The Saints We Have Lost...

Day of the Dead masks worn
by two Herchurch members today.

Today is All Saints' Day, November 1, the day we honor those who have died in the Christian community.  (See note below.)

Pastor Stacy Boorn preached on "the Day of the Dead," remembering the 230,000 people who have succumbed to Covid-19 and also sharing a story from her visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda.  In 1994 some 400,000 Tutsi--or even as many as 800,000 were killed there.  She met a gardener at the memorial who had lost family members and was memorizing the names of many of the victims to honor them.

Pastor Stacy leads Herchurch, a congregation in San Francisco, which is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).  These days the church gathers via Zoom, so I am able to participate in southern California.

Afterward she led us in responsive reading of a poem written by Rabbi Jack Riemer and Rabbi Sylvan Kamens published in Gates of Prayer (Shaarei Tefila): The New Union Prayer Book (Reform Judaism).

We Remember Them

In the rising of the sun and in its going down, 

We remember them;

In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, 

We remember them;

In the opening of the buds and in the warmth of summer, 

We remember them;

In the rustling of leaves and the beauty of autumn, 

We remember them;

In the beginning of the year and when it ends, 

We remember them;

When we are weary and in need of strength, 

We remember them;

When we are lost and sick of heart, 

We remember them;

When we have joys we yearn to share, 

We remember them;

So long as we live, they too shall live, For they are now a part of us, 

As we remember them.    

— From Gates of Prayer

Pastor Stacy's congregation recited the refrain "We remember them."

She invited us to remember the persons in our lives who died in 2020.

The persons I'm remembering include:

Karen Gustafson, my cousin's wife, who suffered isolation in a SNF during the Covid shutdown;

Jack Pera, son of my mother's cousin;

Ron Pera, brother of Jack;

Santos Aguayo, my friend and gardener;

Berta Hernandez Torres, my friend in following Jesus, who died of Covid-19;

Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, my friend and author of 13 books;

Sue Horner, my friend in EEWC-Christian Feminism Today.

I'm also remembering people I never met:

George Floyd,

Breonna Taylor,

Brittany Bruner-Ringo, a nurse who contracted Covid-19 in her Assisted Living center;

Celia Marcos, a Covid-19 nurse in Los Angeles;

Li Wengliang and five other doctors of Wuhan Central Hospital, who died of Covid-19.

On this day for remembering our departed, I say to them: "So long as we live, you too shall live, for you are now a part of us, as we remember you."

_________________________

Note:  In the Bible, all followers of Jesus are called "the saints" (sanctified ones), but in Catholic tradition, there are two groups of departed: 1) specially designated saints, to whom we might pray for help and 2) all the other departed ones, some of whom might be in Purgatory.  The "other departed" get remembered or even prayed for on Nov. 2, All Souls Day, the day after All Hallows' Day.  Some Protestants ignore both of these days because those who are departed don't need our prayers (they are already in the presence of God) and we can address our petitions directly to God.  These churches allow people to honor the departed, however, by popular demand.