Matthew 5:1-12
All Saints Day: October 30, 2011
I have, my whole life – well maybe not my whole life…probably only since I was about 6 – made fun of my mother for being the world’s foremost “Pollyanna”. I’m not kidding – she can find a silver lining in every situation. It drives me nuts. And I’m not alone – it’s a family pastime to make fun of her for this. But consider this in our defense: I’m 8 years old. We are on a family vacation to NYC. Three kids in the back seat, fighting, I’m sure, tired of being in the car, we’re trying to get to the city, traffic is terrible, and we get stuck in the Holland Tunnel. My dad undoubtedly selected some choice word for the occasion that is not sermon appropriate. The fight in the backseat probably just intensified because now, with the light gone, my brother could more easily torture us without parental retribution. And my mother? My mother breaks through the negative energy in the car with, “I LOVE the Holland Tunnel.” And seriously, she probably does.
All of this is by way of saying, please don’t tell my mom about my sermon today. I will lose all rights to making fun of her. This is a Pollyanna sermon: You see, I LOVE the church. I love the church with a capital “C”, and I love this church. I know there are reasons not to – just like the Holland Tunnel there are potholes, graffiti, pollution, and long stretches of gray. But, bottom line: I love the church.
Now, I’m not saying the potholes aren’t important to pay attention to and fix. You don’t have to tell me. Pollyanna is not my normal attire. Cynical Sue, my mom calls me – she can dish it as well as take it. I know the church has its foibles, big and small. I know hypocrisy is rampant. I know wars are waged in the name of religion. I know all the bad stories about people in power. But when I look at the church in general, and think about all the little things – all the things that happen in churches all over the world, all the visiting, caring, giving, serving, loving – I think I get what Jesus was saying when he sat down with his disciples on that mountain and told them how “blessed” the people in the crowds were.
The people in the crowds Jesus is talking about were not heroes – not in the Roman sense anyway. They were not the stars of society. They were the masses of people, mostly struggling to get by, yet somehow wanting to follow Jesus…to be faithful in the midst of their everyday lives. These are the meek, the grieving, the reviled, the downtrodden, the persecuted, the nobodies. And Jesus calls them “blessed.”
There has been, as you can probably imagine, a great deal of talk over the last 2,000 years about what Jesus meant when he called them blessed. Did he mean they were happy? Did he mean they were better than everyone else? Did he mean even though their lives sucked now, they would get to heaven? We can’t know for sure. We do know such sayings were not uncommon in the ancient world. It was a common form to say, “blessed are…,” and then give a list of people who were worthy of honor. This was something like how Time Magazine chooses the person of the year every year; or doing a whole special edition of the magazine for someone important when they die – it’s a public way of saying “these are the important ones.”
But Jesus was being ironic at least when he did his “blessed” list. These were not people who usually found themselves on such lists. I think Jesus was telling the disciples, “this movement, this God’s kingdom thing – these are the people who we’re talking about. This is going to happen with the ordinary folks…the ones who, with all their gifts and foibles, are trying to live faithfully in the midst of an oppressive empire, dire poverty, natural disaster, and every day problems. These are your saints. Enjoy.”
When I looked back over this past year at who in our congregation has died, Jesus’ words of blessings certainly seem to apply. The poor, the meek, the peacemakers, the ones who worked for justice, the ones who suffered, grieved, and those who extended mercy to others. There was no special edition of Time Magazine featuring their lives when any of these folks passed on…they weren’t on those lists of blessed ones. But they are on Jesus’ list of blessed ones – of that there is no doubt. And they are a part of a long, long, line of faithful saints in this congregation.
Please join me in remembering the saints of this congregation who passed on this year:
Mary Jo Adams: Born May 26, 1946. Died January 29, 2011
Mary Jo loved people: loved to be around people, loved to talk to people, loved to be involved in people’s lives, people’s problems. For her family, she was both the rock and the glue that held them together through good and bad. For her friends, her church, her clients, she was always there.
Dorothy Johnson: Born April 21, 1923. Died February 17, 2011
Dorothy was full of life, loved God and church, found comfort in God’s grace. She was refreshingly honest and straightforward, and had a wonderful sense of humor. Her friends say you could talk to her about anything. She kept complete confidence, listened carefully, and loved unconditionally.
Warren Porter: Born February 22, 1928. Died April 23, 2011
Warren was a farmer – in practice and deep in his heart. He loved land and knew God best through creation. Warren was a little “rough around the edges,” but he valued the people in his life immensely, many of whom are in this room right now. And he believed in hard work, family, and home.
Imogene Logan: Born September 12, 1914. Died May 20, 2011
Jean was strong, vibrant, feisty, and funny. She did not have a lot of wealth in the material sense, but that was never important to Jean. She found joy in relationships, in having fun, in playing games, and in family.
Shane Cook: Born September 28, 1934. Died June 10, 2011
Shane spent her life seeking justice for the underdogs in the world. She advocated for human rights, was an early feminist, fought for inclusion of gay and lesbians, and always spoke up for those on the margins of life.
Randy Kisling: Born October 28, 1956. Died July 16, 2011
Randy’s life was not an easy one. But to know him was to know someone with a positive attitude, an appreciation for what he had, a love of people (and cats…and cars ), an indelible spirit for life. He was someone who gave of himself to others, even when he himself was in great need.
Velma Martindale: Born August 13, 1918. Died October 3, 2011
Velma was quiet, kind, gentle, and incredibly giving. Velma volunteered to do pretty much anything in the church over the years; church and God being at the core of Velma’s life and who she was. Velma wasn’t loud, she didn’t make a spectacle of her faith; instead she quietly knew God, and lived faithfully, showing others through her actions what she knew of God’s love and grace.
My housemate was telling me about a story he heard recently on a podcast. The story comes from a talk by Ram Dass, the Harvard psychologist turned Hindu seeker. Ram Dass had a friend named Milton Friedman, who was a speechwriter in Washington, but not THE Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning proponent of laissez-faire capitalism and trickle-down economics. One day Friedman got a call from a man who said he represented a large church that had found itself with a great deal of surplus funds, and he was calling to ask him where they should best invest their money. Friedman, unsure what was happening, said, "Well, have you considered giving it to the poor?" After a long pause, the voice on the other end asked, "Is this the real Milton Friedman?"... to which the friend replied "is this the real church?"
This is the real church. Right here: First Presbyterian Church. We stand on the shoulders of amazing, faithful people – the ones Jesus called “blessed.” Not perfect people; faithful people, doing the small faithful things that make up the work of the church. And we are amazing, faithful people. Not perfect; faithful. Trying to listen for God’s voice amongst so many loud voices clamoring for our attention. Trying to follow Jesus in a world that can be confusing, confounding, painful, and overwhelming. We follow in the footsteps of people who showed up: For church, for each other, for the least among us.
It’s All Saints Day: And we don’t just honor those who have passed on by remembering them. We honor them by continuing the story of the faithful. We honor them by remembering that we too are the Saints: humble, meek, poor, suffering, grieving…the rag-tag bunch of people whom God has chosen to love and to partner with in continuing the story of creation. And so we show up: For church, for each other, for the least among us. We show up to listen for God’s call and to follow as best we can given all our gifts and our foibles. Blessed are the Saints: those of the past, and those here today. Amen.
