All Saints Whispers and Roars

If you to this blog hoping for election analysis, you might be more interested in this post on my creativity blog.  I spent yesterday surrounded by reminders of our mortality.  Was it Election Day or Halloween?

In some ways, I feel that the feast days of All Saints and All Souls stretch out beyond their boundaries.  Yesterday morning, I read an e-mail from a colleague who told me that her father had died.  And then, in the afternoon, one of my oldest college friends told me that his stepdad had died.  This morning, I read an e-mail from an old grad school friend who told me that her brother died.

Suddenly, I found myself just not caring about the election.  I wept for those losses, especially for my friend's brother who had just turned 60--certainly not in the death demographic.  I felt the need to tell my loved ones how dear they are to me--and so, I wrote an e-mail.

Election Day, too, reminds me of how short a time we're here.  So short a time, and so very much to do.  As I was watching results, I felt a bit ill thinking of all the work still left to do.  I thought, I wouldn't want to be elected to deal with these problems.  They feel so unsolvable.

At these times, it's good to return to the Psalms, which remind us that yes, we are grass, already in the process of passing away.  It's good to return to the Gospels which remind us that God breaks through our brokenness and brings redemption and new creation.  It's good to return to all our spiritual texts that remind us that death will not have the final answer.