for all the saints

Today we celebrate All Saints Day.

I sing in my parish choir. There is some difference in the worship experience from one who sits in the pew and from one who sits in the choir. Neither is more important or spiritual. However, it is easier, in our parish, to see the altar from the choir than from the nave.

But singing in the choir also means focusing on the mechanics of what is going on. I have no idea what it is like for the priests, but in this regard it must be similar, because we all have to be mentally aware of where we are and what is coming next.

Our director often tells us that our worship happens in rehearsal rather than in the service.

But there are moments, when singing in the choir, that one is deeply moved by the words, music and experience in worship. For example: when singing in a funeral; or when the young child's voice starts the procession at the Christ Mass with the words Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed...; during the chanting of certain Psalms; and especially, for me, as we process into the church on All Saints Day, singing For all the saints, who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed, thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.

The odd thing is that it took a few years to realize that this was happening, that I was having an emotional response each year at that moment. This is one of those moments in the journey, during worship, we aknowledge all those who have gone before us, The great cloud of witnesses of the book of Hebrews.

As I get older, I realize much more clearly than I did as a young man that life on this earth has a beginning, a middle, and a definite end. When I think of folk I've known, family members, friends, colleagues, who have already died, I think about how much I miss them, and remember that the parts they've played in my life has not ended.

But All Saints Day is even more special because it's not about the individual. The faith journey is a shared one. When our choir sang at Winchester Cathedral last summer, we were sitting in choir stalls that were carved in the 13th century. The cathedral was built in the 1080s, and it replaced a Saxon cathedral on the same spot that had dated back to the 800s. Today, each day, some gather to pray and worship where prayers have continued for much of the Common Era. While a bit younger, the same could be said for the other Cathedral where we sang, Chichester. To work and worship in a cathedral is to understand visually the notion of the great cloud of witnesses.

So we will process this morning into the church building, singing of the Church, past present and future, fellow travelers, muddling through in hope and faith, and love.

For a much more articulate sermon, see AKMA's sermon given at Seabury on Friday. The good board of Seabury Western has promoted AKMA to a full professor. Congratulations to him.