All Saints Sunday

              November 5, 2006

     The 85 year-old couple, having been married for 60 years, got stuck on the railroad track and that was that.  They had been in good health the last ten years, due mainly to the wife’s interest in health food and exercise.  When they reached the pearly gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite, with a giant Jacuzzi.

     As they “oohed and aahed” the old man asked St. Peter how much all this was going to cost.  “It’s free,” St. Peter said, “this is heaven.”

     Next they went out back to survey the championship golf course that the home backed up to.  They would have golfing privileges everyday and each week the course changed to a new one representing the great golf courses on earth.  The old man asked, “What are the green fees?”  St. Peter replied, “This is heaven.  You play for free and no ball is ever lost.”

     Next they went to the club house and saw a lavish buffet lunch with the cuisine of the world laid out.  “How much to eat?” asked the old fellow?  Peter, with a slight bit of annoyance in his voice, said, “Don’t you understand yet?  This is heaven, it is free.”

     “Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol tables?” the old man asked?  Peter said, “That’s the best part.  You can eat as much as you like of whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick.  This is heaven.”

     With that the old man went into a fit of anger.  He threw down his hat and stomped on it and shrieked loudly.

     St. Peter and the wife tried to calm him down and St. Peter asked what was wrong.

     The old man looked at his wife and said, “This is all you fault!  If it weren’t for your bran muffins, I could have been here ten years ago.”

      On this All Saints Sunday we remember with love and fondness those who have been our gentle teachers, those who have made great sacrifices for us, particularly those who have lived the sermons that made the greatest impact on the way we live our lives in this upside down world.

     It must be said of the Christian faith, that it is not intended to make life easy but to make life great.  All Saints Sunday is the time to remember those who have, by their example, shown us how to live great lives.  Many of those we recall this day went far beyond the call of duty; many did without in order that we would not have to do so. 

     One of the outstanding qualities of Jesus the Christ was his sheer honesty in issuing the call of discipleship.  Being a committed follower would not be a cheap endeavor.  Those who have gone before have given us examples of paying the cost.  We are indeed indebted to the poor in spirit who understood that we have nothing and are nothing without a relationship to God.  We have been led by those who mourn for our callous attitude in a world where so many die from senseless violence and social apathy.  We are indebted to the meek and unassuming, those who have hungered and thirsted after righteousness, those who have been merciful and kind, the pure in heart who only wanted what was best for all people, and those who would step forward as peacemakers in a world too quick to take up arms to settle differences.

     In our culture, where it is the socially acceptable thing to go to church and to use the Christian faith to sale any and everything and to collect votes, we can learn something by looking at the first followers of the one called Jesus the Christ.  For most of them, every area of life, every relationship, and every day was disturbed when they took the call to discipleship seriously.

     Many times their work was affected.  The Christian stone mason who had the big contract to build the pagan temple had to make a decision.  The tailor, who had just been converted to the faith and who had been making the robes for the heathen priests had to look for other uses for the bolts of material.  The Christian teacher or tutor whose job was to pass on the important moments in the history of the people and the culture had to decide what lessons could be taught without denying the newfound faith.

     All Saints Sunday 2006 is a good time to ask ourselves if our work sometimes puts us in compromising positions between the thing that tears down and belittles others and the thing that builds up, liberates, and seeks full legitimacy for all of God’s children?  Being a follower of Jesus the Christ reminds us that if it comes to a choice between loyalty to discipleship or earning a living, the dedicated Christian must never hesitate to choose loyalty.

     Those are the lessons we agree to teach Lyla Pearl Schmehl.  She is a deeply loved child of God and today she becomes Christ’s own forever.  Our example to her, by the way we live our lives, will be the most effective sermon she will ever hear, see, and feel.  It is our challenge to live that sermon in such a way that she will remember it when the tough times come her way, and she feels lost and alone, and can’t find her way home.  If we have done our job properly, she will come to herself in that far country and will say, “I will return to God and confess and accept God’s absolution, forgiveness, and love.”  We will expect her to use her God-given wings and we will provide the safe place to where she can return to rest and be grounded in her faith.

     We must teach her by example not to hunger too much for material things but to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  We must show her what it means to be a people personally committed to justice and compassion, especially in a world that operates on the principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” 

     We must teach her that very often God calls us to be peacemakers in a world where so many are estranged.  The ministry of reconciliation is one she receives today in her baptism and we reclaim it every time we reaffirm our own baptismal vows.

     We must show Lyla that the ways of the world lead to hearts that are hard and spirits that are stunted.  God’s ways help us be soft-hearted, merciful, tolerant, and forgiving.

     In a moment we will mention by name just a few of those who have gone before and who now belong to that “great cloud of witnesses.”  They have been examples for us of those who had the proper “attitudes for being.”  Striving to live the Beatitudes is the best way I know to insure that many years from now, Lyla Pearl Schmehl and others will gather in a community of faith and will remember us and be thankful.  That reality continues to connect “godly people, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.  Their offspring will continue forever, and their glory will never be blotted out.  Their bodies [will be] buried in peace, but [our] names will live on generation after generation.”  Amen.