In a conversation last week
with an elderly man of this congregation,
he asked me,
"From where, do you think,
the heroes of this time will come?"

As a Naval Officer of WW II
he was thinking of the Dwight Eisenhauers,
the Bradleys, the George Pattons;
the admirals and generals
and the political leaders
of that great conflict.

He was thinking globally of acclaimed heroes
of the stature of George Washington
and Abraham Lincoln.

But today we recognize
that heroes of the faith, we call them saints,
are all around us
in all times and places.

"Who are these like stars appearing?"
we just sang.
Look around you and see.
Look in the mirror, and wonder.

This is the meaning of All Saint's Sunday.
The great Saints of the Faith have their own days,
This one is potentially for any baptized person;
this one is for the rest of us.

The reading from Ecclesiasticus continues,
"But, But, there were also others,
Godly men and women," says the writer,
"people of whom we have not heard,
but whose work is not forgotten.
Their glory will never be blotted out."

They came into the world, "trailing clouds of glory."

Our second reading, from Revelation,
says that they are those whom no one can count
from all nations, tribes, and peoples,
who stand with God
on the other side of the great conflict.

These are those who share in God's victory
because they chose to live faithfully
no matter what!
- no matter what.

These are real and present heroes.
These are God's saints,
not necessarily in the midst of national peril,
but rather in a million places,
at any time,
in any circumstance,
and I want to name some names.

Angela Dawson (age 36) was such a saint.

She lived on East Preston Street
with her husband, Carnell,
and their 5 children;
LaWanda (14), Juan (12)
Carnell, Jr. (10),
and twins, Kevin and Keith (age 9).

Mr. and Mrs. Dawson worked hard
to rear their family
and to improve their community
for their, and all, God's children
in East Baltimore.

They were outspoken about drug dealers
who did business on their street corner;
often calling the police when they saw deals
going down.

They also called the authorities to report violence
in their neighborhood, of whatever sort.

Then on Oct 3rd,
their row house was fire bombed.

Carnell ran downstairs
and was able to extinguish the flames.

Police offered to move the Dawsons to safety
but they declined, saying that
they would not be run out of their neighborhood
by drug dealers.

Two weeks later,
the house was again set afire,
this time in the dark hours before dawn.

Killed was mother, Angela,
Carnell, Jr, and Juan
Kevin and Keith
and LeWanda.

The father, Carnell, Sr, took a week to die of his burns.

One drug dealer has been arrested.
The community is outraged,
and is cooperating with the police;
something that normally does not happen
in that neighborhood.

"May these angels rest in peace."
read one note, fastened to the iron fence
in front of the house, there on East Preston Street,

where a family of God's martyrs
died.

Friends,
we need go no further than this story
to understand the meaning of this All Saints Sunday

These little ones, these courageous, principled people,
are Christian martyrs and saints.

They are part of God's white-robed army.
They were born with lots against them.
They had every reason to cooperate
with the dominant culture
in that soiled part of their world,
but they chose to stand for decency, and love,
and respect, and God.

They, in the words of Wordsworth,
"Were not born in powerless nakedness,
but came into this world
trailing clouds of Glory from God,
who is our home."

The Beatitudes from Matthew - today's Gospel reading -
give a clear call from Jesus
to live according to our true home,
not according to
the expectations of the world.

"Blessed are the poor…" Really?

So does Jesus tell us to live dangerously,
to live for what is right and true and of God
rather than to compromise.

We are the ones on the spot in every transaction,
every relating,
every moment.

We are called to live baptized lives.
We are called to come into every situation in this world
trailing clouds of glory from God.

That is the call of a baptized Christian.
It is not even safe,
but I would like to assure all here
that there is no shortage of heroes and saints.

Saints are those who can perceive what is wrong -
with the expectations the world places on us
at any particular moment
and who have the courage to do the opposite.

Saints are those who operate in their areas
of moral responsibility
trailing clouds of glory from God.

There is an ancient story
of an unknown source
that in a wonderfully understated way
makes this clear.

It is also a great Stewardship story,
for it shows where true value lies.

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a steam, and was very happy for it.

The next day, she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.

The hungry traveler saw the precious stone in the bag, and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew that the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime, and joked at the woman's having given it away.

But…, a few days later, he turned around and journeyed back to the wise woman and returned the stone. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know that you understood the value of this stone when you gave it to me, and I have given it back to you in the hopes that you can give me something ever more precious."

"Please, please," he begged, "Give me that which you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

I'll say that again,

"Please, please; give me that which you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

In those moments when we understand such longing;
in those situations when we act from faith
in fulfillment of our baptismal promises;
in those times of such giving
and such courage;
we enter the world,
trailing from God,
clouds of glory,

and, as with the man in the story,
healing takes place,
and God is proclaimed.

"Who are these like stars appearing?"
we just sang.

Look around you and see.
Look in the mirror, and wonder.