NECESSARY LOSSES: A SERMON FOR ALL SAINTS' DAY

October 29, 1989

8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Worship Services
John M. Buchanan

Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

Scripture
Hebrews 11, selected, 12:1-2

"we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..."
~Hebrews 12:1 (RSV)

In the old Communion Liturgy there occurs this peculiar phrase:

"It.is very meet, right, and our bounden duty that we should at ail
times and -at all places give thanks unto Thee, O Holy Lord... Therefore,
with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we worship and
adore Thy glorious name.’

We've eliminated that language in our rewritten liturgies. It's
archaic; it reflects a medieval cosmology centuries out of date; it's
grossly hierarchical; it's theologically imperial: and it sounds funny.
Maybe not so much here, with a high and mysterious Gothic roof, sheltering
a company. of celestial musicians... but “angels and archangels and the
whole company of heaven," in a clapboard prairie church with an out~of—-tune
upright piano and flies buzzing in the still het July air; or a cement
block storefront where steel workers and janitors and bus drivers bring
African-American and Polish and Croation accents and dialects, not Thomas
Crammer's glorious English, to the act of corporate worship.

T recall it well. The first time I laid eyes on the phrase was the
night before I presided at my first communion as an ordained pastor. Never
having been jitroduced to the fine points of Presbyterial liturgy, ignorant
of the fact that there was such a thing, I had ordered a copy of the Book
of Common Worship, was looking over the order for the celebration of the
Sacrament. and I came to that phrase and concluded that I couldn't say
that... that my modest little flock in northern Indiana joined in praise
and adoration by angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven was
more, frankly, than I was ready to affirm or say out Joud. So | dropped
it.

Now a funny thing has happened. ‘The sentence doesn't sound so odd
anymore. The more people I have known and loved who have died, the more
that peculiar old phrase makes a peculiar kind of sense to me. The simple

‘fact is that at twenty— five you don't know many of the " company “of. heaven"
except by reputation. Several decades later you know a ‘lot of ‘them: > nany
of them, The same thing happens with the hymn: "For all the Saints” Who el
from their Labors Rest." You sing it mostly. unconsciously for twenty: or. .

thirty years, enjoying: Ralph Vough Williams' robust tune =~ “and. either

oe cringing at the images: or else. not thinking about then.. “And- when thes
: ~ fight: is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the “distant. ‘Enjumph:
song, And hearts are brave. again, and arms are.strong, Alleluia! oe a
-Alleluiai". And then someone you love dies --and the hymn becones: “ae ‘very
“personal and powerful affirmation of something. your intellect;: “your. reason,
-eannat. express or quite comprehend. I still. think archangels. sound: ‘like: =
something: the Episcopalians thought up, but the "whole: company. ‘Of. eaven". |
ois an. ‘idea I find I like more and more. : ES

“There is no more important life task than coming to terms. with: loss eee

“finding some means to cope:.with the fact of loss_ and diminishment. A)

: ~- Dillard calls it “the extraordinary rent you have to pay-as long as. you:

stay." Author and columnist Judith Viorst has written a fine best: ae
Necessary Losses, the title-of which I have shamelessly appropriated. Her

«thesis-is that we not only have to endure an uninterrupted. sequence. of. °
- losses as long as we live, we grow as human beings. into our fullness ‘only.

<.-20/20- vision, our trust: in: justice, ‘our earnestness, “our. -playful
dream of: being a tennis” star, ora TV star, or. a senator, or th

ue vowed’ to-visit. We give up hoping we ‘Vi save the world from. “cancer.

- to the. degree that we cope..with those losses: loss of loved: ones, but also.
loss of “romantic dreams, impossible expectations, illusions: of: :
the: loss. of our own younger self," [p. 2]. a :

We: ‘grow by letting 3 go, she says and her illustrations are bot! funny
oo and - also very poignant. Oe Doe we BATES oe

"What am J doing With mid-life crisis?" she asks.

~"This-morning I. was- “Seventeen. oe
- -T- have. barely begun’ the beguine and its. S
_Bood- night ladies” “Already.

while I've been wondering who to be:
when I grow up someday, -
‘my acne has vanished away and it's
_ Sagging kneecaps already." — [p. 298]

‘Viorst writes froma feminine perspective but most ‘men, 1 believe,
“can make a gender translation when she describes "letting. go. of: on
after. ‘another tour waistlines, our vigor, our. sense cof adventure,

‘whom: Paul Newman - finally leaves. JoAnne. We give up hoping. to read: al:
books © ‘we-once were bound, to read, and to go to all the places w

. war. We-ceven give up hoping that- we'll succeed in | becoming. under
“Pps 301)

marriage through divorce; the loss of possessions by fire or earthquake;
and ali ‘the. physical losses which accompany aging.

Por instance; our culture, observes Judith Viorst, requires -
-abandonnent: -Of sexuality: far too soon, with its consequent loss of

physical intimacy, sensual. pleasure and heightened self-worth. "We are
neutered," she says “by the silent message that the fires of passion should
either: burn out in’ old age or be screened." | [p. 323]

“To ‘that point I Kead’ a poignant short story, The Last Hour, about an
elderly woman watching her belongings being sold at a lawn sale prior to
her: admission ‘to a retirement home. She couldn't stand to look at the bed:
“The hand-carved walnut bed she and Will had. slept. in in their entire
married life, -dismantled, leaned against the white clapboard wall of the
porch. ;

“In the home, she couldn't use the bed - it was.too big. 'We only”
use single beds here, Mrs. Randall.'

Te: ‘was’ an affront. Didn't she know how well you slept if you could
feel the one ‘you loved beside you?" [Martha Whitmon Hickman, Weavings,
May/June, 1989, p. AS- 20] ae

“one of the helpful things. to learn along the. way is that loss. results”
in grief: = all the losses in life, not just the death of loved ones. - Dr.
Granger. Westberg, who taught at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
and Medical-School and the University of Illinois: Medical School, and is a
Lutheran pastor, was a pioneer in helping us understand the importance of
"grief work." ~ Grief, Westberg taught us, is what happens when we lose
anything important. - We can express grief in healthy ways or unhealthy~

ways; but grief happens either way

=: “In. his little ‘classic volume, Good Grief, Westberg outlined the ‘ten ~~
stages of: ‘prief ‘throagh which -we.all must go. At the time of loss, say the
death of someone very close, we enter a kind of psychic shock, often ‘times
experienced as emotional numbness. The second stage is the emotional
release... -Then comes loneliness. Physical symptoms come next: insomnia,
_-headaches,..stomach problems....The next stage is guilt: "If only I had-
called the doctor myself; or, if only 1 had been kinder.” Guilt is ;
followed. by anger, Westberg taught: anger at the doctors who delivered too
-Jittle.too-late, nurses who were rude, hospital clerks, the pastor who
didn't call enough... anger, often unexpressed at the deceased and finally —

at God. ; mo. Cos

Then. slowly, after resistance, a returning to hope and a
reaffirmation. of reality.

“Tt. is: helpful to-know about the grief process as we eneounter life! s
necessary » losses. But behind it all is the fact of our own mortality. -

In’ an: essay on Aging and Letting Go, Joseph Sittler, not long before
his-own death, wrote: "We must stop this | conspiracy of silence about
death, and talk openly about it. One can go to church a whole life time
and never hear a sermon on death.

fare]

“Sittler is careful to define what he means and does: not mean: Bye a
pointing out thal there is “not a single clear and concrete word: an ‘the
Bible about life after death"... but there is. this "whether We: live: or

- die, we are the Lord's.“ “Period! "That ward,! said Sittlerp cin: his ©

eighties, "is immensely satisfying to old people... they. weep and: they are’
cousoled because they know they are not alone." And then the great
. theologian pointed to this. peculiar doctrine: (We are thinking about "ALL

a the Company of Heaven ~ the Conmunion of: Saints." "This is the. Wuitan-
condition: this is the ey toward membership in which we: are. all
“moving.” [Gravity & Grace, ° 124-126} : wee

oe “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so ‘great a cloud: of witnesses,
‘let .us‘also lay aside every’ weight... and-run. with perseverance: the. race”

that is set before us" is the way the New.:Testament: puts it: “That wonderful

image: comes at the end of a roll call of heroes out of. the- past:

Abel on Abrahan ©» Jacob
Enoch _ Sara oo. Moses’

Noah a Isaac ee Rahab:

- ,On-and.on-it goes... a wonderful list of characters, not all-saintly by. any-
means, if by saintly we mean moral virtuosity. Rahab, for instance, :was.a’”
prostitute: What those people have in common.was that they. trusted: God;
chad: faith, lived, someone. said, as if they really believed God's © ‘promises,

‘which: is. my favorite definition of. faith —:"living as “if Gad's “promises: “ares

true." The list, that cloud of witnesses, was assembled: ‘and sent™ to first.
century Christians who had -no idea whether or*not they would: ‘survive the’
certain onsluaght of persecution, or whether or not: they would: have the 5
“courage not to buckle under it. "You are surrounded bya cloud of :
witnesses"... “a cheering section" as you: -run- that race. Ht ER AT o

Protestants don't talk much about saints. ..I looked. in one: of the.

classic texts based on the articles of the Creed and. discovered ‘the typical.

Protestant. methodology for dealing with Communion of. Saints. which: is to. EEE

ignore it... "I believe in the holy Catholic: Church, the communion of.

‘saints, ‘the forgiveness of-sins." The text: didn't-’even give itva’

- paragraph, implied that communion of saints is-a-synonym for church and.
hurried-on as if in fear that Protestant readers might be lured: back. to

‘Rome df we thought about saints. ; meen

“What happened? As usual we have to consult history.’ Next» Wednesday,
November 1, is All Saints' Day. It has been All Saints' Day since. the -:
; Middle Ages. [It was an occasion for remembering the saints, saying. masses ©
for the saints, celebrating the faith and their’ memory. Like everything
else in the Middle Ages, however, this basically good idea got mixed: “up
with a little superstition. The eve of All Saints! Day .was known-as-AlL
Hallows Eve: and the superstition was that on All Hallows Eve ‘the spirits,
or ghosts or the dead, emerged from their graves and roamed around “going
bump. in the dark." . In order to-ward off unwelcome ghosts or spirits 4towas":
the custom to carve a fierce face in a hollowed out gourd, and insert a
candle. ; MEE oi

AI]: Hallows Eve became Halloween. Brother Martin Luther chose the
day ‘of All Hallows to nail his 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg,
and among his most vigorous protestations were a few over the abuse of the
whole system of saints and the veneration of saints' relics and the paying
for a share of the saints' left-over merit which an individual with enough
money could accumulate like an eternal J.R.A..... The bottom line is’ that
; Protestants. abolished the very mention of saints, the more Protestant they
became -

we wcde our point, and in making it we lost something important. An
anthropologist observes: "We arise from the purging of old rituals simpler
and: paorer.":.[Mary Douglas, Natural Symbols in Literary Guide to the .
Bible, p-. 516, Hebrews. ]

; We lost. a sense of community and continuity. We gave ourselves a
radical individualism which has found expression in the political
structures. and theologies of the West. We spawned a sense that the faith
began ‘in our generation, and that history is, as the American industrialist
put. it, "Bunk." The poets and artists who know us best say that we made
ourselves. ‘lonely when we rejected the notion of community or communion of
saints. 2 ;

: “ine gents Christians needed to know that they were part of. something
that. began. before. they arrived on the scene and would continue after: them-
and. in that they. were not unique. We all need to know it. ;

Sometines it breaks through to us in spite-of.our theological
os flatness.

“Have: you - noticed how the past tives in you: “how in spite of yourself
you. keep. ‘sounding like your parents and have you ever pondered how that.
- connects. you with lots of people; people you never even met - grandparents -
-and great grandparents and preat,. great grandparents - speaking through |
you, oa ; ;

In: Russe} Baker' s-memoir, The Good Times, he talks a lot about his.
mother. -T-used his amusing.introduction - the way she always expected more

of her™ ‘son = ‘and- inundated him with litanies of expectation. "Someday you

mene make. something of yourself, Russell... If -there's anything I hate,

it's. a. quitter. ' At .the end of the. book his mother’ has died and at her

funeral Baker reflects that he had recently found himself telling his

children: what his mother had told him. She had embedded it in my marrow,

- bone and blood: | There, anchored beyond reason's power to crush, it would
keep me always restless,

"So. it is with a family. We carry the dead venerations within us and
pass. them: on; to. the future aboard our children... ‘This: keeps the people. of -.
; the past. alive long after we have taken them to the churchyard."

"If there's one thing T can't stand, Russell, it's a quitter."

“Lord, T hear her still." [p. 344-351]

on

“8 border” Of Christian mystery" she writes. "We-are not. ‘meant’ ‘to

Sos come: after.” (Walking ¢ on “Water, P. 80}.

funétional.: Some are ostentatious, sone modest. ‘Each: has a
“rooms. “Each has a formal Parlor,

~ the. ‘basement. Sometimes,

oe fo: US.

there because you've been’ spending too much: time in the cellar: : “namely a
oi are .sone=people.. -Those balcony. people are the: ‘good and” stron
some others you know: “teachers, coaches, - conductors, ‘friends,

you. “Your: great; great. grandparents” are up: there..

Shear And so. an appropriate way to observe All Saints" Day. al

“uses. an athletic metaphor... You are running a-race: Your. life-

loneliness: and isolation: of human death. has been. broken. apen.:
-obviously: “We can't. get it said: although we ‘try. Those who. have

= Madeline L'Engle. wrote that she Jearned to know and understand
father. far more after: his “death than during: his life” “Here We

_as--we. have become from ‘those who have gone- before us and those

—o All the Company. of: Heaven.. “two metaphors help me, One
“favorite, -J-have spokeri = “of: before and will again. The: Balcony. : =
; Carlile: Marney - delightful: Southern: Baptist. preacher. and pastor to broken
: pastors; used to say’ that human personality. is like a house: :
~complex;: elaborate: structure... - Some houses are’ fancy.”

family: room, “kitchen.

he used to say with 3 a: twinkle. in his. ey
“tor live down there all ‘the time, as if plumbing and ‘trash: were: ‘al

“But if you cone upstairs and step out on to: the ‘front la! d
“ap; “you! ‘ll see something. else: maybe’ something you didn't: ‘even. know

gracious balcony with a fancy white wrought iron railing. On the: balcony

influences in: your life. Your parents. are probably: there,

neighbors; and there are. people up. there you never met but. who

“That image helps 1 me-with Communion of Saints. “All the compan ly of:

out into your garden, look-up,’ see who's up there for you; ‘name them

“The promise is that they are there for you. The New ‘Testament writer
3 like “aes
race - a distance race T. ‘always.thought and you. come: back: into: th ‘stadium, Vee
exhausted, drained, with: nothing left to give and there ‘they: are; ae ‘stadium ed
. full, of people cheering; lifting you -up, giving you strength. ‘and - cou AEs

you, “didn! t- -have-a. moment before. .-.a cloud of witnesses, ~ pul Ping: for
you finish the race you. are Called to -run..: your. family, ‘your -h
heroines, all -the way back - into > history - your ‘Saints. ia

is perhaps most inexpressable about our ‘faith: the profound ys:
“we-are not alone, not. now and not ever: that in Jesus Christ: thee

before. us are with God. .-Their essence, their reality: — did nat= terminate
With: the end of their lives. They are for us and in some way beyond |
understanding or knowing, : they are with us.

“Maybe we should just believe it," Frederiek Buechner sugpests.
“Angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim and al] the company of
heaven... Et means everybody we ever loved and Jost inelading the ones we
didn't know we Toved until we Tost them or didn't love at ald..." [Whistling

And then even Buechner's words begrin Lo bend and break under the
weight, as is the case ultimately with even the most beautiful words and
phrases he or Toor anyone cise for that matter could fashion.

So- maybe we should just believe it.

“We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses... Jet us run
with perserverance the race that is set before us."

Amen.

=]