November 2, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
Isaiah 25: 6, 7-9 + 2 Corinthians 5: 1, 6-10 + John 6: 37-40
Twice today, I walked out of my office and stood in the hall unable to remember what it was I needed. It happens to me all the time, and I hope I am not the only one who has this experience. We forget things, and sometimes it is not by choice.
There are other times when we can choose forget things or choose to remember. This is day and this evening is about choosing to remember. It is an opportunity, not an obligation: an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of the human spirit because as a church we are about remembering.
Yet the age in which we live is all about forgetting and about anonymity. This is an age when human persons who reflect the life and light of God are dehumanized and depersonalized by the deliberate forgetfulness of governments, institutions, and individuals. This is what allows us to wage war, to push buttons from afar that destroy human life because we can’t see them, and then we can forget because we failed to remember that they were there to begin with. Forgetfulness does nothing for life, and has no place among the faithful. The very notion of faithfulness contradicts the notion of forgetfulness.
Our God is one who remembers, who remembers promises made, who remembers those who have known the fear and loneliness of oppression, powerlessness, and the treatment of those who would rob them of the dignity, identity, and their very soul. Once without soul, it is easy to make people expendable: to think of them as collateral damage. It is an all too common experience in human history but it is not one Christians live with.
Remembering is one of the great commands that Jesus speaks to us. It is when we forget that we fall into sin.
It is when we forget that we break the bond of communion.
It is when we forget that we lose our way.
It is when we forget that we repeat mistakes
It is when we forget that war comes again on the face of the earth.
It is when we forget that we stumble.
It is when we forget that we fail to see the life of God in those beside us.
These last three days: Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls form a triduum of feasts about the dead. As Christians, we choose to remember like our God. We choose to revere and honor our dead, for they are not far from us. When we remember the death of the Lord until he comes again in glory, we are one with them all who await his return in glory.
We stand in a tradition that proclaims life, not death; honor and respect, not disposable life. In our tradition every life, born, unborn, dead, or alive has value and eternal significance. No one is expendable. Today we treasure our memory, our photos, mementos, medals, rings, and watches, the smiles and hugs and tears and all the love we have known from those who have died. We are with them in faith; we are in communion with them at this table for we believe in the communion of saints. All heaven and all earth bears witness to it. What we do today, we do in His memory and in memory of them all.
So today, All Souls Day, is about our memory and our will to remember what has been done for us, what has been given to us, and what has been asked of us We share life with all who have gone before us, and remember them because they still live with us, in us, and all around us.