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October 30, 2005
The Very Rev. Bud Thurston
All Saints Sunday - Proper 26 - Year A

To read the lessons for the day click here

Today is All Saints Sunday, a time when Christians remember all those who have died in the name of the Lord, not just the capital "S" saints, the heroes and heroines of the faith, but all those faithful people who have died as Christians.

For Lutherans, the eve of All Saints is remembered as Reformation Day. On that day in 1517 Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, challenged others to a debate, a debate which was to change the shape of the church and the world. On the eve of All Saints Day the faithful were gathered in Wittenberg, Germany, preparing to view the latest relics, bones and locks of hair allegedly belonging to famous Christian saints and martyrs. Those who showed these relics sold a way into heaven or a way out of hell, or at least time off from purgatory for good behavior. For a donation to the Pope or the local Bishop you received in return remission of a bit of God's eternal punishment.

The monk Luther attacked this indulgence system, as it was called, by stating ninety-five theses and challenging others to debate him. On All Saints eve he nailed the theses to the church door and the Reformation began in earnest. That Reformation has never ended.

In America, one of the lingering attributes of the Reformation is grounded in our culture: anti-authority, in some ways an almost pious, visceral disdain and cynicism for those in positions of power. Most notably aimed at whatever political administration is in power at the moment. And this kind of cynicism has become the excuse for political irresponsibility, for not wanting to get involved.

Because I am not a Californian, I have paid little attention to the upcoming election on November 7. What I am aware of is the tremendous amount of money raised on both sides of these propositions, and the harangue delivered by one side or the other on whatever issue is being discussed. Perhaps one can say with the Psalm "truth has fallen in the public square.and justice is far from us."

Some years back, a Lutheran pastor named Richard John Neuhaus, (who later became a Catholic priest), wrote a book titled The Naked Public Square. His thesis was that religious beliefs and values have increasingly been excluded from this nation's public business. Beyond that, Neuhaus goes on to say that religion has been replaced by secularism, especially the secular worship of things like power, money and political omnipotence.

Dear friends, we either can join in these lamentations, or we can wonder whether these pictures of nakedness in the public square are really true. There may also be a question as to whether such alarms are being used to serve purely partisan purposes and to deepen the kind of cynicism that eats away at public life.

But in the last three decades there is even something new that most of us have experienced, and most likely will continue to experience. In the 1960's the Christian civil rights movement as well as the remnants of Christian segregationism, as well as both sides of the opinion of the war in Viet Nam brought about a massive religious leadership role which resulted in moral questions being brought into the public square.

The Christian Right, as well as the assertiveness of the Catholic bishops and their pastoral letters on so many public issues, has changed much of what Richard Neuhaus wrote regarding religions omission from public life. Our politics today seem all dressed up in religious garb and many proclaim that there is a lot of "piety along the Potomac".

A while back, Martin Marty devoted one of his columns in the Christian Century to what Marty called "Our own Worst Enemies". He raises some questions regarding contemporary public and religious life: Who secularized American public life? Television? Secular humanists? Professors? Atheists? The ACLU? Unions? Liberals?

Nope, said Marty. "None of the above.Revised answer: Religious people did it, as they bickered with each other. Citizens of faith jealous of each other. Church goers who want things said their way, or not at all."

So what does this say to us as a religious people? Just this: a real, authentic prophetic faith begins with the knowledge that the judgment of God falls first of all upon religion itself. With Amos, such a faith knows that God despises all forms of piousness that do not lead to "justice that rolls down like the waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream".

Such a faith knows that those who make a big public show of their righteousness are especially likely to be hit with the hard words of Jesus, like, "Woe to you! You snakes! You brood of vipers!"

Now I confess the temptation sometimes arises within my own sinful soul to shout at those who dare to disagree with me, "You brood of vipers!" I'm pretty sure it would make me feel good, for a moment or two, as well.

And we do have a big problem about all the ways religion gets promoted and sold. There is keen competition for members and money and power. And the packaging of God, especially in middle-class white churches seems to be preoccupied with "things". It is clear that the large mega-churches, sometimes called "box" churches, or the even larger television churches with hoards and crowds of people in attendance largely appear as "religious hucksters".

Having said this, we must know that many Christians question their feelings and attitudes toward religion in its many forms. Religion has done, and can do, terrible things to people. Religion can exploit the elderly; it can neglect the poor or blame the poor for their poverty. Religion can stifle education. Religion can reinforce racism, and it is frequently used to promote wars, i.e. Afghanistan and Iraq.

Religion itself can bring untruths to the public square, whether by ignorance or self-righteous zeal or willful lies.

The untruths are not only in the public square of secular politics; they are the weapons of mass destruction within church politics.

These untruths come from the so-called "think tanks" that are really aggressive propagandist institutes with noble words like "religion," "democracy," and "ethics" in their names.

These are the weapons that are used in the culture wars over issues of sexuality and gender and "re-imagining" You may know that "re-imagining" was the theme of a wondrously spirited ecumenical women's conference held in Minneapolis some years back. Those who sponsored the event, and those who attended the event, were charged with heresy and paganism by some Christian denominations. And all too often sex and gender issues function as smoke screens to distract us from the real issues of economic and racial justice, of hunger and housing and health care, of ecology and taxation and military spending.

Please make note of this, however: the issue here is not primarily right vs. left, conservative versus liberal. Our community life needs articulate conservatives and committed liberals. What it does not need is political bigotry and hit list, hate mongering, all in the name of God.

Whenever we see untruthfulness in religion as it relates to the public square, we have to remind ourselves that within our churches themselves truth is often concealed and camouflaged and repressed and suppressed. How is it that so many people in our churches feel they are not free to express their deepest convictions, their hurts, and their hopes-all with the possible ramification of being ignored or abused?

A generation or two ago, Hans Kung, the German theologian, wrote a book entitled Truthfulness: the Future of the Church. His primary concern was actually untruthfulness and the tendency of Christians to justify it, not out of conscious malice "but rather because of weakness, compliance, desire for peace..and misplaced obedience."

Kung, however, offers a vision of what a truthful church could become: "Wherever there is truthfulness in the church, there is discussion, comprehension, communication and mental expansion; by God's spirit and power, timidity and insecurity, fanaticism and resentment must, as Kung puts it "fade out". There must be freedom and joy along with magnanimity and generosity..courage, self-confidence, commitment, humor, hope and trust in truth: all this must be a testimony before God who so plainly is present in the midst of all Christians."

The church-our Episcopal Church, our dioceses, this and every other cathedral and parish church-must begin to be the most truthful place in the public square. And we will be so when we learn to be truthful in the innermost sanctuaries of the church's own life.

When our own truthfulness is fully known, then we may be able to both convince our own people about the place that the public square-the political and economic life of our nation-can be holy ground, even as God has created us. And then we will begin to understand what it means when we are less than fully human if we do not act upon the fact of that divine gift.

And until then, we need to pray that the truth will make all of us free.

What does this have to do with All Saints Sunday? Well, I'm not really sure, except to say that sainthood and being a saint comes with a price and that price is truthfulness and honesty in all that we do.

Let us Pray: Gracious God, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior.

Amen