Remembering What they Meant, and our Responsibility to our Ancestors
This Week we have been celebrating All Saints/All Souls/Day of the Dead. It is these moments when we remember our Ancestors and those who have transitioned from this life to beyond the Veil. Throughout the Sanctuary we lifted up those names and those memories. Throughout this Sermon, I lifted up those names and faces of those dear to me.
Grace and Peace to you,
My sisters, brothers and siblings in Christ
Weeping may endure for a night,
Joy comes in the morning
And do not fear,
For our loved ones are ever present,
Praising the Creator,
And the One,
Who has conquered DEATH
FOREVER
Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
(pause, move towards the Ancestral Altar and have a conversation about the movie Mulan, where Mu-shu had to wake up the ancestors as they were figuring out what to do about Mulan. That it is interesting that in that context interacting with the Ancestors is accepted but that adding this ritual to daily life is disavowed.)
A discussion that was highlighted recently on Facebook,
Sums it up in this fashion,
The Writer was pondering along with
His Jewish heritage.
“Maybe it’s just me but we often seem to have a theology on this that leaves people out, or we keep quiet because we don’t want to sound like those people with “bad” theology. For me personally it comes from becoming Christian later in life, but these days of remembrance cause some anxiety for me at times. Praying for peace and the grace to see how loving and radical God’s grace is.”
(pause)
Engaging in ritual
In these days and times
Is not only a communal need
But They,
Our Ancestors and blessed souls
just like this Reformation movement,
cannot be forgotten
(pause)
And because I cannot forget,
It was only fitting
That at the beginning of my installation service
As a community,
We welcomed in those Ancestors
With water and word indeed.
It is a soul shattering experience,
That the drums invoke this sacred identity.
Because for me.
That not only because they are the cloud of witnesses
But they represent
Those who fought,
Advocated
Pushed
Worked
For the rights
And the sustainability
For themselves and
Of their descendants
That those dreams
Be fulfilled
Therefore their love,
Their light
Transcends
Death!
(pause)
This
Ritual
Of
Acknowledgement
Of one’s ancestors
Is
A concrete
Spiritual
Practice
For the
Everyday.
My own ancestral altar
Is crowded
With the faces
Of those who have
Loved
Nurtured
Challenged
Uplifted
Me.
But this year
There are two people
I could have never fathom
I’d have to place there
And during my installation
As Pastor Mike Russell
Led this rite of Libation
Led this calling of the Ancestors
I stood back here,
And wept
Especially for one
Who was both colleague
And Sister to me
Who was a prophetic troublemaker
Who spoke her mind
Who loved her people fiercely
And who proclaimed God’s goodness
And
Her Blackness
Unapologetic
Blessed are those
Who are putting their bodies and lives
For justice
And liberation
(pause)
Many people misread the meaning of the Beatitudes
Taking it at face value
As nothing more
Than abstract
Feel good
Blessings
As we, as humanity define them.
Yes,
Anything spoken in sacredness
From Jesus Christ
Is indeed
A
Blessing.
But we have to delve deep
Into the context
That Jesus publicly professes
Before those gathered
Before Him.
Telling them,
That YES
BLESSED ARE YOU
You who have been poor in spirit
Because of the world has deemed you
Powerless
Worthless
Unworthy
(pause)
Blessed are you,
You who are forced to beg
Degrade yourself
Trying to get the basic needs of living!
That you have to fight
For your humanity
To even be recognized
That you too
Are
A Child
Of the Creator
(pause)
What is it
About Scripture,
That we fall complacent
And are deaf
To the call to ACTION
Here in the Gospel?
(pause)
What it is it,
About this picture
That we as collective humanity
Over the ages
Have painted this picture
Of a tame,
Stagnant Messiah,
Speaking calmly to rows and rows
Of perfect believers,
That we cannot see,
The rough beauty
Of people who struggle with their faith
And argue with God
And who are praying close in the dirt,
Because they have nothing left.
(pause)
Blessed are those who have been counted out,
Because someone took their stillness
Immersed in God’s power
Seeing them through devastation
As nothing more than weakness.
(pause)
What is it
About the Church,
Claiming to be a place of refuge
And then
Turning its back
On real, broken
Sacred bodies
Because seeing our collective pain,
Makes us uncomfortable
Or breaking ranks
And
Deciding whose side we are on
Labels us as
unpopular
(pause)
What is it,
About
Jesus’s own Words here,
As He was teaching His disciples
That we disregard the radicalness?
Jesus Christ,
Was gathering up the resistance!
By daring to preach against the status quo
Jesus was indeed,
Starting a revolution!
Why is it so offensive,
To even ponder who Jesus was and is,
In this fashion?
(pause)
But yet,
These words,
This Jesus Christ
TRANSFORMS
US!
Because we have chosen
To follow Jesus
Because we have chosen,
To live out faith
Through actually living in community
With others
Because we have chosen,
To NOT be frightened.
(pause)
The uniqueness of these words
In the Beatitudes
Are Good News
(pause)
Jesus’s words,
To those who are gathered,
And to us
Was an affirmation
Of both their humanity,
And
God’s unfailing Love!
Conditions in Jesus’s time,
For those who were regulated to
Second,
Third
Last citizenship class
Were one under an oppressive
Authoritarian
And hopeless
Regime
(pause)
Many were indeed,
Poor in spirit
Angry with God for abandonment
Declaring they had no allegiance
To God,
Giving up
Resigning themselves
To a broken life
(pause)
Jesus’s words,
Were
EMPOWERMENT
For
The
Powerless!
Jesus’s words,
Fuel those
Who have fought
And are fighting
For truth
And
Righteousness
TODAY
They hear it in the streets
Of Puerto Rico
Of Flint
Of Palestine
In the Amazon
On the streets of Ferguson
And many, many forgotten neighborhoods
In our City.
(pause)
Jesus’s Words,
Are
POWER
For us NOW!
And if we cling to this truth,
And proclaim we are Christ’s followers,
Then
Let’s
Just
Do
It!
(pause)
Do justice.
This is not just words on paper,
For us to THINK about theologically
THIS IS OUR MARCHING ORDERS.
Do we believe we are blessed?
YES
So then what is our responsibility?
(pause)
Tuhnia
As a Hindu Woman,
And a Pastor in our Church,
From her heart,
Shares how she sees the Beatitudes
In this way,
Blessed are the Muslims
Blessed are the Sanctuary churches
Blessed are the resistance
Blessed are the marginalized
Blessed are those who are putting their bodies,
And lives for justice and liberation
Blessed are our children
That they may one day know
A world without hate and violence
Thanks Be to God.
