This morning I had you all turn to face the center
aisle as I read the gospel so that we could be centered and connected to each
other and the word. We’ll come back to that in a bit but first, as you know,
tomorrow is an important day in our country. We call it Memorial Day, but it
was first known as Decoration Day, and there are a variety of stories about how
the day began to be observed. One story is that in 1865, Henry C Wells, a local
druggist in Waterloo, NY mentioned to some friends at a social gathering that
while it was important to praise the living veterans of the Civil War, he was
concerned that people were losing sight of remembering those who had died. And
thus began a year long process of forming a group to plan the decorating of
graves of their dead and conduct the appropriately proper event. The first such
event took place one year later in 1866.
Also in 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina, the
flashpoint of secession that began that same Civil War, African American clergy
were concerned that a burial ground of war dead was untended. And they began
meeting. It was the burial ground of 257 Union soldiers who had been
Confederate prisoners of war. The now freed men, women and children spent 10
days building a fence and whitewashing it, landscaping the graves into neat
rows and erecting an archway over the gate to the cemetery. Then they held a
procession, carrying armloads of flowers, and wreaths and crosses which were so
numerous that after they were all placed, “not a speck of earth beneath them”
could be seen. And then, they prayed, heard Scripture and speeches, and sang “America”
and “The Star Spangled Banner.” The perfume of the flowers and the notes of
their voices filled the air as they connected themselves to people they did not
know but for whom they felt moved by the Spirit to love. And it was courageous-
for a group of freed slaves, in the Deep South, in a place still torn apart by
the war, to honor those men.
Both of these events claim to be the first
observance, but I’m not sure that who’s first matters, but that the Spirit of
truth moved.
As I read these two accounts, I thought about three
things:
First, how easy it is to forget why we do what we
do- after all, what are your plans for tomorrow?
Second, how our culture has oddly shifted so that
we are far more elaborate in remembering the dead sometimes than in lifting up
the living
And yet…
That walking alongside each other is how we are
wired.
And these are things Jesus is lifting up to his
disciples as he is saying farewell. He knows he will go on to die on the cross,
and return to the Father and he is preparing them. They are telling him they
love him and are in disbelief that he is leaving. And we hear Jesus say, “remember.
If you love me ( and I know you do), keep my commandments. Do as I have done
and now command you to do. Love.”
“I am leaving but God the Father is sending you
another-the Spirit.” And then Jesus describes the Spirit in a word we hear
translated as “Advocate.” In it’s original form, the word is “paracletos.” You
can dazzle your friends with that word. It is often translated as “Advocate” or
“Counselor” or even “Supporter.” And each of those ideas helps us envision the
role of the Spirit. Each helps us remember why we do what we do, and what to
do, and empowers us to then do it.
The Advocate in court takes a stand, reminds others
of what is important or necessary or right. A Counselor guides people in how
decisions ought to made or completed. A supporter lifts others up in their
work. All useful. But today I want to focus on another definition of that word “Paracletos,”
one lifted up by David Lose, now the incoming President of the Lutheran
Seminary at Philadelphia. That “paracletos” is “one who walks alongside
another.”
Jesus describes the Spirit this way as we hear him
say “ I will not leave you orphaned.” Promising not to leave us alone-you will
not be abandoned. As I look around I see almost all of you are not alone- but
Jessica, I see you and Cal are each sitting by yourselves. Can you go and join
him in his pew? Now- not alone. Not only walking alongside, but sitting
alongside.
Jesus also tell us that the Spirit is not the first
God has sent to fulfill this role. That is Spirit is “another.” Jesus was the
first. Born into the world to come alongside us to help humanity see and know
an otherwise invisible God. To make that connection I spoke of as I began this
sermon. And if you think about it, all of the stories of Christ’s ministry show
this- from walking up to random fishermen and saying, “follow me” to all that
follows of healing and forgiveness and love. Even reaching out from the cross
to a dying thief, promising “today you will be with me” and to those not even
looking, gasping, “Father, forgive them.” Advocating to the last.
This same connection is promised to us in the
Spirit.
That the Spirit will continue to come alongside us
so we can remember why we do what we do and to endeavor to do it. And we are
told this same Spirit dwells in us- each of us and all of us as a community in
the Spirit. You are each little “paracletos!” The ones who walk alongside others
doing as Jesus did-sharing with others in comfort, in faith, in courage and
loss. Because “loving Jesus most fully is seen in doing what he said to
do-Love.”
This love is the work of the living. Which brings
me to the part about our focus as a culture. As the daughter of a living
veteran, I am appalled that we as a nation spend ungodly sums of money making
war, and making elaborate displays of the caskets of those who have died, but
cannot spend what it takes to care for the living wounded, who sacrifices
seemingly go unnoticed.
Not only am I the daughter of a veteran, I am the
great granddaughter of a man who emigrated from Germany as a leather worker,
who a generation after the Civil War found work- wrapping the leather around
the artificial limbs of those Civil War veterans who were shattered.
The Spirit of truth calls us to lift up those who
have served and survived so they don’t die awaiting care on a hidden list, or
end up homeless, or tortured by post-combat stresses they fight alone. We must
walk alongside them also-in real life and accept the cost as part of being that
community in the Spirit. Those who serve as they are commanded and their
families should not feel abandoned.
This is just one way we remember that love is the
work of the living and it is for the living not just the dead. And it’s for all
whether we know them or not.
And the Spirit reminds that this is not just work
of a day. Many days ago now we celebrated with processions, and singing,
flowers, prayers and crosses another day- That Easter day where we proclaimed Christ
is risen- He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Praise God!
It’s still Easter! And Christ is risen and the
Spirit is present-in all the other places of our living too. This is the good
news! Sometimes our culture suggests that we shouldn’t talk about losses in our
lives. So we don’t. But then we miss out on the comfort, care and solidarity of
community God intends. The Spirit comes to help us combat- yes, combat against
another enemy- ISOLATION.
Where are those places of pain, in need of healing,
of loneliness where you need to see Jesus and us walking alongside?
Today again we will be offering anointing for healing
and wholeness. Not isolation. Wholeness. Today again we will experience and
share communion- Christ with us in the bread and wine for us all. Wholeness,
healing, communion. Love.
This is how God is wired, and how we are.
It’s like Memorial Day- we are here to remember.
The difference is that through Christ and in the Spirit, it’s everyday.
Thanks be to God!
