All Saints Day

 The Lord is glorious in his saints,      Come, 

let us adore him. 

All Saints Day antiphon on the Venite 

Saints and Seasons 

November begins and ends with trumpets and timpani, which is surely welcome in this day of discouragement, with high unemployment, an economy and wages that are stagnant, the growing disparity between rich and poor, and political gridlock in Washington, to name of few. Even within our own walls we are not free of worldly woes and ways, not to mention unrest, illness and want. And so November, ushered in by the glorious celebration of All Saints, and ending with the promise of glory and fullness that is Christ the King, is a life-saving reminder that we do not walk this way alone, but in that vast company of all who have gone before, and of Christ Himself. 

We walk among a great throng of saints, well known and unknown, remembered and forgotten. George and Betty Higgins. Teresa of Avila and Benedict, Sue Knepper and Florence Nightingale. Bill Mahedy, Ignatius Loyola, Lois Donahue and Julian of Norwich. Mary Magdalene and Ruth Carr. Julian of Norwich, my Mom, Teilhard de Chardin, Gordon, and our friend Francis of Assisi. The saints, recognized and named and our own brothers and sisters in Christ are all there - together we walk and stumble along, jostled and upheld. Though “still on our earthly pilgrimage” and more than a little weary and worn, we too await the hope of glory with those who have gone before. Perhaps we are jostled and upheld by the love and prayers by those who have gone before as well.

And when the month rolls away, we celebrate the final victory when Christ the King is truly all in all, when all creation will worship at the throne of grace. Here “all the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin are  brought together under Christ’s most gracious rule.” Not the rule as of an earthy king, not an iron rule. We don’t even have words for what will be then, beyond koinonia, which is the great charism of St David’s. The word itself, like the Hebrew word, shalom, cannot be adequately translated. The original Greek means Christian fellowship or communion, with God or, more commonly, with fellow Christians.

But that falls flat. It is not a one diminutional word; it glitters like a jewel, like the saints themselves, God’s love refracted and sparkling with unique glory and brilliance.  

As important as is our fellowship with one another, and with the saints, our full and final allegiance, and our focus both here and hereafter, is Christ himself. It is only He, the Source and the Goal, who can sustain us when we are weary, guide us when we are lost, heal us when we are wounded by grief and loss. We are en-couraged and renewed when we lift our eyes from watching ourselves to look into the eyes of Christ in whom all things will be restored. But that time is not now. Now we live in the midst of strife and hope and grief and loss and new birth. Sometimes it is hard to keep our balance

And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, 

steals on the ear the distant triumph song, 

and hearts are brave again and arms are strong, 

Alleluia Alleluia. Hymn 287

Louise Buck 

November 2011

Saints and Seasons @ is a monthly (except for August) column written by Louise Buck for the community at St David's Episcopal Church, 5050 Milton St, San Diego CA.