All Hallows

Jesus said, “The fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive." 

(Luke 20:37-38)

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

This is a time of sorrow, of remembrance, and sometimes of joy. It is the season, and the week, and in some homes the day, that we remember those who have died. We remember individuals close to us, loved ones, fellow worshipers, friends, and colleagues. We remember those far away. And we remember those long ago. 

Fresh it comes sometimes, the memory of the loss of someone dear to us, long ago. Or we are reminded, willy-nilly, by some random reference in a passing conversation, or news item. We pass the freeway exit. We taste something, or a fragrance comes to us, and we remember them.

We remember, too, those who are passing now, or recently, not only those we know personally, but those we hear about through news reports. This past weekend the headlines about a crush in a crowd in Korea and the murder of innocents in Mogadishu vied for space, while Ethiopia, Congo, Yemen, and other places were found further down the page, or on inside pages, or awaited their turn in our attention.

Some of us remember every day or every week those who have died coming through the desert, and we light a candle at a shrine, or remember them in our prayers.  

News items, or visitors, bring to mind tragedies of the past. Anticipated grief, expectation of loss to come, sometimes controls our consciousness. It looks like something is going to happen and we find ourselves getting ready to absorb it, or trying - in advance - to forget it, or address it, or both.

So we have a holiday or two, or three, this weekend and next. Monday is All Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Saints’ Day, Tuesday and Wednesday, November 1st and 2nd, we observe El día de Los Muertos*, and on Wednesday, All Souls, All Faithful Departed** - and next Sunday we continue our remembrances, as we listen to the gospel in which Jesus explains to cynical skeptics the resurrection of the dead and the hope it gives, as our God is the God of the living, ‘for to him all these are alive.’

That last is a hard and beautiful doctrine, hard to get your mind around and assimilate, for it is so different from our cultural messages, even well-meaning ones, and the consolations quickly offered at the time of grief. But it is good news, nevertheless. 

And well worth remembering. If the dead are alive to God, and we are alive in Christ, then especially when we come to church and take communion together, and especially these days, we should be able not only to mourn but to celebrate the lives of those who have lived before us, as they are alive in God.

* “Día de los Muertos acknowledges the symbiotic relationship between life and death. El día de Los Muertos is celebrated on November 1st and November 2nd, in which the spirits of the dead are believed to return home and spend time with their relatives on these two days.” https://www.mexicanmuseum.org/dia-de-los-muertos

** “This optional observance is an extension of All Saints' Day. While All Saints’ is to remember all the saints, popular piety felt the need to distinguish between outstanding saints and those who are unknown in the wider fellowship of the church, especially family members and friends. Commemoration of All Faithful Departed did not appear in an American Prayer Book until 1979, and it is celebrated on Nov. 2. It is also known as All Souls’ Day. Many churches now commemorate all the faithful departed in the context of the All Saints’ Day celebration.”

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/all-faithful-departed-commemoration-of/

Readings for Year C, Proper 27. The Third Sunday before Advent:

TRACK ONE

Haggai 1:15b-2:9

Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22

or Psalm 98

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Luke 20:27-38

TRACK TWO

Job 19:23-27a

Psalm 17:1-9

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Luke 20:27-38

A version of this essay was published in the Keeping the Faith feature of the Home + Life section of the Arizona Daily Star, Sunday November 13th 2022, page E3, under the title, "Celebrate loved ones lost." 

https://arizonadailystar-az.newsmemory.com?selDate=20221113&goTo=E03

the spirit and the bread

William Blake, Ancient of Days (1793)

Exodus relates the story of the manna, the bread from heaven, that the Israelites gathered each day in the desert; except on the Sabbath they ate what was kept over from the day before. And they saved some for a long time, to remind them of that time in the desert and God's providence for them.

God's providence for his children is revealed again in the Scripture passage from the Gospel of John, where Jesus comforts his followers with the assurance that while he must depart they will receive an Advocate - the holy Breath, the spirit that moved across the face of the waters at Creation.

And so it is that how we experience God now is through that holy Breath, that same Spirit that was in the beginning, that works through his people, from then until now.

We experience the Father, sure, through our experience of reality as Creation. We experience Jesus through our experience of existence as in need of and in receipt of redemption, sanctification, salvation - something to make it holy, to make it not our own sordid playground but a thing of God.

But it is in the Spirit that we know him, and through the Spirit that God makes himself known to us.
But it is in the Breath that we know her, and through the Breath that God makes herself known to us.

The Spirit in fact may be conceived of as the conceptual efficacy within the Godhead. While the creator is called Father and Jesus is the obedient Son (or Child) it is by the Spirit that he is conceived. This theological doctrine is a bit of a mystery, but it helps us understand how God while often painted as a white-bearded old man, is beyond gender but somehow it is within, comprehended, by God.

Daily Office readings for Friday in the Second Week of Easter:
Exod. 16:23-36; 1 Pet. 3:13-4:6; John 16:1-15

AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 134, 135

the manna and the matzo

What am I going to do with all this matzo? Somehow inadvertently - without meaning to hoard - I've ended up with a 50 days supply of matzo, enough to carry me from Passover to the feast of Tabernacles, or from Easter Day to the high feast of Pentecost...

Now, matzo, unleavened bread, is as Exodus 12 tells us, to be eaten for seven days during Passover.

Manna is the bread from heaven the Israelites ate in the desert for forty years per Exodus 16.

Don't confuse the two.

Now the fact that I have a storehouse full of Matzo that will last me through the end of next month, that's beside the point.