Sermon For October 31, 1999
Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
CHRISTIAN TESTAMENT: Matthew 11:1-3, 7, 8, 13-16, 32-39 12:1-2
Josie was not happy. Normally she would have enjoyed the ride to Granny’s house, But this day was different. She sat in the back seat, with a blanket pulled around her, and listened to the sound of the rain beating upon the roof of the car and the swoosh swoosh swoosh of the windshield wipers. They were going to Granny’s house for Papa Henderson’s funeral. Death. Josie didn’t want to think about it at all. She didn’t want to go to a funeral. She didn’t want to be anywhere close to anybody who was planning to go to one.
Her mama was talking to her through the fog. “Josie, I’ve got that blue dress for you to wear to the funeral home.” Josie said, “No. I took it out. I put my red dress in.” “Oh, Josie”, her mom said, “Well then you are going to wear the red dress. Maybe nobody will notice.”
They were driving down the road and off in the distance, Josie knew the Red River flowed. Usually her Grandma like to point out the Red River. Granny said, “It was red. As red as any river God had made.” But this day Josie had no time for a river, red or otherwise.
They pulled up to Granny’s house and she came out to give hugs all around, but Josie held back. When she finally came into the house Granny said, “You can go to my room and get out one of the quilts and make up a bed for your self.” So Josie went and opened the closet. She dug through the moth balls. When Granny came in, Josie was looking at something. It was a dark quilt. Patches, but browns, rusts and grays. Josie thought it was an ugly thing. Granny stopped and said, “Oh, Lordy. I’d almost forgotten about that.” Josie said, “What is this?” Granny said, “Why, Josie, that’s the cemetery quilt.” Josie said, “Oooohh! That’s a Dracula kind of thing, How awful Granny. Why don’t you burn it.” “Oh, no. This is a grievin’ thing. This is a family thing. My grandma Opal, she had two young boys that she lost. When she lost those boys it was almost more grief than she could bear, but she went to quiltin’ and she made this cemetery quilt. All around the outside there are coffins with the names of family members. Here in the center, in the fenced area, she put the two coffins of her boys.” Josie made a face again. She looked around the outside and she saw “Edward Henderson”. Her heart stopped for a moment. She said, “But here’s Papaw!” “Yes, I know.” With her head spinning round, Josie looked around again and she saw, “Frank Henderson”. Her dad. She looked at the rest of the names. Some of them looked strange, “Minnie” “Opal” “Ebenezer”. Old fashioned sounding names. Granny said, “These are all members of our family. When they die, we’ll move their coffin to the cemetery.” Josie pushed the quilt away and ran from the room.
The next day when everyone got dressed to go to the funeral home, Josie put on her red dress. She went and nobody seemed to notice at all. She swore she wasn’t going forward to look at the casket, but Granny took her hand and she walked forward. Granny said, “It’s not Papaw’s body anyway. He’s gone to another place. It’s just his old shell that’s left behind.” Josie looked. It looked a lot like him, but she knew that it wasn’t him at all.
That night after supper, she walked into Granny’s room. Granny was sitting there, rocking. She had the quilt on her lap. The cemetery quilt. Josie said, “Granny, are you movin’ Papaw to the cemetery?” “I been tryin’ for hours, child. It’s hard.” Josie went and put her head on Granny’s shoulder and gave her a big hug. They rocked together for a while. Josie said, “Granny, I’ve decided that I’m part of the family. I want to be on the quilt, too.” Her grandma’s face brightened up. She handed her the scrap bag. “Here, choose some material, I’ll put your name on it.”
Josie started to look through the browns, rusts and grays. She said, “Wait! I’ve got an idea.” She ran and came back with the sash from her red dress. Granny smiled and picked up the scissors. “This will be just wonderful.” Josie gave her another hug and said, “I’m glad I’m part of this family.” Safe in her granddaughter’s arms, Granny whispered, “I wonder what will happen when I die? I wonder if there will be somebody who will be able to snip my coffin and put it into the cemetery? Josie gave her another hug and said, “I bet somebody will take care of that Granny.”
When I read that story, a children’s picture book by Kent and Alice Ross, I thought it was interesting idea. Perhaps a bit macabre, but one that really talked about the importance of family and of recognizing those who have gone before. I was on E-Bay, the online auction, looking at books about quilting, and saw one that mentioned the history of quilts, including a strange “Kentucky Coffin Quilt”. I didn’t buy the book at auction. Instead I looked for a used bookstores and bought a copy through a used bookstore online. There was the “Kentucky Quilt” made in the 1800’s, with family coffins all around the edge, with the names of family members embroidered on them. Then a fence in the central area for the coffins.
The idea still might not be appealing to most of you, to have a quilt with coffins on it, to have something to remind you of painful times in your life. Death is often seem as separation from people that you loved and still love and care about deeply. The fact of the matter is, that if we are to be serious about our lives as Christians, then we should not have a fear of death. We should understand that death is a part of life. Paul said that when we were baptized, that we were baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection. We weren’t baptized into happily ever after. We were baptized into humanness and God’s redemption. Death and Resurrection. If we know anything at all about the cycle of life, if we know anything at all about our days on this earth, we know that if they were to go on forever, that would be more than many of us could bear. If it were to go on forever and be perfect, life would be quite boring. To know that we someday have an end to our life makes our days on this earth all that much more precious. To recognize that we never know when that end will come, means that we should always live with an urgency. As people of faith, believing that the fullness of God’s reign will be upon us, we need to live as if every day counts. Every hour counts. Every moment counts. We never know when our life will come to an end, and our chance to contribute our gifts to this planet will be gone in the past.
Death is part of life. Those who have died and gone before, are encouragement for us to live our lives faithfully. So as we gather together on All Saints Day we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. People who have done their work. Who have loved their family. Who have cut the grass. Who have read books, and who have sewn quilts and done all the things that there are to do in this life. For the Saints, for life, for death, for resurrection, we give thanks to our God this day. Amen.