God of the living word, give us the faith to receive your message, the wisdom to know what it means, and the courage to put it into practice. Amen.
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, today we rejoice in the holy men and women of every time and place. May their prayers and presence bring us your forgiveness and love. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A young soldier talks about his dream. In the dream, the soldier sees Jesus talking to an angel. Jesus says to the Angel, "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier, who is not baptized; he has clad me." Jesus wears part of a cloak which had I reality been given by Martin to a poor beggar.
With sword in hand, the soldier had sliced his cloak in two, handing half of his garment to a freezing homeless man. It was the dead of winter.
In the dream, Jesus says to Martin, “You not only have given your cloak to this poor man, you have clad Jesus.”
Not long after this dream, Martin chooses to be baptized in a faith not accepted by the multitudes of his ancient land. In fact, Christianity is still a marginal religion.
An act of kindness and a dream forever change a young soldier’s life.
Several hundred years earlier, a young prophet by the name of Daniel also has a dream. The dream revealing four powerful figures of history would be subject to the “holy ones of the Most High.” The dream offers hope to a people living in exile. The dream changes everything for Daniel as well as for his exiled nation of Israel.
The dreams of an ancient soldier and an ancient prophet offer clarity for unsure futures. Dreams may take us to places beyond our grasp, beyond our knowing.
Today we celebrate the life and inspiration of our Saints – Saints past and Saints present. With no hesitation, we can say that all of our Beloved offer inspiration as we make our earthly pilgrimage. Our precious Saints have shared their dreams with us, leaving profound imprint on our own dreams and choices.
In the prayers, we hear the achingly familiar names of the Beloved of Holy Comforter to whom we have bid farewell in the past twelve months: Harry, Dorothy, George, Arthur, Ken, Kenneth, Bobby, Nancy, Bill, and Madeline.
We also recognize those men and women who, throughout the ages, have been held up as inspirational in the history of the Church.
The young soldier, Martin, soon chooses to leave his responsibilities as a soldier in spite of his father’s disapproval. Martin’s father is a high ranking officer in the Roman army. “I am now a soldier of Christ,” Martin confesses, “I cannot fight as a soldier (anymore)." Charged with cowardice, he is directed to jail.
But Martin makes an offer: to stand in battle, vulnerable and without armor or weaponry, in front of the Roman legions of soldiers. His officers accept Martin’s offer; however, the enemy sues for peace, just in time eliminating the possibibility of battle and sparing Martin’s life.
Martin becomes widely known for his dedication and faith to the new religion founded on the message of Jesus, the Christ. This era of Martin is merely 200 years after Jesus has departed his earthly life. For a while, Martin lives as a hermit in the caves above the Loire River in a land at that time called Gaul. Today, we call this land France.
Martin is chosen and ordained a Bishop, despite his deep reluctance. Today, St. Martin of Tours is celebrated from Spain to Germany, from Wales to North America as a great healer, a prophet to early Christians. Martin’s fame begins with a dream and a good deed.
People like Martin and Daniel--and feast days such as this All Saints--remind us just how insignificant are the temporal concerns of life in the grand scheme of God’s universe. The Saints remind us that we, too, may dream visions beyond mortal understanding and boundary.
We all come into this Church sanctuary on this feast day of All Saints with searching hearts. Some of us will light candles remembering the St. Martin’s, the prophet Daniels of our own life journeys – those very special people now gone from our sight, people still feeding and keeping our dreams alive.
We cannot truly explain the memories and stories of our loved ones--the reminders from our Saints, the holy ones of the Most High, who keep the magnitude and wonder of God alive in our souls.
Storytelling, music, poetry, the mysterious cadence of this liturgy lift us up on this glorious day.
The music of Schubert enfolds the ancient words of the Eucharist--Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus--and beautiful voices from the choir and instruments enchant our souls. Our hearts are touched, again.
We must recall that Martin’s dream preceded by a humble act of kindness. He tears his cape in two and gives half of it to the cold beggar on the street. We might think it happens in reverse – that our dreams might encourage acts of kindness. As Christian Saints, budding Saints, we are called first to care for the underprivileged, the poor, the hungry, those who weep. Only then, in the least of these, might we find true blessing.
“Here is Martin. Here is the congregation of Holy Comforter. Here is compassion, caring, the promise of Resurrection and hope,” Jesus says to the angel. “They have clad me…The holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever---forever and ever.”
Amen.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, a parish of The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
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