SUNDAY SERMON: The Wind Phone
By Rev. Stephen Baldwin
OT: Psalm 149
NT: Ephesians 1.11-23
One of my current favorite TV shows is called The Diplomat. In one scene the US ambassador to the United Kingdom is on the phone with the prime minister while her staff is trying to find a Bible upon which to swear in the new President of the United States. It’s a time sensitive situation. They need a judge and a Bible pronto. The staff brings her all they can find, which happens to be a tiny Gideon New Testament and a gigantic tomb that’s actually a history textbook but looks like an old Bible. She erupts at them, “Bring me an adult size Bible, written by Jesus!”
She wanted the real deal. And while many people may think the real deal is the one written by Jesus, the truth is that Jesus didn’t write any of the Bible. Much of the New Testament is about him. The gospels are like biographies of him. But the bulk of the New Testament is made up of letters written by Paul to small communities of Jesus’ followers after his death.
Most of the books, because they’re letters, begin with either a prayer of thanksgiving or a blessing. Today’s reading from Ephesians is one such blessing. “We have obtained an inheritance,” it famously says, but I don’t think that’s the best translation of the Greek. “We were chosen” puts it plainly and conveys the strength of the blessing. We were chosen to be part of a covenant to which we had no claim. Yet God did it anyway. For Jews, for Gentiles, for us.
On this All Saints Day, we celebrate that blessing. We celebrate it for the members of this church who have died this year. We celebrate it for family members who died years ago but whose memory is as strong as ever. We celebrate it for people of faith across the globe who have lost loved ones to war and addiction and hunger. Death is a defining part of life, but it’s not the definitive part.
The definitive part of life is God’s blessing of adoption. “We were chosen.” Chosen to be part of the family. Chosen as beloved. Chosen for life in its fullness, here and there.
Paul’s letter uses the plural, inclusive “we.” As in we were chosen. Who’s we? Who was chosen? For Paul, we…meant…everyone. It meant Jews and Gentiles, and all those in between. This blessing is for us all.
The difficulty, of course, is the distance between us. All Saints Day is a difficult day for many, because it brings forth the grief that stays behind longer than Uncle Eddie. Yes, we celebrate the blessing of their new life…but we miss our old life with them.
In northeast Japan, there is a small garden kept by an older, married couple. It’s located near the area devastated by a tsunami in 2011, where more than 18,000 people were washed away and died in an instant.
In the center of the garden, there is a black telephone with no connection on the other end. They call it the Wind Phone. People come from all over the world to talk to their saints. They pick up the receiver and pour out their soul to their parents, their children, their friends, their spouses, and their animals.
It’s a journey to the remote town, and the owners say that’s part of the appeal. There are no signs directing visitors to the site. No office to visit. No website to give tips and tricks. You have to find it yourself.
In an interview, the owners told a reporter, “It’s in the very act of wandering—losing yourself in the landscape, uncertain of where you are and when you’ll arrive—that people end up thinking about many things, reformulating their memories of the person they have lost. And it’s in this mood, a sort of meditation, that they encounter the Wind Phone. They get here in a fuller and more aware state. They are ready.”
They continue, “You need to get your own feelings in order before you can talk to someone else. You need to emerge from the tragedy, from the shell of pain you’ve been encased in. Those who come to the Wind Phone are already halfway there. They are ready to create a new relationship with the dead.”
What do people say on the phone? Sometimes they just want to share news, and tell loved ones what has been going on in their lives. Other times they have something specific they want to get off their chest. A long-held burden they need to relieve. Still others just pick up the phone and listen, without saying a word before they leave.
While we don’t have a Wind Phone here in worship today, we do have a connection to our saints. Prayer. Perhaps you offer prayers by writing letters or taking a walk in the woods. Here in worship, we will bring our saints to mind in silent prayer in following our next hymn. Thanking God for their place in the family, chosen for a purpose we know very well, even if they weren’t as sure.
You may want to use the silence to listen, as if picking up a phone and waiting for a voice on the other end. Or you may have something you want to say in the privacy of your own mind. We all thank God for the saints that have gone before us, showing us our place in the blessing and making it feel like home. So as we move to that time of remembrance and prayer here shortly following the hymn, use the time however you need to. Speak, listen, remember, forgive. Accept the blessing of which you are a part. Amen.
