Our All Saints Stories

11-3-19

Grace to you and Peace from God our Creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sometimes I feel that my life is one big story, and I have yet to figure out of it’s a comedy, tragedy, drama, fantasy, or all of the above. Most people, I believe, can easily see themselves as the protagonist of their own life story, as the hero or heroine struggling valiantly against adversity, a mystery to be solved, or even as the comic relief for others. Perhaps this is why we are so drawn to a good story. We can sit for hours binge watching shows on Netfix auto-play, or read a page turning book until the wee hours of the morning, and spend hundreds of dollars to go see Hamilton.

We do this, because we know that, at the finish, all the loose ends will be tied up – the villains will get what’s coming to them, the romantic leads get married, and all the world is as it should be. Depth and meaning have come from their sufferings and turned them into something beautiful and inspiring for our viewing pleasure.

One of my favorite classes I took in college was called Mythology and Folklore, where we discussed the underlying cultural patterns found in the writings of many cultures, including our own. One such pattern is called “The Hero’s myth.” The hero myth structure goes something like this: the hero or heroine is called to leave his or her community to go on some sort of journey or quest, leaving the familiar for the unknown. After the departure come the initiation of adventures, trials, tests, and temptation for our hero, where she or he will reveal their true mettle and become a new person. Then our hero or heroine returns to the community and is celebrated for the new skills and abilities earned along the way.

But do our lives have a plot, whether or not it falls within the “hero’s journey”?  All too often it seems that things happen for no reason. There is not necessarily a dastardly villain out to get us. But still, calamities befall our friends and families. People get sick, lose their jobs, move away, or die suddenly, get bullied at school. And often there seems to be no happy ending in sight. That’s where the metaphor breaks down.

Life is not a simple narrative from Point A to Point B, populated with incidental characters. Unlike happy endings in novels, movies, and nexflix, life does not wrap up neatly and fade to black and the end credits.  Life is messy. Life is painful. But life is full of joy too.

This All Saints Day might you might find yourself in a difficult part of your own story. We might have lost someone we dearly loved in the last year or are missing someone special who has been gone for a while, though their loss still feels fresh. It may be hard for us to see that our stories not only have a point, but also have a direction, when things seem stuck or uncertain.

This good thing is that God has a story too. It’s full of love and grace that God wants to share with us. The Bible tells us the story of God’s people – not perfect characters by any means – struggling and living and being saved by God.

All the people of the Bible were once people like us. These people are part of God’s story, they are part of our story as people of faith – the heroes and heroines we look up to and strive to be like. But God wants US o be part of this story too, to share in the love and forgiveness and freedom that faith and trust in God gives us. This is what faith is all about – trusting that, when thing in life don’t make sense to us, and the plot goes askew, we are still loved by a God who continues to make meaning out of these plots.

Jesus the place where God’s story and our story intersect most clearly intimately. Jesus is God revealed in a person who could heal through the power of touch, who could be heard through real vocal cords, and who’s actual blood saved us.

The people that Jesus was talking while he preached this day might have felt stuck in a story they didn’t want to be in – not just his disciples were present - he was speaking to great crowds of people who were forgotten and ignored by anyone with power, influence, or authority, political or religious. Jesus turns the values and “rule” of his world – and ours on their head with his blessing and woes. In God’s reign, what sounds like blessing are actually woes, and vice versa.

But what is a “Woe”? I think we can get a clearer picture from “The message” translation, which reads: “But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you’ll ever get. ….And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long.  ….. And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games. There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.”

For the blessings, Jesus might have used the same words as a friend of mine did, as she rewrote some of them for modern ears, for people who don’t feel blessed:  she shared, “Blessed are you when you come to church looking like a mess, hoping for gas money, for yours is the kingdom of God.  ….. Blessed are you when you’re feeding your kids unhealthy food because it’s also the cheapest and what you can afford, for you will be filled.……Blessed are you when your throat closes up when you try to pray because your grief is overwhelming, for you will laugh.”

As we live through the pages of our time here on earth, as we face challenges and make difficult decisions, we are never alone. In the world of literature these helpers take the form of people like Samwise Gamgee, Hermione Granger, and others. In our real lives, they can take the for of parents, mentors, siblings, and friends. Some of these people have gone on ahead of us to become the cloud of witnesses, whose names we will hear read and candles will be lit in their memory in just a few minutes. Some have even died in the last year… as recent as just a few weeks ago. Even though we miss them, we take comfort in that God has claimed them as beloved children, and they have received in full the inheritance of eternal life that are promised to all of us in baptism. And we also remember, just as we ourselves are far from perfect, these saints are also sinner’s of God redeeming.

As I have walked my own journey, one special prayer has given me comfort over the years – it’s called the Servant’s Prayer, and it goes like this: “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us.”

I have prayed this prayer many times in my life, because it reminds me that God is there to help and guide us. No matter where I am, God is here with me. God accompanies me through this life and never leaves my side. No matter what part of the journey we are one, we are never alone. And our journeys are far from over.

We will meet people who will change our lives. We may be challenged; we may be changed. What we think are blessings might be struggles or troubles. Living through trouble and struggles might end up blessing us in the end.  We may not know how the next book, chapter, paragraph, or even the next sentence of our lives might work out, but we know who is going on our journey with us, every step of the way – the Author of our Lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.