All Saints Day 2024
Today is November 1st, which historically for the Western Church means the celebration of All Saints Day. Celebrated since the 9th century, All Saints is a day to remember all the saints of the church, known or unknown. It’s the day before All Souls Day, which celebrates those who have died (You can watch two videos explaining the holy days here or do your own Google search :)) Many traditions and cultures have various observances for this period of remembrance, prayer, honoring loved ones, and holding on to the hope of resurrection (for example, it’s also the time for the famous Día de Muertos in Mexico— thus the beautiful colored skulls my children brought home from school today).
For this year’s celebration, I wanted to share the art series I recently hung at Immanuel. It celebrates saints that were unknown to me before this year. One has passed and is little known. The other two are groups of individuals who are still living but who you won’t find in halls of power or fame.
I’ll finish with a passage that stirred me to tears that was part of Lectio 365’s All Saint’s Day morning prayer session today.
Septima Poinsette Clark- Matthew 5:13-16
These verses describe the people of God as salt, light, a city on a hill, a lamp on a stand, and a witness to others about the Father. To me, these words were fully illustrated by life of Septima Clark and the Highlander Folk School, an education center that trained folks in justice and citizenship. Clark was an educator called The Mother of the Movement. Fire illuminates and also threatens (evidenced by the political cartoon). We think of “This Little Light of Mine” as a children’s song, but it’s also a powerful song of resistance. The poinsettia resembles the Star of Bethlehem, another light that we often associate with peace and calm, but which also signaled an overturning of dark powers. Clark wears Mary’s crown of stars, an echo of sainthood and birthing the way of Jesus on earth.
Las Abuelas de Sepur Zarco, Matthew 5:27-30
In these verses, Jesus has strong words for those who look lustfully at women and use their eyes and hands to harm. He suggests it’s better to lose, even part of your body, than to continue sinning and risk eternal judgement. Las Abuelas de Sepur Zarco (pictured here is Demesia Yat) were 15 Mayan survivors who “fought for justice at the highest court of Guatemala. The groundbreaking case resulted in the conviction of two former military officers of crimes against humanity and granted 18 reparation measures to the women survivors and their community… This was the first time in history that a national court prosecuted sexual slavery during conflict using national legislation and international criminal law… Justice, for them, includes education for the children of their community, access to land, a health-care clinic and such measures that will end the abject poverty their community has endured across generations. Justice must be lived.- UN Women”
I gave Demesia the Sacred Heart of Jesus symbol, a sign of Jesus’ love, compassion, zeal and incarnation. The hymn is “God weeps at love withheld, at strength misused, at children's innocence abused, and till we change the way we love, God weeps. God bleeds at anger's fist, at trust betrayed, at women battered and afraid, and till we change the way we win, God bleeds. God cries at hungry mouths, at running sores, at creatures dying without cause, and till we change the way we care, God cries. God waits for stones to melt, for peace to seed, for hearts to hold each other's need, and till we understand the Christ, God waits.” © Carlton Raymond Young | Shirley Erena Murray 1996
Las Hermanas of the Kino Border Initiative, Engracia Robles, Matthew 6:24-30
Matthew 6:24-30 is a familiar passage where Jesus tells his followers to not worry about what they will eat, drink, or wear. He instructs people to look at birds, lilies and grass for signs of God’s provision and care. One of the way God feeds and clothes (and shows how valuable image bearers are), is through Hermanas, or Sisters, women who have devoted themselves to service of those in need. The Hermanas of the Inciativa Kino para la Frontera or Sisters of the Kino Border Initiative work on either side of the Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. They offer humanitarian assistance and “holistic accompaniment” of migrants and work toward “migration with dignity.” Holistic accompaniment includes daily meals, therapy, clothes, social work, phone calls, shelter, legal assistance, medical clinics, recovery of belongings, occupational support, mass/communion, and safe spaces for children.
I featured Sister Engracia Robles who began by working with nonprofits then with neighborhood women who cooked huge meals for migrants who lived under the Mariposa bridge. When the government shut this down, they created a mobile food system, then a cafeteria, then eventually, the border initiative facility. She wrote a book full of stories of migrants she met over the years. The swallow, sparrow and lily are in the style of traditional Mexican tin art (hojalata) and ceramic tiles (Talavera). The song is “La Golondrina,” is a traditional Mexican song from the 1860s that became an anthem of exile, a migrated swallow symbolizing a longing for a homeland and also for heaven.
With Immanuel, I’m remembering our beloved sister Marci today, her brilliant mind and humor, her hopes for justice and faithful communities at work in this world. She is part of the cloud of witnesses we dearly miss, still needed, and hope to emulate. You can reread her memorial tribute here. Thinking of her checks both holy days— a saint we knew and a sister we loved who left us this year.
As the sun begins to set on this All Saints Day, I want to share a passage from The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis that stopped me in my tracks while I listened to Carla Harding’s reflection on the prayer app. I hope it will stir your soul as well as you honor those who have gone before and as you seek to live like Christ for those who are here now and will come after.
“Today I also consider the heroes whose names I don’t know and whose lives I will only learn about in heaven. In C.S. Lewis’ masterpiece The Great Divorce, the narrator dreams of a great procession in heaven, celebrating an unknown woman: one of the great heroes of our faith, who is so beautiful he cannot capture her appearance in words…
“Is it? ... is it?” I whispered to my guide. “Not at all,” said he. “It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.” “She seems to be ... well, a person of particular importance?” “Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”... “And who are all these young men and women on each side?” “They are her sons and daughters.” “She must have had a very large family, Sir.” “Every young man or boy that met her became her son – even if it was only the boy that brought the meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter.”
“... It is like when you throw a stone into a pool, and the concentric waves spread out further and further. Who knows where it will end? Redeemed humanity is still young, it has hardly come to its full strength. But already there is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life.”- From The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (Harper Collins, 2012) p. 118. “
