While most of America is gearing up for the annual explosion of candy, costumes, and blow-up ghouls – Halloween is the 3rd biggest holiday in America, behind Christmas and Thanksgiving – Christians all over the world are preparing for their second saddest day, All Saint’s Day. (Good Friday is first). We remember the saints who have died this year, as well as those who have gone before. I am often saddened by the number of people who are memorialized every year in the obituary section of the paper; it is really hard to think about the people we have loved who we no longer see. Death is always hard for us; it is one of those mysteries that we will never answer or understand, at least, in this life. Each one of us loses the saints of our lives – each one of us mourns – each one of us faces the same end. Nobody gets out alive.
This isn’t morbid – it’s real. We see people perpetually spending time and effort on things that, in the end, don’t matter very much. We know we can’t take it with us, but we focus in “it” at the expense of relationships and experiences that can make the now so much better. This age of excessive information sharing is also an age of deeply desperate loneliness. We work online, shop online, order food online; we even go to religious services online. This isn’t all bad; for those who have mobility issues, are ill, or live out of town, online worship is a great gift. I have used it myself and have really appreciated the ability to see the gathered church I love even when I am away. And yet, so many people choose isolation over relationships, and that is never a healthy thing to do.
I will be preaching about the saints in my life this Sunday; in fact, some of you are on that list. One of things about those saints is that they were present; I could sit and talk with them. I could grab a cup of coffee and hear about their day. We could commiserate about the struggles of life in all of its important and mundane moments. The saints in my life made me a better person; they gave me role models to emulate. They also reminded me that saint is a verb, not a title; those who talk a good game without putting themselves out there for others don’t fit into how I see saints. They got their hands dirty – they gave their time and talents, living generous lives. They might be gone, but they will never be forgotten. After you wake up from your sugar low from the night before, get to church and thank the saints who made you who you are. I will be with you in that gratitude.
Prayer – Holy God, may the saints of our lives live with You, and may their example lead us to be the same. Amen.
Today’s art is “Love is Something You Do” by Eva Crawford.