Since last Sunday my church observed Reformation Sunday, this weekend we will be observing All Saints Day. Here is an except from the letter I sent to our faith community…
I kind of love that All Saints Day is followed by All Souls Day.
All Saints day is a time set aside to remember those people who have made our lives possible. The Saints who have gone before. A day to hold the reality of our ancestors in our heart, mind and body, even if just for a day. It’s a kind of “Thanksgiving for People.” One of my favorite theologians, Dr. Cornell West, often reminds his students, “You are who you are because somebody loved you.” Dr. West’s comment invites a follow-up question: “Who loved you?
As you recall those who loved you whose faces do you picture? Whose names come to mind? Can you hear their voices, or recall their words? Can you feel the warmth of their love?
I can’t help but wonder who that person was for you, and how that person blessed you. I imagine that you’re very grateful for that person. You truly are who you are – in part – because that person loved you. If you are lucky, the longer you sit with this question the more faces and names come into view.
I am blessed to have a number of faces dancing in my heart, none more prominent than my maternal grandmother, Margret Loeppky. There aren’t enough words in all the languages of the world to fully express my gratitude for her love of me. As a child, I never felt more seen then when her face would light up upon seeing me; or as delighted in, as when she would get down on the floor with me to join in building Lego together, or as cared for, as when she would crawl in bed with me reading “Golden” story books as I fell asleep. She made me feel special, safe, and loved.
Bringing these faces to mind not only fills our hearts with gratitude, but can serve as an invitation to consider those to whom we might extend the gift of love. Grandma Loeppky is one of my Saints, and you have yours.
All Souls Day follows. If All Saints Day is a remembering of the saintly ones who preceded us, then All Souls Day is a time to remember everybody else. The “less than” saintly. Every family tree has its share of more dubious – even monstrous – characters. This too is part of life. We have all had people in our lives who have harmed, failed, betrayed, or hurt us in some ways.
The last time my Grandma Loeppky came to Bellevue, before dementia chipped away at her memories, we sat together for hours as she told me story after story of the sinners and saints in my family tree. She really wanted me to know. I remember her saying something like; “Dwight, I need you to understand your grandfather’s sadness, and his rage, and why I loved him so; so that when you feel those feelings, you can know you’re not alone and you might choose a different path.” She held nothing back.
In my upbringing we didn’t talk about anger, or frustration, or rage, or such things. Hearing my grandmother confess her reality was oddly liberating; almost as if she eased the weight of the “perfect family” myth we had all been working so hard to maintain. Simply by speaking her truth she set me free. My grandpa was a sinner and a saint. Truth be told, my grandmother, as much as I think she’s pretty close to perfect, she too is a sinner and a saint. We all stand in need.
All Saints and All Souls go together. Maybe all sinners are saints and all saints are sinners? Who am I to say? I’ll let God be the judge. This Sunday we will remember those who have gone before knowing that we are shaped – in part – by them. May we learn from those who have come before, and may we dream afresh of how we might bless those coming after us.
Peace, dwight