This is a week of commemorating All Saints and Veteran’s Day. Some of you remember “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God”. It did not make the cut for our ELW hymnal, and it is more of a quaint homage than anything. The saints were and are “faithful and brave and true”. It goes on to describe various occupations, even mentioned one that was “slain by a big wild beast”. It concludes by singing …”and I want to be one too”. Our saints depart from us at times of God’s choosing, whether it be sudden or lingering. Some before their time (by our limited human reckoning) or languishing in states of existing rather than really living. When death comes “too soon”, we lament the lost essence that was here one minute, gone the next. Returning to mere dust, salt, water. We are left to imagine the journey we all must take. We believe and confess “in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” It is life’s greatest promise and greatest mystery. We shall all be changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”. But we will also be the same, recognizable to all who knew us. The same goes for God and the world.

The church year is coming to an end, and we are already experiencing the accelerated pace of the holidays. We will hear themes of apocalypse and the theology of the last days, known as eschatology. Without using argumentative terms like “tribulation” and “rapture”, we know and even obsess over thinking what it will be like when Christ (finally?) comes again.

I am a military veteran. Yes, I do appreciate the “bennies” that come with that designation – the discounts, the “thank you for your service” expressions, the commissary and exchange (“PX”) privileges. Pride can be very seductive, though. It turns into entitlement quickly. Decorated veterans are the last ones to say they are heroes. They did their duty, but we see it as sacrifice “above and beyond”. We give them honor with their special day. In recent years, restaurants have offered free meals to veterans. Gratifying though that may be, it can become a mob scene with an interminable wait. Come to think of it, that is the story of serving in the military -hurry up and wait!

Saints and heroes may be worthy of esteem, but the reason they are such is because of human sacrifice. Theirs and those who gave their lives on their behalf.  Jesus gave his life as a ransom for all. Some decorated veterans and saints of the faith could be scoundrels, all of them sinners falling short of total righteousness and virtue. The unconditional love of God wipes the slate clean. We are washed in robes that become dazzling white. We give thanks this week for saints and heroes of the faith, the faith that knows that we are redeemed.

Pastor Art