I always liken the sermon for today to the segment of every awards show that I refer to as "Oh that guy died." It is the in memoriam section and it usually includes a picture and thir name and usually their contribution to the entertainment industry. This is the day in the life of the church when we have our own in memoriam tribute. We celebrate and remember all those who have gone before us. In the Catholic church it is a specific person who is named a saint and there are various requirements for someone's canonization. However, in the protestant church we have a different view of what makes someone a saint. A saint is anyone and everyone who has gone before us, who has represented a Christian life in all its joy and its sadness, celebration and failure, death and resurrection.
And normally I use this sermon to shine a light on famous people who have died this past year. And that has included Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Brother Roger of Taize, and Pope John Paul. Pretty easy for us to sing their praise and remember their merits. This year the list includes Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, William F. Buckley and George Carlin. People to whom I'm sure their family loved and miss deeply; however, not necessarily the easiest people to draw from for my purpose in this sermon. Since the last time we observed All Saints Day Ike Turner also died. Ike Turner. You know the one who beat Tina Turner. One of the websites that I check for people who died each year summed him up this way, "Wasted a potentially great career." Can you imagine your entire life being reduced down to spouse abuser and a waste? He, as many others this year did, died of a drug overdose. Over and over I read about people who died of an overdose, accidental or otherwise. Christopher Bowman, Brad Renfroe, Heath Ledger known less for how they lived and more for how they died.
But there are a few notable exceptions. Evel Knievel died the end of last year, but since the last All Saints Day. He was definitely someone who lived life fully--granted he also lived life somewhat stupidly, but he was full of adventure. He is someone who will be remembered for the life they lived. Sir Edmund Hillary , the first person to reach the top of Mt. Everest, died this year. Now why anyone in the world would ever want to do this is beyond me but he did. He saw the challenge and accepted it. Proving that the mind and the body and the will are powerful things. Many of life's challenges can be overcome with will power. Most of us will never attempt to jump over the Grand Canyon or climb Mount Everest but we can challenge ourselves to get out and live life.
Paul Newman also died this year. A quote from Newman is on the cover of the bulletin this morning. He willed be remembered as an actor, as an icon of the film industry. But when you ask people in their 20s and younger who he is they really only know him as the voice of a race car in Cars and that guy whose face was on the salad dressing bottles. The day he died I was in performances for the opera I did this fall and as I was getting dressed I said to folks in the dressing room "Paul Newman died." And someone who is in their 20s said "Oh I loved that song he wrote for Toy Story." I said "not Randy Newman, Paul Newman!!!" But I and many others will remember Paul Newman for something else other than acting and salad dressing. He was a great philanthropist. All the profits from the food company went to charities that he supported. He was quoted as saying that the happiest day of the year for him was when he got to write a big fat check. He did what he was passionate about and then he gave in appreciation of a life well lived. He lived out of these verses from what we refer to as the beatitudes. He knew that we were called to care for the poor and the meek, to be peacemakers, those who seek justice. But for some of us this year was about losses that were more personal. Both Cecil and Michael's mothers died this year. And my brother died. And I just want to tell one little story about my brother. It is one that I have held onto for a long time. We were young, probable 10 or 11 and we had gone on a trip with our church Sunday school class to some semi-amusement park. I say semi-amusement because it was some old west reenactment kind of place. Anyway at the end of the day we were gathered together and the chaperone said that my brother had asked if he could use some of his money to buy us all a piece of candy. I hope that my life lives up to that example.
Today we remember the ones whose shoulders we are standing on. Those who have taught us by their example how to be better Christians and how to be better brothers and sisters to one another. They are the stepping stones that point us on our journey towards each other and towards God. May we live up to their examples. Amen.
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