November Saints and Seasons

Saints 

and 

Seasons 

I love being a part of the family 

that we celebrate on All Saints Day. 
I love to hear the organ swell and feel the thrill as we sing: 

                  O blest communion, fellowship divine, 

        we feebly struggle, they in glory shine.
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are thine. 

Alleluia alleluia. (Hymn 287 v.4) 

Some years these words lift me up and I feel myself a part of that throng. But some years, instead of connecting me to the wondrous Communion of Saints, it separates me - there they are shining in glory and here we, feebly, are. 

And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,

steals on the ear the distant triumph song. 

and hearts and brave again and arms are strong; 

Alleluia, alleluia. (v.5)

But  however I am feeling, a part of or apart from, I often get a lump in my throat at these words; in the midst of strife and struggle I can and do hear the distant music and take heart. 

Thou was their rock, their fortress and their might; 

thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight; 

thou in the darkness drear, the one true Light, 

Alleluia, alleluia.  (v.2) 

And I know myself to truly be one with that great company of saints who nobly fought of old, and I take courage from the knowledge that they too walked in the darkness drear, seeking Light and warmth and reassurance, courage amd strength to keep on keeping on. 

The golden evening brightens in the west, 

soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;

 sweet is the calm of paradise the blest.

Alleluia alleluia. (v. 6)

We are all on a common journey and we are all on different spots along the way - some of us are just beginning, others are in the full flower of strength and some are closer to the end, having seen many of our fellow travelers, our companions, depart. But for us, as for those who have gone before, there is but one Light in this life; we cling to one Rock, we follow a common Captain, we find refuge in the same Fortress. The saints show us a myriad ways to travel toward this God who is our source and home. And the way is through human personality. God created us each unique, each eternally precious, and we travel Home by becoming more individually who we are and discovering more deeply Whose we are.

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the same for all of us and all are called to participate in the self-giving love of the Blessed Trinity. And yet each of us is so different. We all hear the call and respond in different ways: Jonah and Jeremiah, Abraham and Sarah, Benjamin and David and Joseph, Paul and Peter, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, the anonymous author of the Cloud of Unknowing, the fierce and uncompromising Desert Fathers, gentle Teresa, the Little Flower, and millions of others throughout time and stretching into the future. 

And in our own lives, God’s very presence incarnates still. It is in the concrete circumstances of our life that we live out the Gospel - each of us personally  and all of us as a community here at St David’s and throughout the world.  It is through our joy and in our sorrow, through our illnesses and in our aging, through failure and in success, through disappointment and in hope, through our tears and in our laughter, that we bear witness to our God, that we become who we are created to be - the saints of God. We do not become less human, less ourselves, as we approach God, we become increasingly more human, ever more ourselves and yet more free of ourselves as we become more alive and alight with the Divine Life. 

Christianity is not a do-it-yourself venture, though: we travel together. Individuals were called by God - and are called still - but we are called into community, not just with the Communion of Saints that stretches back in time, but with all of our flesh and blood fellow travelers, which is sometimes the bigger challenge: Babs and Ann, Dave and John, Phyllis, Margaret and Evie and Lucas, Chris and Debby and Lynn and Tom. And you and me.   

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast, through gates of pearl stream in the countless host, singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 

Alleluia. Alleluia. (v. 8)

Louise Buck 

November 2013