All Saints Day and Homecoming Homily

John 11:32-44

Today, at Mystic Side we celebrate two occasions, the holy day of All Saints and our homecoming after the long absence caused by COVID.

We have lived through a long and harrowing time, have been kept from seeing friends and family, and from coming together as a Christian community. It has been a time of fear and death, the death of many things familiar and cared for. Some have lost family and friends to the disease, others have lost jobs, some have simply lost that sense of stability that was a part of our lives before the pandemic struck.

In today’s Gospel, Mary and Martha have gone through a similar experience. They have lost a loved one, the stability and security he created in their lives, and the familiar, comfortable flow of daily living they knew when he was with them.

All things come to an end.

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Winston Churchill, arguably one of the greatest political and military leaders of the 20th century, planned every detail of his funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He worked clandestinely with cathedral staff, under the code name “Operation-Hope-Not.” (That code name reveals a lot about humanity’s attitude toward death, doesn’t it?) One aspect of his funeral seems absolutely inspired: a bugler played The Last Post, which is like the equivalent of Taps in the United States, from the west end of the cathedral. When the somber notes of that solo bugle echoed through the cathedral, we can imagine the stiff upper lips of many Brits quivered, as they were no longer able to hold back tears.

Then a full minute of silence passed.

And then, surely a surprise to all those mourners who crowded into St. Paul’s that day, another bugler, this one positioned in the east, rose to play Reveille, the happy morning bugle call that gives soldiers and scouts the “get up and go” they need to kick-start their day. Perhaps after the tears, a few suppressed chuckles slipped out. Always a commanding presence – even from the dead – Churchill relayed two important messages.

First, he offered a testimony to the shock, joy, and surprise of the Resurrection. At the last day, we’ll all rise to the sound of the Lord playing a heavenly version of Reveille and waking us up to the new life, new earth, new Jerusalem. It wasn’t random that the Reveille came from the east, where the sun rises, the direction the altar faces in many churches, the direction from which we expect Christ to return again.

Secondly, Churchill bid them to press on, to attend to the day at hand, and the life ahead, here and now.

Our Gospel reading ends with a resurrection, as Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb. Today we celebrate a resurrection as we share communion and fellowship here at Mystic Side.

Today is Homecoming Sunday. It is also All Saints day. May we, when the final trumpet sounds, rise with all the saints and hear our Lord’s voice clearly for the first time.

Welcome home!

Let us pray:

Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for all your children and especially for our Mystic Side family. Strengthen the faithful, guide the careless, and restore the penitent. Fill us with Your grace and Holy Spirit. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.