Unburied

Hallowtide Cemetery Vespers

A Lesson from the Book of the Apocalypse:

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sing a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; you have made them a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.”

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Homily:

Lord, we pray for the preacher, for You know his sins are great.

Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It’s about laughing at the things that used to scare us. That is the heart of the Allhallowtide. We let the darkness out, but just a bit: enough to give us a thrill, and to offer a shriek of delight.

When I was a kid, this was the best time of the year: a time for scary stories and costumes and running around in the dark; an unsupervised night, precariously poised upon the precipice of danger. Blame my mother if you must. She made every holiday the highlight of my childhood. And what could be more magical than the night of Halloween? What transgressive titillation, to get to play with death.

Death is at the center of our faith—death and the new life that she brings. One need look no farther than the Cross. Here we have an instrument of torturous execution, transformed now, in the light of Resurrection, to a symbol of our hope and love and life. Death confounded the earliest Apostles. In spite of Jesus’ warnings, they expected Him to triumph: to take the throne of Israel, and drive out all the Romans, and rule in pomp and circumstance as David did of old.

Glory, in other words, that’s what they expected. Instead they saw their Savior crucified, their little band of brothers scattered in the night. How awful that must have been, how agonizing. After all they’d seen and heard, all they’d witnessed to the world, how could Jesus come to such an end? His teachings and His wonders and His leadership, bled out upon the rock of Calvary. All for nothing. All undone by death.

Yet we know differently now, do we not? The light of Resurrection changes all, all that came before, all from hence hereafter. Death did not conquer Christ; Christ has conquered death! He descended to the dead, harrowing the hells, and rose again reordering the heavens. Christ is King of all of His Creation: all of Heaven, all of Hell, and all that lies between. He has gone ahead of us into the grave to clear the Way before us. For just as we are joined together in a death like His, certainly we are united within His Resurrection. Death is now our door to life.

The Hallowtide began because of Jesus’ martyrs, those souls who witnessed to Him regardless of the cost. That’s what the Cross is, you realize: it’s doing the right thing, holding high the truth, even in the face of opposition. Following the Christ was enough to get you killed. Yet in some miraculous and sacramental way, those who died for the faith were crucified with Christ. Their death became His death; their flesh became His flesh. Thus began the cult of all the saints. To reverence the relics of a martyr was to honor the corpse of Christ about to rise.

Thus the juxtaposition inherent in the Hallowtide: God and Man, life and death, darkness and light, Crucifixion and Resurrection; all played out in us, realized in us, in the Church who is the Body and Bride of Christ. We honor the saints, yes, because they are part of Jesus, while we the baptized also are His saints. As He died, so we die; as He rose, so we rise. That is what the holiday’s about. You can kill us, sure, but Christ killed death. And now His Holy Spirit is our life and blood and breath. So what exactly have we left to fear?

I mean, think about it: death is the ultimatum, underlying every threat. That’s why our authorities have guns. But if death has been conquered—if the grave awaiting us all is now the place where we meet Christ—then our life is opened up to endless joy. Everything we do here now has meaning, because death cannot negate it, never have the final say. Jesus has redeemed her; He has made of death our sister. We’re in no rush to meet her, I should hope. But now she is a promise, not a threat. Death will offer rest unto the faithful.

The Feast of All the Saints began in May, a time when Romans feared the restless dead. Later it was transferred to 1 November, roughly coinciding with a number of autumnal festivals associated with death, for what I hope are obvious reasons. Crops wither; leaves fall; we ponder our mortality. All Souls was added for the recently deceased, especially the loved ones in our homes.

Thus we have our three-day festival: All Saints, All Souls, and All Hallows’ Eve; together known as Hallowtide, for all the hallowed dead. Whatever we have buried tends to rise again. Be they phantoms, fears, or fantasies, our shadows ride tonight. It’s only a pagan holiday in the sense that pagan means “common,” and what could be more common to humanity than death?

We light our candles. We tell our stories. We remember those we love who pass before us through the veil. And we smile with the knowledge of our promise: that death is not the end, and in Christ could never be. For He has tasted death, the once for all. Happy Hallowtide, to all you sainted sinners. May death greet us as a friend at our birth to life eternal.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pertinent Links

RDG Stout
Blog: https://rdgstout.blogspot.com/
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St Peter’s Lutheran
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Website: https://www.stpetersnymills.org/
Donation: https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z9EG/home

Nidaros Lutheran
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nidaroschurch6026