All Saints Day is a high feast of the Church and it often Get's me talking about saints and inevitably leads to some bask . What is it that makes a saint a saint? who do we recognize as a saint? Are there only Christian Saints?
Some examples: The Saints of New Orleans, The Carroll College “Fighting Saints” in Helena Montana; Grandparents; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Perhaps even the Dalai Lama?
I Sing A song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew…
I’m not sure what it is, but this hymn is a favorite. Is it the tune, which I kind of catchy and leaves you humming it well into the next period? Or is it the words. Regardless, this is the week we talk about saints. And why not, We have the convergence of the secular and the sacred. For as we all know Thursday is Halloween, that must mean that Friday, Nov 1, is all Saints Day.
Here we are. Another Halloween. A trip to the store in the last month or so revealed pallets, I mean pallets of candy, candy candy.
And of course besides the score of candies, you can’t talk about Halloween without talking about the costumes.
And one was a doctor and one was a queen and one was a shepherdess on the green…
This weekend out in Hawaii Kai there was a Halloween contest. There were the interesting and odd assortment of costumes being judged on Cutest, Scariest, and most original. There were princesses, clowns, bumblebees, ladybugs, flowers, pumpkins, ballerinas, and mermaids; vampires, skeletons, ghosts, and a headless scientist, ninjas; superheroes such as Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man as well as football players, soldiers, and pirates.
They lived not only in ages past, there are hundred of thousands still, the world is bright with the joyous saints….
The World is bright. Halloween or All Hallows-eve; The eve of All Hallows or All Holy Ones namely the eve of All Saints seems like that time in our culture when it seems that the scary, the dark, and the things that go bump in the night take hold.
I ran to a school family at the mall and they had earlier gone to a Haunted House. One of them said, they didn’t see a thing cause they kept their eyes closed the whole time, another ones said they screamed the whole time. I fascinated by the notion that people pay good money, to go to a place that will scared them so that they will nearly wet their pants.
Maybe its because deep down, we know that such things do not have power over us. In a Haunted House, we enter into a world that seems filled with darkness, only to emerge back into a world that is filled with light. Occasions such as Halloween reminds us that darkness does not last. That even though for one night there may be darkness and things that frighten us; things that seem like they can overshadow and overwhelm us, it does not last, it CANNOT last.
Ultimately, Halloween points to All Saints. For with dawn comes the light and the celebration of Holiness. The Saints of God who remind us of God’s light and presence in our lives.
Though a Christian holy day, All Saints’ Day helps us reestablish our links to both the Saints in history and with the people in our lives whom we consider saints.
The stories of their lives remind us of what it means to be a light to the world. Of who we are as people created in God’s image, of what we believe, and what we can become. Saints draw us forward, give us courage, and lead the way that we too might be that beacon of light and hope to the world. Their good examples remind us that God reaches out to us with grace and love and care and that we too can do the same.
We can meet them in school or in lanes or at sea, in church, or in trains, or in shops or at tea,
Remember the Costume contest mentioned that happened this weekend? There was one young boy dressed in a red and yellow robe with a bald cap on his head- I think he was dressed as the Dalai Lama.
Which got me to thinking about a question I was asked and a discussion I had last Friday about the Dalai Lama and what if he spoke in the school chapel. I mentioned that I would be excited about the prospect. I mean. come on, this is the Dalai Lama we’re talking about! I began to think about his message of love and compassion, about being in a right relationship with the Divine, and with one another. The person I was speaking with objected to the notion of anything other than a Christian message being spoken or heard in St Alban’s.
Chapel offers us the opportunity to Connect to the sacred, Reflect on the deeper and sometimes difficult questions of life and what it means to be human; and to Celebrate the diversity of our community, and the wisdom, truth, and beauty of the worlds religions in doing so we become better better global citizens, ready to engage
To connect, to reflect, and to celebrate. I believe that God moves and works in ways I do not understand, and uses people throughout history in equally mysterious ways. These are saints. Living and dead, past and present.
Saints inspire us not to lose sight of the ultimate goal: To love God with all our hearts and minds and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The are beacons of light and reminders of the Holy- event eh holiness that lies in each of us.
All Saints’ Day is a time when looking at the good examples of those who have come before us and who are now around us that enable us to think beyond our limitations and to believe that we have the potential to respond with grace and love for others and with commitment and caring and giving.
The saints lead us into the fullness of life that God intends for us all.
"I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true."
It really is a catchy hymn, isnt it?
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