All Santos + 11.1.15
Melissa Campbell-Langdell
All Saints Oxnard
(Sabiduría 3:1–9; Salmo 24; Revelación 21:1–6ª; San
Juan 11:32–44)
“Those who trust in him
will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy
are upon his holy ones, pues Dios es bueno y favorece a sus elegidos.”
(Wisdom/Sabiduría 3:9).
Los que confían en el Señor
comprenderán la verdad. La
verdad. The truth is a mystery, a mystery we hold today. Death
and life. Sacred Communion, a mystical body. La verdad místico—este mundo no es
toda la realidad. But
death holds an unavoidable pain when it is the death of those we love, because
a loved one has been taken from us. Even Jesus is moved at his
friend Lazarus’ death. Aun Jesús duele por la muerte de su amigo Lázaro. And yet, God will restore even this. Dios
sí renovará a todo esto.
How to grasp this mystery? Naturally, I will go to a
children’s tale. Obviamente, voy a un cuento de los niños. ¿Algunos
vieron la película “The Book of Life” el año pasado? Did anyone see the movie last
Halloween called “The Book of Life?” It is an animated film that in part talks
about the celebration of The Day of the Dead and the practice of honoring and
remembering loved ones who have passed on. Se trata del
tema del día de los muertos y como tenemos que recordar a nuestros seres
queridos cuando ya se van de nosotros.[1]
And this is a bit of
what we do today. We honor not only the saints of ages past, but we remember
those—in our families and those of our Friends—and also those in our faith
family—who have died. We honor them. Honramos a los que han
fallecido hoy mientras también honramos a los santos de los tiempos antiguos. Es
una manera de conectar con nuestras familias biológicas y con nuestra familia
de fe.
In the movie, kids who visit a museum are told the story of
Maria, Manolo and Joaquin, and how La Muerte, the ruler of the land of the
remembered, did a deal with Xibalba, the ruler of the land of the forgotten,
over which boy would win Maria’s heart. Aunque la
historia habla de quien va a ganar el amor de María, realmente se trata de la
importancia de recordar nuestros seres queridos y tener orgullo de nuestras
familias, y los miembros vivos y muertos. Although this little love triangle is one focus of the story,
the real message is that we need to honor and remember our family so that we
can have pride in our heritage.
There are aspects of the film that I found quite true. The
fact is, we as Christians know that death is not the end, so the days of All
Saints and All Souls remind us that we really are a part of a mystical body of
believers just separated by the veil of death. We will all be restored and
reunited into one body. La muerte nos separa para ahora de
nuestros seres queridos que han fallecido, pero como vemos en la lectura del
libro de Apocalipsis, vamos a estar restaurados a un solo cuerpo, justo como
los cielos y la tierra estarán renovados. Just as the heavens and the earth will be restored, we will
be restored to those we love. And we remember them this day so that we do not
lose sight of that truth.
Apart from the lack of mention of God, one of the other
aspects of the film that was different from what our tradition believes was the
fear was that the loved ones would be forgotten. The land of the forgotten was
the greatest horror in the film, but our tradition believes, as we see in the
book of wisdom, that the real error of the unrighteous is that they forget. They forget
that this is not all there is.[2]
De contraste con la película, en que vemos que el horror es estar olvidado, lo
peor en nuestra tradición cristiana es olvidar. Olvidar que este mundo no es
todo lo que hay. This
simply is not all there is. We must remember the mystery. And the truth is, God
will never forget us. Dios nunca nos olvidará.
But there are times when this is hard, even for Jesus. Aun
para Jesús, hay tiempos cuando esto es bien difícil. Toma el
momento en que vea que su amigo Lázaro ha muerto. Se supone que se sabe de una
manera. Pero Dios vino a vivir entre nosotros en forma de Jesús, y en esto
Jesús sufrió todas las emociones humanas. Duele cuando perdemos a alguien; a un ser querido. God came
to dwell with us, just as we hear in Revelation, God’s dwelling place is with
humans, and in Jesus God pitched God’s tent with us. Jesus experienced full
humanity and in that he experienced loss. The pain of losing a dear, dear
friend. He, who knew all about eternal life, was still touched to the core,
disturbed by the pain. Aunque Jesús sabía todo sobre la vida
eterna, el todavía sintió la perdida.
So we cannot be surprised when we, too, feel pain when we lose
someone dear, even if we also know about the mystery. Even if we have not
forgotten that this is not all there is. Tenemos que
entender que es natural sentir este dolor de la perdida aunque sabemos que hay
la vida eterna.
One of our responses to this as a congregation is to honor
our departed, but we also choose to celebrate the saints that are among us. Too
often we forget to publicly acknowledge all that our more sage parishioners
have taught us, and all that they mean to us. So the vestry wanted to take a
moment to honor you, our wisdom-bearers. Una manera
que vivimos esto es honrar a nuestros santos difuntos con nuestros santos, pero
también tenemos que honrar a nuestros seres queridos que están aquí con
nosotros. Siempre decimos que es mejor celebrar la vida con la persona. La
junta parroquial y yo queremos honrar hoy a los que comparten la sabiduría de
muchos años de vida y fe con nosotros.
We have many saints here, and there is richness in the
experience that many in our congregation have shared with us. They
are the givers. Ellos son los que comparten con nosotros, y en dar de su
experiencia, y de su fe, somos más ricos y más fuertes como una congregación. To our wisdom-bearers, in giving of
your experience, you teach us about the mysteries of faith and the
practicalities of living it, even when facing pain and loss.
So let us now as a congregation do something a bit different.
I would ask all of our elders, the loved ones who carry the wisdom and experience
of the congregation to stand as you are able for a moment. You know who you
are, don’t be shy! It is those of you who have been attending here many years
and those of you who may be more recent members of our congregation but who
carry many years of being a Christian. Pedimos que
se pongan de pie cómo sea posible nuestra gente mayor, nuestros seres queridos
que llevan la sabiduría de la congregación para un momento, si es que han
venido aquí por muchos años o si recién vienen con muchos años
de sabiduría. Saben quiénes son, nuestros
doñas
y dones, ¡un don a nosotros! I am not calling out names to avoid making anyone feel uncomfortable. And
please, look further in your bulletin, for a dedication for our wisdom bearers.
Vamos a hacer esta dedicación –la oración en su boletín para nuestros
portadores de sabiduría.
Y al fin, miembros de la junta
parroquial van a pasar con algo por los que están parados—si no pueden parar,
solo mocionan a ellos—un recuerdo que ustedes son nuestros ángeles y los
honramos hoy y siempre. At
the end of the dedication, our vestry members will walk around and give to
those standing some little angel wings. We honor you as angels in our midst, or
as those who bring out the better angels of our nature. We honor your wisdom,
now and always.
These words may seem overblown, but if you think about it,
they are true. This is what makes us All Santos, is that we love each other in
this way. Estas palabras que vamos a decir, en inglés y en español
a la vez, son correctos porque así nos amamos uno al otro, y esto es parte quienes
somos como la iglesia de Todos los Santos.
Do we all have the tribute? Lo decimos
todos juntos para nuestros portadores de sabiduría. Let us say it together:
Tribute: We give thanks for the gift of your wisdom, the
fruit of your years. We thank you for keeping alive the moments, stories, and
traditions you pass on to us in this congregation. We learn from the wealth of
your experience. We promise to stay with you as you continue your journey among
us, and to hold you in our hearts and memories, whatever lies ahead. We will
listen to you, grieve with your losses, and pray with you through times of
trial. We will encounter Christ in you as you continue to serve in his Name. Reflect
Christ’s wisdom and grace in your midst, and now receive these gifts as signs
of our love.[3]
Amen.
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