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Sermon November 6, 2022
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, MSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Observance of All Saints Day, Year C
https://lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/HolyDays/AllSaintsC_RCL.html
Video: https://youtu.be/2MgYmMab71w
Audio: /documents/Audio_for_Nov_6_All_Saints_Day_
Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:30-31
Please be seated.
There are so many stories I could tell about my attachment to things or goods as the Gospel reading from this morning says.
The first one that came to mind was from the show Northern Exposure. This was a weekly show on CBS from 1990-1995. It took place in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska. The show, especially in the early episodes, focused on the new doctor in town. Joel Fleischman, a New York City native, has recently graduated from medical school. The State of Alaska underwrote his medical education in exchange for him serving as a doctor in the state. Dr. Fleischman thinks he is going to the city of Anchorage, still quite different from New York City. However, he ends up in this small, rural town of Cicely. The characters in the town are quirky to say the least. There is also a sizeable population of people who are American Indian.
The episode about being attached to our goods or possessions occurs when Dr. Fleischman is being adopted by the Indian nation. Part of the adoption process is to have a give away. That’s right, members of the nation come to Dr. Fleischman’s home and take whatever of his goods they would like. One of the guides in the show tells him that he will eventually get everything back, but as it turns out, what is given in return isn’t always exactly what he had in the first place. Needless to say, this is all very disconcerting to Dr. Fleischman.
This episode and show as so long ago, and yet I do remember this story, probably because it says something about our or my attachment to things. Much of Jesus’ teaching is about holding things or possessions lightly, about not clinging to them or in essence giving them more power than they truly have.
And maybe it’s a stage in life, but I’m starting to feel all of this stuff is a heavy weight to carry around. I want much of it gone. I’m beginning to say, “I don’t use it. Let it go to someone who would enjoy it.”
Today we remember those whom we see no longer. Many of us think about those who shaped and molded us personally. Or maybe we think about someone we never knew, but whose story we know and that story inspired our lives. All of the saints. All of the souls. All of the people and even all of creation that taught us and influenced our lives.
Who are those people you knew or did not know who taught you how to hold possessions lightly? Those who taught you and modeled what was truly important? Yes, there are some basics that we all need and that is not to be denied.
Take my friend, Miss Pennyfeather. You know I traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma for her 90th birthday party. Miss Pennyfeather worked much of her life. She had a job for many years at the Capitol, I believe. But then she helped people whenever she could. She did day’s work or cleaning homes for which she was paid and sometimes people would ask her to cook a meal or a feast for them.
But if you needed help, she was right there. Sometimes it was a room in her home where you needed to lay your head. I’d get calls from her saying she’d cooked a meal and I should come get a plate. Then she’d chide me because I didn’t take enough. And you should know that I love when someone else cooks me a meal. Sometimes I’d tell her what I’d cooked, often something very simple and not very elaborate like her meals. She’d say she wanted to eat what I cooked, because she was tired of her own cooking.
She would often sit on her front porch and talk to the children and people passing by, letting them know she cared about them. She would call me up occasionally when we were no longer living in the same town just to make sure I was ok.
She certainly modeled the words in our Gospel today: Do to others as you would have them do to you. What is so hard about that simple phrase, I think, is that doing to others as you would have them do to you is unconditional. Jesus didn’t say, do to others as you would have them do to you only if they can repay you or treat you right. He said we should do to others as we would want to have done to us no matter what. Always treat others as if you were caring for and treating yourself.
Ah, now that says a lot doesn’t it? When we treat others or even creation and creatures poorly, we are providing insight into how we think we should be treated, maybe?
Today, we are especially surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses who did their best to teach us how to love God and love our neighbor. They taught us how to treat others and God’s creation and even to treat ourselves. They taught us that relationships are more important than possessions. May we continue their legacy in our own lives.
Amen
Northern Exposure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Exposure
