on saints and citizenship

06Nov08

When I saw the news online Monday, that Madelyn Dunham, the grandmother of now -President-elect Barack Obama, had passed away just 48 hours before he became the first African American to be elected President of the United States, I grieved.  At the age of 86 and having faced all sorts of discrimination against both her daughter and grandchildren, it seemed grossly unfair that she’d not lived to see his moment of personal triumph, and the vindication of a nation’s history of racism.

Since then I’ve learned that she had participated in early voting via mail, and in a very unique way, her vote still counted–she posthumously helped elect her grandson!  

I’m reminded of the Christian doctrine of the communion of saints–that great cloud of witnesses spoken of in Scripture.  I can’t help but think that the ecumenical creeds function in a similar fashion: in some sense they are the early votes of our spiritual ancestors.  These ‘votes’ from citizens of the Kingdom have helped plot the trajectory and shape our collective, catholic imagination.   

Does this trajectory determine our paths in some fatalistic fashion?  Are we able to deviate from the path (for good or ill)?  In the same way that many of us (likely including Dunham herself) never imagined that an African American would be named leader of the free world in our life times,  I believe the Spirit continues to move and shape our faith as scripture testifies: a (re)newal of our hearts and minds.  The creeds don’t have to function as limitations, but can instead be a spring board for the Spirit’s flight.  ”Behold, I will do something new. Now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness; rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

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Filed under: Communion of Saints, Freedom (its complexity)   |  1 Comment