All Saints’ Sunday, November 6, 2005 Luke 6:20-31

Painting in the Kingdom of Heaven         Last Wednesday morning (the day of Commemoration of All Faithful Departed), Susan Tilt and I set out right after breakfast with our sketch books and art supplies. We walked from the house we and our husbands had rented in Oaxaca City, Mexico, and went to the square in front of the church of Santo Domingo. There were no tourists there, even though it wasn’t particularly early. There weren’t many locals either because people had stayed up late the night before, keeping vigil in cemeteries or celebrating the feast of All Saints in the city square. The only people we saw were a small cluster of street venders comparing notes, gossiping and imitating things foreign tourist had said to them, to the accompaniment of much laughter, and a street sweeper who came by to sweep the square with his large broom made of twigs and branches. Amid the relative quiet, Susan and I settled down to draw and paint. Soon we felt the eyes of two young men looking over our shoulders, watching with fascination. We felt like insects under a microscope, so attentive were their gazes. They told us they were art students and that they were not used to seeing foreigners sitting in one place, drawing. They asked if they could take pictures of us. A little while later, a group of teens gathered around to watch and to take pictures, and asked if they could pose with us. Next a mother and her two children came and sat near us. The kids were fascinated and kept coming close to see what we were up to. The mother kept calling them away until we assured her it was O.K. We gave them paper – Manuela who was 5 and Daniel who was 3. We shared our water color pencils and brushes with them, and a painting party began. Within minutes, a little street vendor came by to sell us inexpensive scarves. She began draping the scarves over us to entice us to buy. But when she saw what we were doing, she dropped the scarves on the ground, dropped her bag of coins and literally crawled right over me to get to the art supplies. Her name was Andrea and she was also 5 years old. Other children joined in, too – Liliana who was 11, Anjelica who was 8, and another Daniel, this one 8 years old. But the magic of the morning for us was in watching Manuela and Andrea, the two five year olds, as they played and painted, as they helped each other and shared the water color pencils and little pots of water. Manuela the daughter of a doctor, a radiologist who worked at the hospital two blocks away, and Andrea the daughter of a street vendor; Manuela who was well dressed an tidy and Andrea who was filthy and unkempt; Manuela a child of privilege and Andrea a child of poverty – brought together across all the boundaries that divided them. As a frame around our painting party were brightly colored banners that hung all around the square, as they hung all around the city. The banners said, “Todos Santos,” All Saints. The banners named the truth of what we were experiencing in those magical hours. Todos Santos. All Saints. In the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico and around the world, the term All Saints refers to the official, recognized saints of the church, those canonized by the church through a long, specific and arduous process. All Saints’ Day is the celebration of those saints. But when I looked up and saw the words Todos Santos, I saw them through the lens of our Episcopal Church teaching. We find this teaching in our Catechism. Turn with me to page 862 in The Book of Common Prayer. The third question from the bottom of the page asks, “What is the communion of saints?” Read the answer with me: The communion of saints if the whole family of God, the living and the dead, those whom we love and those whom we hurt, bound together in Christ by sacrament, prayer and praise. The communion of saints is the whole family of God – rich and poor together, male and female. young and old and everything in between, people of different languages and cultures. The whole family of God – people united by Christ across every divide, even across the boundary of between life and death. We are saints of God when we live in the face of human divisions as if they weren’t there. We are saints of God when we live in the face of human divisions as if they weren’t there. The next question of the catechism on the bottom of page 862 helps us take this thought a step further. “What do we mean by everlasting life?” By everlasting life we mean a new existence in which we are united with all the people of God, in the joy of fully knowing and loving God and each other. Susan and I, our husbands, and the small crowd that gathered around us to watch the painting party last Wednesday all caught a glimpse of heaven as five year olds from different worlds were united in joy and in love. We witnessed and participated in the living reality of the communion of saints as we experienced the breaking down of boundaries of many kinds. We are saints of God whenever we live as if we were already in heaven where there are no division to separate people from one another. We are saints of God whenever we live as if we were already in heaven where there are no distinctions between people based on race or culture of language or age or sex or sexual orientation or anything else. We are saints of God whenever we live as if we were already in heaven where the words rich and poor mean nothing, where there is not even a barrier between life and death. Living this way as saints of God, as if we already knew the fullness of heaven, is for us and for the world a great strength and assurance. The last question of the catechism makes this clear. “What, then, is our assurance of Christians?” Our assurance as Christians is that nothing, not even death, shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Being a saint of God is living without separations, without barriers, without the divisions that tear the world apart. When we live as saints, even for an instant, we and the world are made better. The walls that separate us begin to be broken down. And we are made more and more in Christ’s own image and likeness, into Christ’s own hands and feet and eyes and ears in the world that so desperately needs his love. Amen. Susan

Luke 6:20-31 20     Then he looked up at his disciples and said:             ‘Blessed are you who are poor,             for yours is the kingdom of God. 21       ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,                 for you will be filled.             ‘Blessed are you who weep now,                 for you will laugh. 22         ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you*                     on account of the Son of Man. 23        Rejoice on that day and leap for joy,                 for surely your reward is great in heaven;                 for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 24    ‘But woe to you who are rich,             for you have received your consolation. 25    ‘Woe to you who are full now,             for you will be hungry.         ‘Woe to you who are laughing now,             for you will mourn and weep. 26     ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you,             for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. 27     ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28        bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29        If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also;                 and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30        Give to everyone who begs from you;                 and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31        Do to others as you would have them do to you.