In this country we seem to have
trouble honoring people. Oh sure, we make celebrities of people, but we delight
in their troubles and make fun of their all-too-public marital marathons. We
are quick to snipe when a celebrity falls from grace. We are particularly quick
with a celebrity who has been clean, sober, and a good example. We can’t wait
to say, “I told you so.”
So given what
we do with celebrities, maybe the idea of saints has fallen a little out of grace
lately. After all, we know they all have feet of clay. None of them are
perfect. Yet we do celebrate the saints and in many parishes we have combined two
great feasts into one, at least by how we celebrate them. The Feast of All
Saints is supposed to be a day when in Episcopal Churches we remember the
special men and women who are in our official calendar of saints. To name just
a few:
- · St Jerome, known as a grumpy annoying perfectionist
- · St Clare who talked back to the pope
- · St Paul whose writings can be both brilliant and in desperate need of a good editor
- · St Thomas who’s taken lumps through the centuries for wanting to stick his hands in Jesus’ wounds to see if it was really Jesus
- · St Mary Magdalene who was healed by Jesus from her devils and then bedeviled through the centuries by unsubstantiated rumors she was a whore
- · Dr Martin Luther King, Jr who was brilliant, courageous and as human as the rest of us
- · Julia Chester Emery, the inventor of our United Thank Offering and a tireless traveler promoting missions in the church
The Feast of All Souls, which
actually occurs November 2, was originally intended as a day on which we honor
the faithful departed. For a variety of reasons, some of them cross-cultural,
we began to celebrate the faithful departed, those who have been saints in our
own lives, together with the Feast of All Saints.
What characterizes the saints we
honor in our calendar of saints is that while they may have been charismatic
and brilliant – in some cases at least – they always drew attention away from
themselves and directed people toward Almighty God.
This means you and
I can be saints too. We may never make it into the official calendar, but we
are striving together for sainthood. The ancient church named all believers as
the ‘saints of God.” If we claim that ancient usage, we are all saints already.
It can be a little frightening to claim yourself as a saint of God. Being a saint
of God challenges us to live as a saint, to love as a saint, and to point away
from ourselves toward God.
Why then, does
this morning’s gospel, chosen by the compilers of our Sunday readings, deal
with the resurrection of Lazarus? Could it be for two reasons? The most obvious
of these is that even Jesus, God made flesh, points beyond his human presence
to Almighty God.
The
less-obvious reason has to do with the role of the community in making saints
of us all. Lazarus, you’ll note, comes out of his grave still bound up in his
grave clothes. He is walking. But, the trappings of death bind him. He does not
look normal or act normal. He cannot walk properly because his feet are bound
with cloth. He cannot take up living again because his hands are bound. And his
grave cloth covers his face so he cannot see.
God, through
the action of our Lord Jesus Christ has resurrected Lazarus. He is raised from
the dead. The waiting community outside the tomb must finish Lazarus’
resurrection.[1]
Jesus cries, “Lazarus, come out.” And then he says to the waiting community,
“Unbind him, and let him go.” Before he can live fully again, the community
must unbind him and let him go.
This action of
unbinding and letting go should inform our lives as saints of God. We are in
the business of resurrection here at Resurrection. We have the power, and must
have the will to unbind and let go those we need to forgive, those we need to
let live again, and those we are holding on to in any way that is hurtful to
them or to us.
How many of us when
we put a name on our list of saints for whom we will pray, added the name of
someone who still needs to be unbound and let go? Is it someone we have never
forgiven? Is it someone we are still angry with for dying and leaving us? Is it
someone we love so much that we cannot imagine life without them and are still
bound ourselves?
How many of us
today, keep ourselves bound by our own opinions? How many of us keep ourselves
bound by our constant reminders of who we used to be or who we should be? How
many of us keep others bound by our money, our criticisms, our witticisms, or
constant reminders of the person’s past?
You and I are
Saints of God, by grace and by definition. Do we have an obligation to act like
Saints of God? Do we have an obligation, make that an opportunity, to unbind and let go?
Every day we
have countless opportunities to unbind and let go both others and ourselves who
are bound by the grave, by old lives, by old sins, by old quarrels, by guilt, and
by the great weight of our pre-resurrection life. Here at Resurrection we are
in the business of Resurrection. Practice Resurrection now! Unbind and let go!
AMEN.
The Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2015
[1] I am indebted to a sermon by the Very Reverend Sam
Candler for his thoughts on the role of the community in resurrection, and to
the many people I know in recovery and to AA, NA, and other addiction-help
organizations.
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