Christ Episcopal Church
November 3, 2013
All Saints Sunday
Miss Minnie Lee was my grandmother’s closest and dearest friend. Her real name was Minnie Lee Brantley, and she was married to Mr. Ben. Miss Minnie Lee, Mr. Ben, my grandmother and their assorted and various friends and neighbors lived in Headland, Alabama. There, along with most of the rest of the south, the custom was for children to call the adults friends of their parents and grandparents by their first name, prefixed by Miss or Mister.
The friendship between Miss Minnie Lee and my grandmother spanned some 6 decades. They were the best of friends, except when they weren’t, which was about once a week according to my mother. Whatever the cause of their periodic arguments, they always made up and day after day, week in and week out, they shared celebrations, heartaches, meals, and pretty much everything else.
When Miss Minnie Lee was well into her 80's, or maybe her 90's, she crocheted an afghan for me. The afghan is navy blue, tightly crocheted, in a pattern that looks something like a net, but with larger, tight knots much closer together than a real net. I know nothing about crochet, other than to enjoy the warmth of a well crocheted afghan, so describing the piece in more detail is a bit like trying to speak a foreign language. The afghan is a treasure not only because my grandmother’s best friend made it for me, but because Miss Minnie Lee was completely blind when she crocheted the piece. She had totally lost her sight when she made this queen size, perfectly and intricately hooked, afghan.
How on earth could Miss Minnie Lee crochet without sight?
After pondering this great mystery for many years, finally the answer dawned on me. After she lost her sight, Miss Minnie Lee could still crochet simply because she had crocheted her entire life. Her hands knew exactly what to do, how the yarn felt, how the hooks moved. Of course, sight was a plus, but really her brain and her hands were doing the work, not her eyes. She had practiced over and over again, over the course of many decades, until she got to the point where she really did not have to see in order to create beauty.
Today is All Saints Sunday, a major and favorite feast day of the church. The hymns are some of the most beloved hymns in the hymnal. The candles stir up powerful memories and emotions. The sound of the names of our loved ones bypasses our brains and goes straight to our hearts. So, you might think that the story of Miss Minnie Lee and her afghan is the story of an ordinary saint, an ordinary person, overcoming disability to do something creative and beautiful. And you would be partially correct. But only partially. The story of Miss Minnie Lee is really the story about a woman who practiced and practiced a skill over and over again, over years and decades, until when the time came that she could no longer see, she had embodied the skill and could continue on without her sight. The saints of God practiced their faith in the exact same way. They practiced Bible study, prayer, worship, Christian fellowship, generosity, hospitality, and acts of mercy over and over again through the course of their lives. My guess is that sometimes that work was joyful and sometimes that work was tedious, boring even. But when put to the test, as the saints of God all were, their faith had become so embodied within them through the constant practice, that they were able to live that faith to respond to the darkness they encountered. The scripture they needed for strength was imprinted on their minds. Their relationship with God which had been strengthened by years and years of prayer, sustained them. Perhaps even a great hymn or two dwelled within them to give them hope and courage. The saints of God were able to stand up to injustice, care for the poor and the sick, or proclaim the gospel in the face of persecution. The saints could be the light that shines in the darkness because their lives embodied the faith they had practiced.
This morning, we hear Jesus say "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh." What makes the poor, the hungry, and those who weep blessed? And why would Jesus call woe upon the rich, the full, and those who laugh? I do not think Jesus is talking about blessings and woes in the next life. I think Jesus is talking about blessings and woes now. What the poor, the hungry, and those who weep know, that sometimes I forget, is that we cannot make it in this world alone. We are all dependent on each other and on the goodness of others in order to survive. The poor know that we are all connected. Those of us who are neither poor nor hungry tend to think that our success is our own and we forget that we are all connected. On All Saints Day, we do not celebrate the achievements of individual Saints. On All Saints Day, we celebrate that great body we call the communion of Saints. In the opening collect, we prayed "Almighty God, you have knit together the elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Jesus Christ, our Lord." All Saints Day celebrates the connection of all saints, past, present, and future. We sing and pray in the midst of the fellowship of all those who have practiced the faith, day in and day out, until that faith is embodied within us.
As we remember those who have gone before us, their deep faith and their impact on our own lives, All Saints Day calls us to practice our faith the way Miss Minnie Lee practiced her crochet-over and over again until, when the light was gone, she could crochet in the darkness. All Saints calls us to be as connected to each other as we feel this day towards those who have gone before us, because faith is first practiced in community. And, in the midst of the candles, our prayers, the music and emotion of this day, All Saints calls us to go out into the world as people who embody our faith and be the light that shines in the darkness.
Amen.
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