I don't often recycle homilies, but I am sorely tempted to re-use this text, first preached at my previous parish on All Saints' Sunday, 2000. The idea seems as fresh to me now as it did then.

Jesus said,
"Lazarus, come out!"

And the dead man walked out of the tomb,
into the daylight he never expected to see again.

Once again Jesus spoke, this time to the crowds:
Unbind him!
Let him go!

And they released Lazarus
from the bonds of his grave clothes.

These words are not recorded just as a historical fact—
an item for next Friday’s test.

Jesus’ words and actions are told to us in this gospel
so that we may hear and believe.
The words are for us today:
Come out!
Be unbound!

Loose the bonds of death, and despair.
Loose whatever is keeping you
from living life in all its fullness.

Perhaps we are bound by our fears.
Maybe we’re afraid of looking foolish.
Or of being discovered to be less accomplished
than our reputations would indicate.

Maybe we’re afraid of letting go of something we cherish,
bound us paralyzed by our fears,
prevented from trying new things
or of letting something new happen in our lives.

Maybe we’re wrapped up in bitterness,
unable to let go of a hurt we’ve suffered,
and remaining bound by pain
caused by someone else long ago,
unwilling to forgive;
unwilling to be healed and to move on with our lives.

Maybe we’re constrained by prejudice,
stereotyping people around us
by the kind of clothes they wear,
or their hair style,
or their age,
or the color of their skin,
or the type of work they do,
or the people with whom they relate,
or their political points of view.

Maybe we’re caught up in shame,
so convinced we’re unworthy of life,
unworthy of forgiveness,
unworthy of wholeness,
that we never show our true selves
to the people around us.

We never fully allow ourselves to live.
Maybe it is our preconceptions that cover us.
Presuming that we already know God’s ways
and God’s will for us,
maybe we cling to the ideas and images of God
taught to us long ago.

On this All Saints’ Day,
we remember our own saints,
those who have died before us,
and who now live in communion with God.

Unlike Mary and Martha in this story,
we don’t actually see our loved ones
arise from the dead
and walk among us again today.

We may wish that were the case.
But it is not our loved ones who wake up today.
It is we who are asked to claim our place with them.

On All Saints Day we see ourselves alive,
unbound and set free.
Today we see ourselves living face to face
among all of the people of God
from every place and time.

Today we join them at the River of Life—
embracing them in the New Jerusalem,
eating with them
at what looks like a simple altar to others,
but what we know is the heavenly banquet table,
where they join us in a feast which has no end.

Their souls—their eternal selves—
are in God’s hands,
They are where no torment can ever touch them.
We remember them with thanks
for their lives and example,

And we offer our own lives—
unbound from the grave-clothes
we carry with us every day.

Jesus speaks to us:
Come out! Be unbound!
Live in communion with all God’s saints,
throughout all ages.
Live as God intends you to live,
Not denying death and its attendant grief—
even Jesus didn’t do that—
But seeing them as the gateway to a new and fuller life.

Come out! Be unbound!
Rejoice in the Communion of all the Saints,
Those near to us, and those far from us;
Those known to us, and those we do not know;
The great hero-Saints,
and the innumerable ordinary saints
who lived their lives in the fellowship of the church,
heroes in everyday ways.

Saints of God, Come Out!