[Propertalk] Sunday after all saints

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

This was written about a week ago. Of course it'll need reading, and 
re-reading, and then re-reading again, probably!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY  	       			       THE SUNDAY 
AFTER ALL SAINTS’ DAY
DANIEL 7:1-3, 15-18	                          			   		 
7th NOVEMBER, 2010
EPHESIANS 1:11-23			            				                         PSALM 149
LUKE 6:20-31

	I wonder how many of you remember Monty Python, the British comedy 
group. I think what made them appeal to me was – well, I was going to 
say that for them “nothing is sacred”. But that would be wrong, as we 
may see later. Instead, let me say that for the Monty Python group 
“nothing was off limits”. There wasn’t a person, or a situation, or an 
institution which couldn’t be skewered, deliciously.
	So I found myself highly amused when, on one of their records, they 
lampooned the hymn “All things bright and beautiful”. In the Pythons’ 
hands, though, this was accompanied by an ancient sounding and horribly 
out-of-tune piano, and transformed into the wonderful,
“All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.”  1
	That REALLY sums it up. “The Lord God made the lot!”
	We put it slightly differently, at the Offertory, when sometimes I say 
aloud, sometimes silently, “All things come of Thee, O Lord, and of 
Thine own have we given Thee.”
	There isn’t a single thing in the whole of creation – and by that I 
mean the entirety of everything that is, as the creed puts it, seen and 
unseen – there isn’t a single thing in the whole of creation which 
hasn’t come about through the loving will of God.
	Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian and philosopher, put it 
succinctly and leads our minds towards today’s celebration when he 
wrote, “God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, 
but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of 
sinners.”
	This helps us focus not only on the Love of God, but also on the 
creativity of God in which the common becomes the spectacular, and the 
ordinary becomes transformed into the extraordinary.
	Too often when we take the time to think of ourselves and our 
surroundings, we tend to write ourselves and what’s present in front of 
us as being so common-place that we’re content to consider ourselves 
average. But God filled every single one of us with the potential to be 
saints. In fact, when we come that moment of supreme mystery in the 
Eucharist, when we ask God to “Sanctify (the Bread and the Wine) to be … 
the Body and Blood of (His) Son”, in the same breath we marvelously say 
to God, “Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy 
Sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace: and”, note 
this, “and at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of 
your eternal kingdom.”
	No matter who we are, no matter what we’ve done, no matter what we’ve 
said or thought – there’s nothing which God’s loving pardon cannot 
transform to bring out the saint in each one of us. All that it takes is 
a simple request to God to fill our lives, think we that they are ever 
so humble.
	“Mary MacKillop never slayed a dragon. She never led the French into 
battle and she didn't drive any snakes from any islands.
	“She was a school teacher who suffered debilitating period pain and 
died, overweight and sickly, in a cottage in North Sydney, having done 
many good works.
	“Mary’s ‘normalness’ endears her to Australians but it also heightens 
the contrast between the mediaeval version of sainthood – full of 
martyrdoms, stigmata and heroics in battle – and its modern incarnation.
	“Once upon a time saints, their clothes and even their body parts were 
worshipped with a fervour many Protestants consider paganesque.
	“Now saints are recognised following a long juridical process in which 
evidence of miracles is solemnly examined, as though even God's works 
need to ‘stand up’ to some form of contemporary scientific inquiry.
	“The church may have modernised the process, but how have saints 
themselves been modernised? And how does sainthood sit within 
contemporary Australia?
	“Dr Laura Beth Bugg, a lecturer in religion and sociology at the 
University of Sydney, says the MacKillop phenomenon shows that for all 
our avowed secularism, Australians still look to religion for a sense of 
meaning.
	“MacKillop, or any modern saint, represents a tangible human link to 
God in a world where you sometimes have to search hard for God's traces.
	“‘People connect with the personal narrative of Mary MacKillop and her 
sense of social justice, even if they don't connect to her religion,’ 
she says.
	“‘Which is ironic, because she would understand her values as 
explicitly emerging from a religious identity.’” 2
	These words – from a secular paper – in an age when religion is not so 
much scorned as it is ignored – “People connect,” the journalist 
Jacqueline Maley, wrote, “People connect with the personal narrative of 
Mary MacKillop and her sense of social justice, even if they don’t 
connect to her religion.”
	Why is it that we tend to overlook the “normal”? What is it that makes 
us believe that routines aren’t really “special”?
	Perhaps it takes even greater effort to go about one’s daily activities 
when one knows that the likelihood of tomorrow being different from 
today is pretty remote. To do the same thing; to meet and mix with the 
same people; to risk a repeat of stress, or strain, or pain – that takes 
courage and commitment. It must have been the sort of thing that Jesus 
did. It hadn’t occurred to me before – or I’d forgotten – but think 
about Jesus’ ministry. He’d wake up – usually early – go off to pray for 
an extended period of time, before anyone else was up. He’d have 
breakfast with whoever was hosting Him and whichever of the disciples 
were with Him. I’d bet His meals would be interrupted by someone asking 
Him “just to take a look at my spouse, or my child, or my neighbor”. It 
seemed pretty much the same, even when He was talking to a group.
	Again and again, Jesus encouraged, and sympathised, and chided, and bit 
His tongue, and, yes, healed. But He didn’t stop to throw up His hands 
and say, “For heaven’s sake! I did this yesterday and the day before, 
and the day before that. Don’t you guys every listen and see?”
	No! Jesus too had His routines. And perhaps because of these He 
impressed His Love on others and drew them to understanding, drew them 
closer to Himself, drew them closer to God.
	Therefore it may be really important for US to establish a routine of 
love, of devotion, of service – to God as well as to our increasing 
circle of neighbours. Because if we DO keep a routine, then God will 
know where to find us. And so will everyone else. EVERYONE will be able 
to see who we are, and what we do, and whom we follow.
	This sort of example, especially in the routine, is what can tell 
people that it’s safe to talk to us – about anything; it’s safe to come 
into our space – at anytime.
	A good friend from Texas wrote something on Facebook the other day that 
made me smile, and made me think. She wrote, “I’m thankful for all the 
LGBTQ Allies out there who lend their voice, their energy, and their 
talents to the work of justice and equality for everybody.
		“It is LBGTQ ALLIES who have inspired me to be an ally to others. Your 
witness of coming alongside and joining in a struggle with me has given 
me the courage, and I hope some grace, to do the same for others. I 
really am inspired by you, and on this last day of Ally Week, I just 
want to say so.
“You know who you are.” 3
	Hold that thought up alongside this. 		
              “A new survey of 1,017 Americans reveals that a majority 
believe that anti-gay messages spread by churches contribute to the 
disproportionate amount of LGBT suicides among the nation's youth:
              “‘Two out of three Americans believe gay people commit 
suicide at least partly because of messages coming out of churches and 
other places of worship, (the survey found). More than four out of 10 
Americans say the message coming out of churches about gay people is 
negative, and about the same number say those messages contribute “a 
lot” to negative perceptions of gay and lesbian people’” 4
	Mary MacKillop, the Australian nun whose life is being celebrated as a 
brilliant example of the routine existing alongside the extraordinary – 
for some inexplicable reason she’s causing the Anglican Bishop of North 
Sydney fits. He says what’s happening is verging on idolatry. Well, he’s 
entitled to his opinion, but I know whom I’D want to follow as an 
exemplar of Christian discipleship.
	The newspaper article from Australia concluded with a comment by 
Professor Anne Hunt, executive dean of theology and philosophy at the 
Australian Catholic University. She said, “‘It’s not a question of 
idolatry.
	“‘[The saints] inspire us and encourage us to try to emulate them. One 
thing they all have in common is an extraordinary intimacy with God. 
They call us to that as well.’”
	“All things dull and ugly”? – maybe we wouldn’t go that far, but we 
know full well that there’s much to life, even a Christian life of 
devotion, that is plain, and routine, and, yes, boring. BUT – Everything 
is sacred – we ALL have the potential to join those who’ve gone before 
us, the Communion of Saints.
	Thank God for those who sit with us in the pews, and in cars, and at 
tea; for those who stand with us in shops, and on street corners; for 
those who walk and march with us through parks and in parades; for those 
who hold hands when we feel so lonely – for ALL the Saints of God, with 
a capital “S”, who make life infinitely more livable, and infinitely 
more enjoyable – and give me, give all of us, the courage to live for 
others as well as for Jesus.

NOTES:
1 	 
http://www.lyricsbay.com/all_things_dull_and_ugly_lyrics-monty_python.html
2	“Divine intervention in a modern world”. Jacqueline Maley  October 16, 
2010 - 3:00AM 
http://www.smh.com.au/national/divine-intervention-in-a-modern-world-20101015-16nmx.html
3	Linda McMillan
4            Via   Ted Mollegen TMollegen at alliedr.com
 
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/10/survey-23-of-people-believe-churches-facilitate-gay-suicides.html
   97321   541-921-1076 (cell)
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