Allen Pruitt. Speaking of stirring the pot: I think about Jane this time of year too.

Transcription

1 1 of 10 Allen Pruitt I think about my grandmother this time of year. I think about her often, all year long, nearly every day. In the kitchen, on a long drive, when I want to tell somebody something funny, when I need some advice. I think about my grandmother very often, but there s a tinge more sadness about it this time of year, near to the anniversary of her illness and death, near to Thanksgiving, when we ought to be gathering, 40 or 50 of us, crammed into a three bed, one bath house. She didn t cook much in later years, but she d sit at the table, holding a big wooden spoon, and she d point it at you, and she d stir the pots. Speaking of stirring the pot: I think about Jane this time of year too. I met Jane Dorman when I came for my interview. We sat in my office and she told me why she thought I d be good for St. Mark s, and why St. Mark s would be good for me. She also told me some of the challenges I might present to St. Mark s, and some of the challenges St. Mark s would present to me.

2 2 of 10 She wasn t right about all of it (she even told me that after I d been here a couple of years she wasn t right about all of it but I was always grateful for her insight, and for her honesty. Jane told the truth - whether you wanted to hear it or not! Today is All Saint s Sunday. It s a good day to talk about a couple of ladies that I miss, who meant something to me. It s a day to remember the people we buried this year. It s a day to remember people we love but see no longer. There s St. Peter and St. Paul, but as much comfort as I take from their words - I don t know their life. I saw the way that Jane lived; I followed the way that my grandmother lived, followed it because I saw in her life, something of the life to which God is calling each of us - lives of grace, and hospitality, and love, and forgiveness, and mercy, and honesty, and and all of the good things that we find so difficult from time to time.

3 3 of 10 I like all those saints in the book, Peter and Paul, but I don t know much about them; they never hugged my neck or asked me why I was headed where I was. Peter and Paul and all the rest, they re saints, sure, but I ll more often be praying about grandma and the deacon, Marie and Jane. Why? Because they got me here, they took me from where they met me, and they got me here, not just up to the day they died, but all the way through, from where they met me, all the way to where I ll meet God face to face. The truth is, Peter and Paul did the same thing. Oh, they re big time saints because they knew Jesus or wrote the book, but somebody knew them better than that. They hugged somebody s neck and said to somebody, sometime, Why are you headed off that way, you re more liable to find God over this way instead. They re big time saints for all of us, but they were somebody s saints all along.

4 4 of 10 What about you? Who s saint are you? Who s your saint? I m curious about the big time saints, the ones in the Bible: it s interesting to think about which one we like the most, read the most, pray with the most. But what I really want to know is, who s your saint that not everybody knows? And who says you re a saint to them? A saint is somebody who tells you God s story. So who told you God s story? Who is hearing God s story from you? I heard this story just a few weeks ago. A lot of you probably already know it. But it s worth hearing again. It s a story about saints, and about hearing God s story, and it s about stewardship too. We all know Harper Lee, she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird a book that has sainted her for many of us, a book that seems to become more and more influential as time goes on, as we realize that the racism and bigotry she wrote about is really only just being uncovered; it hasn t gone away.

5 Harper Lee is a saint: she told the truth about the world, and she invited us to wonder if maybe God didn t want it to be some other way, some better way, and if maybe we should be part of getting the world from here to there. 5 of 10 Harper Lee is from Monroeville, Alabama, about 3 hours away from here. But she lived a lot of her life in New York City. During that time in New York, she came across some friends, friends who loved her and believed in her. Friends who loved her and believed in her enough that they gave her the money to quit her job for a YEAR, so she could finally write the book that had been knocking around in her head. The book that eventually became To Kill a Mockingbird. Imagine that; if it weren t for them, WE would never have read that book. If it weren t for their generosity, Harper Lee wouldn t be one of those big time saints, the kind that everybody knows about; she would have just been a saint for the few people that knew her. If it wasn t for their generosity; if it wasn t for their being saints for her, for Harper Lee; if it wasn t for them being a saint for her, Harper Lee wouldn t be a saint for us.

6 6 of 10 Here at St Mark s we celebrate big time saints, the kind everybody s heard of. We celebrate the famous ones, but we also celebrate the lesser known. And every one of them, got us where we are today. This church isn t here because you and I put it here. We got it, as a gift, from a whole bunch of saints who painted the walls with their prayers, all along the way. We didn t put this church here, but someday, there s going to be some priest up here preaching about how they didn t put this church here, about how there was some people in 1864 and 1948 and 2018, those people left us a church. Someday there s going to be some priest up here preaching a sermon about us. Right?

7 7 of 10 You might have guessed before you sat down: it s a sermon about stewardship. And that s because it s a sermon about saints. Saints are good stewards of the gifts that God has given them. Yes, of course, it s about being a good steward, about being generous with your money, and if you can, being as generous as those people who paid the way for Harper Lee. Money is part of it - holy gifts from a holy God, and we can put them to a holy use. Money is part of it, sure. But money won t tell the whole story. If there s going to be some priest, some day in the future, preaching about how those folks in 2018 and 2019 got hold this church and passed it down, then we ve got to be good stewards of the story itself. This story about God and God s love, about redemption and resurrection, about grace and mercy being the measure of justice. That s the story we are here to learn. That s the story we are here to tell.

8 8 of 10 It s a story that challenges us. It s a story that challenges everything. That s why so many of those saints annoy us. That s why so many of those saints got killed. That s why Jesus Christ got hung on a cross - he told the story, the one that challenges everything - and challenges us - to be generous: with money, with mercy, with time, with laughter, and with love. And you know who tells us that story, tells it the way we can hear it, make sense of it, and start to tell it for ourselves? Your saints - the ones you thought about earlier, the people you thought of when I started talking about my grandma and Jane. They re the ones who helped you learn the story. And the truth of it is, no matter how long they ve been gone - they will keep on telling you the story. By the grace of God, they will be right there by your side, helping YOU to tell the story.

9 9 of 10 So name your saints. During the prayers of the people, there will be a time set aside, when we name those who we buried this year. Only four names written in since last November. But you might have your own names. I want to invite you to take a little risk - name your saints. After I ve said that fourth name, call out the name of your saints whom you love but see no longer. Name them out loud if you like, or name them in your heart, but name them. They helped get you here, to this place. I m going to say the names of those who died this last year, but you can reach way further back than that, if you like.

10 10 of 10 Be a good steward of the gifts that you have been given, including these saints that you hold in your hearts. Be a good steward of the story they have told you, time and again. Be a good steward by telling that story yourself. The story of God and God s love - of mercy that makes no sense and peace that passes all understanding. Be a good steward. And when you walk out of here, and take a look around, you might wonder, Who s going to speak my name? Whose saint am I?