambiguous pointing to the light.

We too are holy forerunners, pointing to the One Who Has Come and Will Return. God shapes us into the people the kingdom needs for our particular time and place. Occasionally, when the world is dark and has great need, the Holy Spirit is equipping us- not to be like Jesus- but to be like John.

Amen.