Voices alternate, to read name after hand-written name. When each is read aloud, a candle is lit. Shimmering a light, onto a golden wooden surface. Urging each of us, to remember those who have gone before.
This is my remembrance of the All Saints service on Friday, November 1. A time of gentle, thoughtful, and radiant worship, urging all in attendance, whether in-person or via livestream, to open their hearts and minds, to loss and love.
Grief.
Loss.
Change.
Ending.
Transition.
Beginning.
Liminal space.
Remembering.
Each of these words hint, at how we MIGHT navigate the departure, the death, of someone we cared for, and about. But it isn’t always that easy is it? The unexpected loss of a person (and let’s be honest, loss is never TRULY expected). The unexpected loss of a person we care for and care about, can knock the breath out of us.
In our Gospel reading today, a Scribe, a learned, editor and writer, notices that Jesus is able to speak well with the other leaders in the temple, and so the Scribe seeks Jesus out. They seek the expertise of Jesus. They ask, what IS the GREATEST Commandment?
Let me take a moment here to talk a bit about Commandments. Commandments, we might have SOME familiarity with that term. Whether it is from confirmation classes, Sunday School, reading the Bible, watching movies that mention the Commandments.
The Ten Commandments, break down into detail, the basic laws and ethics expected of the people of God. An analysis of the Commandments reveals that the first three focus on OUR relationship, with God. The remaining seven Commandments, focus on OUR relationship with our neighbours.
So here we have this scribe, seeking clarification, direction, and insight from Jesus, about the Commandments. And what is Jesus’ response? Love God fully. With your heart, your soul, your mind and strength. Then, love your neighbour fully. Love them as you love yourself. Yes, this is an affirmation of the Ten Commandments but, it is also something more.
Jesus urges the Scribe, and US, to love God with all of our being AND to love our neighbours with ALL of our being. The question we need to ask ourselves is…WHO ARE OUR NEIGHBOURS? For Jesus did not declare who our neighbours were. There is no definition provided within the notes of the text. Instead, it is left wide open and blank. Ready for some interpretation.
So, what if our neighbours don’t just live next door to us, or within our building. What if they are those people we know, those people we have known, and those people we have never known. They are the people we have a deep and abiding relationship with, those we have been in relationship with, and those we have never been in relationship with. But what if we make this love of neighbour even bigger and broader. What if we include the plants and animals within the world? Those essential elements of the ecosystem. This broader definition of neighbour further alters who and WHAT we love and who and WHAT we remember today.
On this All Saints Sunday, we remember those who have gone before. Not just the faithful, because in truth, how can we KNOW who are the faithful. Rather, it is all of those who have gone before.
Family members
Friends
Acquaintances
Those we never knew
Relationships that have died
Species of animals and plants that have gone extinct
I am going to take this one step further. As I reflect on my ministry with the Fort Nelson First Nation, I become aware that there is another loss, another death, that our neighbours experience. The disappearance of traditions, knowledge, and languages. I could talk about the losses. The number of Dene language speakers. How many people know how to be sustained, by the land, through hunting, fishing, and harvesting berries and plants. The knowledge within the community regarding their faith tradition. But instead, I remember I am their neighbour. I love them, as I want to be loved. It is through this love, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that I am able to set aside my settler agenda and consider. What does this neighbour need?
My neighbour needs me to learn how destructive colonization has, and continues to be, AND they need me to learn about decolonizing practices.
My neighbour needs me to set aside MY approach to curriculum AND to implement a land-based learning curriculum.
My neighbour needs me to be MORE concerned about family unity and LESS concerned with following the waiting list.
My neighbour needs me to LISTEN with discipline. To be accepting, open, and receptive as opposed to being judgemental.
My neighbour needs me reconsider what professional boundaries look like and to LOVE the children, the families, and my colleagues in Fort Nelson.
On this All Saints Sunday we are each called to remember those who have gone before. Plant, animal, and person. We are each called to love our neighbours. Those who live next door, down the hall, across the street, and who we have never met. We are each called by the Holy Spirit to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. AND, to remember, in our relationship with God, we are loved.
AMEN.
