A SERMON FROM ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
All Saints 2002
Greenville, South Carolina
From now on everyone will know whose you areHaving withdrawn to the solitude of his goldsmith workshop, in spite of the jubilee being celebrated in honor of his signing the peace treaty that ended the last revolution, Colonel Aureliano Buendía did not want to be bothered with festivities, he felt old, and he desired to be alone creating his tiny fish and his memories. A knock at the door would change all that, for that knock brought with it the living flesh of some of his memories as there before him stood seventeen men, who though they bore their mother's surname, all were named Aureliano, for indeed, all were his sons. Talk of the jubilee had moved these young men, independently of one another, to seek out their father, the great, mythic war hero who for now has retired to making tiny, exquisite jewelry grade gold fish. The seventeen Aurelianos stayed for three days, their revelry nearly destroying the family home in Macondo, the mystical Colombian village where the Buendías have resided since its founding, and would reside until time and wind would literally sweep it away. Before leaving to return to their respective villages and towns, the seventeen half-brothers accompany their Aunt Amaranta to church for that year's Ash Wednesday service. Garcia Marquez writes,
If it were only that easy. Try as we might, in this age of inundating commercial and societal messages about who we are and what makes us think or believe that, far too often we forget to whom we REALLY belong. It has nothing to do with what we drive, or wear, or the house we live in, nor where we eat and with whom. Whenever we find our selves caught up in any of that meaningless pursuit for purpose and meaning, along comes a necessary corrective in the calendar of the church year and its liturgy and preaching. Paired with baptisms or the renewal of baptismal vows, the feast of All Saints has the capacity to wake us up out of our consumer-induced identity and set us back on course in life. It is the perfect time of year to do this, geared to remember The One to whom we belong, and to give thanks for those who have gone before us. All Saints puts life in perspective for us. The past eight days in this parish alone we have had a birth, baptisms today, a wedding yesterday, and a burial of one's ashes earlier this week. This is the cycle of life, and there stood the church, ready to serve, ready to help her members and others through these important life transitions, there to provide grace. Like the seventeen Aurelianos, in baptism we have been indelibly marked as God's own forever. If only the world could see that sign on each one of us, maybe we would think twice about how we might interact with the world. And maybe the world would pause and reconsider the enormous number of people who live under that sign. All Saints has the capacity to remind us of the basics-baptism; to remind us of the future-our own entering the communion of the saints, and to give us strength for the journey that this life in faith has put us on. As much as we thank God for babies born and baptized, for couples wed, let us also thank God for our family members, friends and loved ones who have shown us the way to life everlasting by sharing with us their life and love on earth while it lasted. And let us give thanks for the peace and release of the grave, as well. Let this All Saints Day take away all our fears of life and death, enkindle us with hope, and renew a right spirit of gratitude deep within. Only then will our baptismal life so shine that it will appear to the world like indelible crosses of ash on our foreheads. After all, "it's better that way… From now on everyone will know [whose] you are."
The Rev'd Timothy M. Dombek Copyright © 2002 Timothy M. Dombek All Rights Reserved.
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