A sermon preached by J. Stuart Taylor III
St. Mark’s Presbyterian
October 30, 2005 All Saint’s Sunday.
This past summer, my family spent a week at the beach not too far from Charleston, SC. We thought it might be interesting to do a ghost tour in that old historic city that prides itself on its haunted houses. Late one night we were being guided around some of the old neighborhoods and homes hearing ghost stories about folks who had perished in natural disasters, grisly murders, from broken hearts or the hangman’s noose. We finished late that night in the very spooky cemetery along side of 2nd Presbyterian Church, where one of my Charleston ancestors was pastor in the late 18th century. To my surprise our guide began to describe how my ancestor still haunts this church. You see he had started a fundraising campaign to be able to build a steeple at 2nd pres. 2nd pres. still does not have a steeple and my ancestor may he some day rest in peace, is still seen in the cemetery with his hat in hand, seeking to collect money for that steeple. While that stewardship campaign has lasted now over 200 years, our campaign will be drawing to a close this coming week on Stewardship dedication Sunday. During this season, Sue and I have been exploring the spiritual vision of stewardship of all life. This we believe is not a clever theme for a funding campaign but rather a deeply Biblical vision proclaiming that everything we have comes from God and we are called to live lives of joyful gratitude and generosity, dedicating our time, talent and treasure to the spreading of God’s reign. All saints Sunday is a very appropriate moment to remember with thanksgiving all those that have gone before us. Sharing the ghost story of my ancestor at 2nd Presbyterian in Charleston was a more lighthearted beginning for a deeper reflection on the spiritual tradition of the saints, and what that great cloud of witnesses has to teach us about the stewardship of all life. Consider these snapshots of the saints.
St. Basil, the Holy Fool. Basil reminds me of St. Paul's words in 1Cor. 3:18 " If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool." While many saints have appeared eccentric to their contemporaries, the tradition of holy fools is nowhere so common or so revered as it is in the Russian Orthodox Church. Basil used to wander naked through the streets of Moscow, whether in snow or sunshine, praying as if in church and bearing witness through audacious gestures to the Spirit of Christ who makes foolish the wisdom of men. Thus, he would often take the goods from shops and distribute them to the destitute. He used to throw stones at the houses of the rich who made such public displays of their piety. He would kneel to kiss the pavement before houses of ill repute. Once during Lent, Basil presented the brutal czar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible with a huge slab of raw meat. When the csar protested that he could not eat meat during Lent, Basil responded " then why do you drink the blood of the poor?” It is a mark of the high esteem, which Basil enjoyed among his contemporaries that when he died in 1552, the famous cathedral in Moscow's Red Square, was named, St. Basil's. On All Saints Sunday, we remember St. Basil the Holy Fool.
John Woolman Quaker (1720- 1772) John Woolman was an American Quaker born in 1720 near Philadelphia. A tailor by trade, Woolman was a man of extreme integrity. He spent his life in a continuous effort to heed the dictates of Christ and to apply them to all aspects of his life. He is remembered in American church history for his uncompromising stands against slavery. But this was only one of his principled stands. During the time of the French and Indian war, he refused to pay a war tax and went on several peacemaking missions among the Indian nations at war with the colonies. His typical Quaker simplicity of life was reinforced by a conviction that the craving for luxuries and unnecessary possessions was the root of all oppression and war. Thus, he also resolved not to eat anything made with sugar or molasses, as these were products of slave labor in the West Indies. He wrote in his famous journal: " May we look upon our treasures and the furniture of our houses and the garments in which we array ourselves and try whether the seeds of war have any nourishment in these our possessions, or not. " On all Saints Sunday, we remember John Woolman, One Quaker who sought to apply the Gospel in and through his economic existence.
William Sheppard: African-American Presbyterian Missionary in the Congo. Sheppard along with a white missionary colleague was sent to Africa by the southern Presbyterian Church to begin a mission in the Congo. Shortly after their arrival the white missionary died of fever leaving Sheppard on his own. One of the most disturbing and difficult parts of Sheppard's work was to witness the atrocities and cruelties against Native Africans perpetuated by the Belgian govt. He witnessed the widespread practice of cutting off of the hands of slave laborers who did not deliver the expected quota of rubber. Sheppard began to fight to expose and abolish these horrible acts. For all this the Belgian govt. sued him for libel. His trial became an international incident. Discussed in the cabinet meetings in the United States and across Europe. Ultimately Sheppard was vindicated, as was his version of reality. Historians can now document that in the Belgian Congo alone, 8-10 million human beings where killed violently, were worked to death or slowly starved. We know how often the church has cooperated with rather than resisted the economic exploitation of others. I tell the story of William Sheppard, the black missionary because it is crucial that we remember moments when the church did the right thing. When a black man whose parents had been slaves, a Christian, a Presbyterian followed the way of Christ. On All Saints Sunday, we remember William Sheppard.
Katherine Drexel: Foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1858-1955) The next saint that I want to mention is one who has had a tremendous impact on the Old Pueblo and the state of Arizona. Katherine Drexel came from one of the wealthiest families in 19th century America. She and her two sisters were heir to 14 million dollars, but inspired by their Christian faith, they all three regarded this fortune as an opportunity to glorify God through service to others. Katherine and her sisters set up a foundation that sought to serve those who were excluded from American society, namely Indians and African Americans. In 1878, in a private audience with Pope Leo, she begged the Pope to send missionaries to serve the Indians. He responded, “why not become a missionary yourself?” And so she did becoming the foundress and first member of a new monastic order in the US that would serve the poorest of the poor. Within a year, 10 sisters had joined the order. Each year they used almost a 1\2 million dollars of earnings from her inheritance to build schools on Indian reservations. All told she was responsible for founding 145 Catholic missions, 12 schools for Indians, and 50 schools for Black students. On all Saints Sunday, we remember Katherine Drexel.
I have lifted up the stories of a few of the more famous saints who practiced the stewardship of all life. But what about here closer to home. What about the saints of those who have gone before us here at St. Mark’s who practiced faithful stewardship. Folks like Edna Hudler for whom our west wing educational building is named who dedicated her life to our children and youth. Edna had been a teacher. She never married. As a young woman, she was affiliated with the Jane Adams settlement houses in Chicago, that historic mission dedicated to the urban poor. She retired to Tucson sometime in the 50's and began to attend St. Mark’s, which became her family. Having been a teacher she worked for years upon years with the young people of our church and was very active in the migrant ministry particularly working with the Tohono O'othom. She even paid for at least one young man to attend college out of her meager retirement benefits. Edna never had much money. But she is someone who practiced stewardship of all life in everything she did. She died at 102. What a beautiful soul she was! I could mention Frank Fernstrum. A businessman who established in 1976 established a trust fund that was named the For others fund. I never knew frank but I marvel at this legacy. For over 30 years, St. Mark’s has used this fund to plant seeds of peace and justice all over the world. (Or Arthur Pack- story of Ghost Ranch).
We stand on the shoulders of countless people in the history of this congregation who believed in the mission of St. Mark’s. They believed spiritually and acted physically to build this church and to carry our mission into the world. They sewed the seeds that we harvest today. They gave generously of themselves knowing that others whom they would never know would benefit from their investment in our shared future. Everything this church represents in the world; so much of what we have has been given to us by those who went before. If you have been here for years and years you could name some of them. But you could not name them all. But they are with us. They are here. They are with us right now in this sanctuary. We tend to think of the church as a community made up of those of the present generation who are visibly with us now. We are a community that stretches through time carrying a story that is about us but transcends us. We are simply the narrowest fraction of that company. Our community of faith includes not only those who have gone before us but those who will follow. The stewardship of all life means that we recognize those unborn generations yet to come. We are called to live out our economic existence now, faithful stewards of resources that we have now with an awareness of how our decisions will effect future generations. Have you ever considered that we are called to serve not just those who are around us? We are called to serve generations to come. Next week, we will rededicate our time, talent and treasure to the Reign of God carried out through the mission of this congregation. As we offer ourselves let us with gratitude remember those giants upon whose shoulders we stand. And let us be spiritual mindful of those who those will follow after us.