Ooh, lots of ssssss. I couldn’t help myself!
In a little coincidence yesterday I spent a couple hours watching a vid on UU history and the background music was “For All the Saints” (which for a memorial hymn is pretty march, march, march, but lovely). Amazing to hear about the men and women who shaped this church. (Sad to hear how much burning at stakes everyone did in those days.) I took a long time to get to this church, but it’s certainly home. Sometimes the journey felt arduous. Yesterday certainly put THAT in perspective. But I’m grateful for the work they’ve done.
Grateful too for the saints among us now… or the recently departed. Not just the Pete Seegers and Nelson Mandelas. But those folks we know and love putting their lives on the line for the things they believe in. People we know…
I giggle a bit when I remember on my tour through the hospital in chaplain training. I’m a very low church kinda priestess as I’ve said before, so the notion of intermediaries between me and the Divine are just not part of my understanding of death. But it certainly is for some churches. A guy on the hall, who’d been quite an unpleasant patient, died. The priest came and prayed, and said at the end, Well, now when you pray, you can pray to Harry. I swear the nurse and the wife rolled their eyes at each other. So hopefully, he’d be a better saint in death than it seemed he’d been in life… But that’s the thing about the communion of saints, particularly if you’re a Unitarian Universalist — everyone gets on teh go-to-heaven bus.
I do believe that if we allow them, people will linger with us as they can and as we will let them. When my beloved die, I work hard to carry on their best work. I look to find their point of view in situations where I used to look for their counsel — or their giggle. I hadn’t really planned the service to take advantage of this, but All Saint’s Day happens to be the day of Deb’s memorial. Deb wasn’t a saintly kinda woman, but she was divine! And I relied on her guidance, support and counsel my whole life. While her loss is devastating for me, she whispers her Deb-view in my heart quite frequently. Here’s to the saints!
And while we had a long sleep last night, (I certainly took advantage of the extra hour) it’s going to feel like a short day because the change in times will bring that sun crashing to the horizon at 5 pm. So, many of us have leaves to rake, but enjoy that indoor stuff because it’s a grey and cloudy sabbath. Might as well read the Sunday papers cover to cover! Peace be with you and the saints of your heart.
