Thoughts & Homilies

Homily for ALL SOULS DAY November 2, 2003
(Scripps Ranch Fire)
Isaiah 25:6-9 Romans 6:3-9 John 6:37-40

We Have Lost Things...but We Are Not Lost

When God created us He gave each of us a wonderful faculty called "memory".
We are a people who remember. And we will always remember the events of this past week.
As we age we may not remember everything as well as we wish we did,
but we do remember.

We remember people on their birthdays and anniversaries.
We remember them on special days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and at Christmas.
We remember them sometimes in simple ways
–a card, a phone call, an email, a postcard (or more rarely these days) a letter
–or with a gift, a box of chocolates, flowers,
a piece of jewelry.

To remember one another is a way of saying "I love you"
"You are an important part of my life."

Today on the Feast of All Souls, we universally remember our beloved dead.
We commemorate all the faithful departed.
All Souls Day helps us to prayerfully and lovingly keep their memory alive.
It gives us an occasion to honor them and
to be grateful for their lives
–and it is also a sober reminder to us that we too shall one day leave this earth in death.

It is a bold thing to declare belief in eternal life, in life beyond death.
But that is what we believe,
because the one who created us, loves us,
and the One who loves us will never let us go
–for that is what LOVE is all about.

But as good as we are as a people and as a culture that remembers,
we are also pretty good at forgetting.
We get busy – our minds are full of so much stuff,
our lives overburdened with work and worry,
and so we often forget that which is most important to remember.
Just as we are sometimes so busy we forget the living,
our lives are so hectic we sometimes forget to remember the Dead.
All Souls Day is a feast that stops us in our tracks and says,
let’s not forget all those who went before us
– we still love them, miss them, are grateful for them,
long to see them again.

There is great comfort for all of us in our scripture readings today.
Not only do they assure us of a life with God beyond the grave,
they powerfully comfort us here and now
as we taste death in other forms.
In life, we get many reminders that we are mortal.
We lose things. We get sick or weak with age.
We suffer losses as so many of us did this past week.
We experience breakups and sometimes breakdowns.
Sometimes it is so clear to us that we are mortal –finite –vulnerable
–breakable – even combustible - that it frightens us.

Isaiah gives us a word of comfort today in the 1 Reading st
"On this Mountain, the Lord will provide for all peoples.
On this Mountain, the Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces.
On this Mountain, the Lord will destroy even death itself."
And as a people who are prone to lose things, we can be greatly
comforted by the words of the Gospel. Jesus assures us that God
never loses anything or anyone.

When we were kids, we misplaced lots of things
–shoes, mittens, school books, baseball mitts and bus passes.
Now that we are grown,
its car keys and memories and names that we lose.
And sometimes, it’s worse.
Sometimes we lose big time, in events beyond our control, as when
fire sweeps through our community.
It is so startlingly clear to us this Sunday, more than last week or the
week before, of how quickly we can lose the things that we value
and can feel lost ourselves.

I was away when the conflagration struck our beloved community,
county and state. I came home as quickly as I could to find the Parish house in which I live a little charred and smoky but still livable.
So many of you who are here today lost your homes and so many treasured things
-baby books and photos –cherished mementos of our lives
- things that help us remember who we are,
where we’ve been, who we’ve come from.

As far as we know, 56 of our parishioners have lost their homes.
More than 300 more of our neighbors here in Scripps Ranch, and
many more throughout the county, are now without a home.
Lives have been lost and whole villages and communities have all
but disappeared.

I’m reminded of something Dr. Werner Von Braun once wrote:
"Science tells us that nothing in nature –not even the tiniest particle - can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. And everything science has taught me strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace."

This may seem like empty sentiment to those of us who must sift
through the ashes of our destroyed homes for any remnant of our former lives,
but it is of course, great comfort as we remember our
loved ones who have died.

On another scale –if we really think and pray about it,
out of the ashes of our destroyed homes there has arisen something
quite important – even beautiful.
I was deeply moved to see how this parish family and the
community around us responded to this disaster.
-how we reached out to one another in a most mature and loving way,
-how we came together to organize and mobilize our talents, time and resources to help one another.
-how we were inundated with offers to help, with cash donations for the victims, offers of places to live
-how we filled a hall and half a parking lot with clothing, food, toys, blankets, tools, sports equipment, toiletries, Halloween costumes, water and hot food for the workers and the people who have come for help.

And they have come in great number not only from Scripps Ranch,
but also from Ramona, Julian, Crest and Valley Center.
And truck loads of relief supplies have gone out to them from here.
What a beautiful sight to see God’s people truly living out their faith
in service to the Christ who suffers whenever we suffer.
Many people shed tears when they saw the efforts of this community to help one another begin again.
I can tell you that I am truly heartsick over how much people have lost and how much they have suffered this past week;
and how they continue to suffer; and as other communities and those who fight the fires are still threatened.

But I am also filled with such hope as I see something much more powerful than fire!
I see hope. I see compassion, generosity.
I see people more grateful than ever for their lives and for their loved ones.
I have not seen a lot of self pity or despair, but rather courage,
strength and conviction to move on and rebuild their lives –
together!

I could not be prouder of this parish than I am today.
This is the church at its best.
This is God’s people truly understanding and living the truth that we are in this together.
We are a family – a communion of the faithful.
A communion of the living and the dead.
A communion of the Holy and the imperfect.
People who turn to God in good times and awful times.
People who take great comfort in the words of Jesus this day.

"Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.
It is the will of my Father that I should not lose anything of what he gave me."

We have lost many things this week, but we are not lost.
And, by the grace of God, we shall never be lost.

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