According to the hymn, saints include doctors, queens, shepherdesses, soldiers, priests, martyrs, school mates and teachers, people on trains, on boats, in shops, at church, or those gathered having tea...basically almost anyone can be a saint. And that's just the point...the hymn concludes with "for the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too".
They are folk like me. There's great hope in that. It means I don't have to be perfect. It means that with God's grace and help, I too can be a saint.
So despite the “cheesy” factor of this hymn, I can easily say that All Saints’ Day is probably my favorite church holiday. I know, as a priest, I should be saying that Easter or Christmas are my favorite, but it’s my favorite because it’s a time when we remember and rejoice in the Angels and Archangels and all the company of heaven. It’s a time when we re-member our community. And this morning, we will add new members to our community through the sacrament of baptism.
A few years back, I was working with my church youth group on the story of the Beatitudes...which is similar to, but not exactly the same as the Sermon on the Plain which we read this morning from Luke. What I explained to them was that these teachings that Jesus gave to his disciples, they are ultimately about our attitudes, our ways of being in relationship with God and our neighbors. And I asked them “which of the teachings is your favorite and which one could we leave out and still get the same message from Jesus?”
Now being teenagers, they weren’t too thrilled with the idea that being poor, hungry, sad or hated were good things, and that somehow being rich, well fed, happy and popular were “not so good” things. And I’m willing to bet that for some of us here, this isn’t really good news either. We like our “stuff” and we like being liked, and we like being in a place where we experience privilege sometimes. And this is the hard lesson here, right? That in the world of Jesus, in the Kingdom of God, we are called to really examine these things, examine our attitudes, examine the way we are and the space we inhabit in the world and ask “is this good news”? Or another way to ask this is: who suffers at my expense? Is someone being disregarded in order for me to be well liked? Is someone going hungry so that I can be well-fed? Is someone suffering for my comfort?
Those are big questions. And we usually don’t like the outcome when we’re really honest. But there is good news here. Trust me. Even though we are faced with these challenging questions, the good news is that there’s hope for change...if we’re willing to be open to that change. And here’s how it connects to the saints who have gone before us...they were convicted, inspired, changed, willing to take risks and ask hard questions, because they had faith in following Jesus.
Let me give you an example in real time. So if we want to look to scripture...Paul. He’s our guy, right? Before Paul became Paul, he was Saul. And Saul persecuted those who called themselves “Followers of the Way” or “Followers of Jesus”. He participated in their arrest, torture and execution. It was his job. BUT...while travelling, he falls off his horse, and the resurrected Jesus stands before him and says “why do you persecute me?” and he is struck blind. Three days later he is baptized, his sight restored, and his name changed to Paul. As you know, he goes on to become one of the most important Apostles and much his writing (and the writings attributed to him) make up the New Testament.
But who here has those kinds of experiences? What about “real” people? Couldn’t we say that real people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Oscar Romero and Harriet Tubman are saints? Didn’t they risk everything to build up the Kingdom of God (even if those aren’t the words they’d use)? But maybe these figures from history are still “too big” for us to imagine standing in their shoes…
So here’s what I’m going to ask you to consider...when have you made a difference in someone else’s life, not so that you’d get recognition for it, but because it was about being in right relationship with the person? When have you called on a person who was not feeling well, even when it was inconvenient? When have you given away one of the yellow mission bags to someone standing on a corner? When have you thanked someone who offered you care? When have you practiced forgiveness...even if you weren’t a 100% sure you wanted to forgive them?
All of these are important to how we are in relationship with God and one another. They help us to see the bigger picture of what and who God is calling us to be. This is the stuff of what makes up those last two statements of faith in our baptismal covenant:
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
As Robert Ellsberg explained, “No one is called to be another St Francis or St Teresa. But there is a path to holiness that lies within our individual circumstances, that engages our own talents and temperaments, that contends with our own strengths and weaknesses, that responds to the needs of our own neighbors and our particular moment in history” ( All Saints, 475-47).
Take a look around you…there are saints everywhere! Among us are people who feed the hungry, clothe the naked and give shelter to those without a warm, dry place. Among us are people who share a smile and a kind word in our most troubled times. If you look to your right and to your left, I would be willing to bet that these people have done something kind, courageous, loving, and life affirming.
So today I sing a song of the saints of God... sitting right here in our midst.
Amen.