We are Saints

With all the bad news out there these days (and it has been really bad!) it felt to me that I needed to keep up with the theme of last week and remind us that we were not made to be destructive and disregarding of each other. We were made and charged with caring for each other and the whole of creation. 

Preaching such a message during times of war, and when "progressives" on college campuses are chanting slogans that are anti-Jewish (Cornell had to cancel classes because of the threats being made on their Jewish students), when Gazans are getting bombed to smithereens in an attempt to eradicate the terrorist group Hamas, and when war in Ukraine has fallen off the news because of all of this...while people are getting gunned down outside the Motel 6 a half-mile from my house.....oy!! Preaching in these times feels as if I'm spitting into the wind! 

But that wind is the Holy Spirit. A Spirit who has been spit into and at many times, and won't stop pursuing us to relentlessly seek real relationship with those who want to see Love win in this chaotic world. 

Whose on board with me on that one?!

Read and see what you think of this message for All Saints' Sunday.

Texts: Rev. 7:9-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12 

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I’m not much of a gambler. But I am willing to bet that there isn’t one person in here who thinks of themselves as a saint.

A lot of us probably think that sainthood is a bit too lofty…and nothing we could or should claim for ourselves.

Or perhaps we believe only dead people can or should be called “Saints.”

And to earn that title of “Saint” the deceased person’s life must first be put through committees, councils, tested, evaluated again and again and THEN maybe…if a church authority wills it to be…we can announce that this person is worthy enough to be called a “saint.”

I think that for many of us…we are so hyper-focused on our shortcomings that we can’t see ourselves as God sees us.

That delightfully wonderful special being God loves beyond measure.

We let the weight of the world’s judgment weigh us down.

We are more willing to see our sinfulness…and not our saintly nature.

But someone a whole lot smarter than me once said,

“There are no saints without a past and no sinners without a future.”

Seriously: two of the heavy-hitters of Christianity stubbed their toes.

St. Peter denied knowing Jesus at a critical hour.

And St. Paul was a persecutor of Jesus’ followers.  

William Adams tells a great story about the fabulous preacher Fred Craddock…and his encounter with a stranger.

Craddock and his wife were vacationing in Tennessee.

They’d stopped at a small quiet restaurant and were looking forward to a simple night out together. They noticed there was an elderly gentleman who was visiting guests at various tables in the restaurant.

This man approached them with a jovial greeting.  

“Where are you folks from?” he asked.

“Oklahoma,” was the answer.

“What do you do?” the  man asked Craddock.

“I teach homiletics at the graduate seminary of Phillips University.”

“Oh, so you teach preachers do you. Well, have I got a story for you,” and with that he pulled up a chair and sat down at the couple’s table. The man reached out with his hand and introduced himself.

“I’m Ben Hooper.” I was born not far from here across the mountains. My mother wasn’t married when I was born, so I had a hard time.

When I started to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name.

I used to go off by myself at recess and during lunchtime… because the taunts of my playmates hurt so much. It was just as bad on the weekends when I would go downtown. I could feel every eye burning a hole through me.

They all were wondering just who my real father was.

When I was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to our church.

To avoid all the looks, I used to sneak into church late and slip out early.

But one Sunday morning the preacher said the closing benediction so fast that I got caught, and I had to walk out with the crowd.

Everyone was staring at me, as we made our way to the door.

Suddenly, I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I looked up, and the preacher was looking straight at me.

“Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?”

It was the same thing all over again, I thought. Even the preacher was putting me down.

The preacher didn’t say anything else for a while. He just stared at me, studying my face. And then he began to smile a big smile of recognition.

“Wait a minute,” he said, I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You’re a son of God!”

With that, he slapped me on the back and said, “Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go out and claim it.”

As old Ben stood up to take his leave of them, he said, “that was the most important single sentence ever spoken to me.”

And with that he shook their hands and continued on to another table to greet old friends.

Craddock came to realize later that this elderly man… Ben Hooper… was a former Governor of the State of Tennessee. 

Ben Hooper’s pastor was right: each one of us is a beloved child of God.

And God’s beloved children are saints.

Does that mean we’re perfect? No. It’s not about being perfect.

Our sainthood comes from God’s work which is done through us…a God of unconditional love who carries us through the difficulties of life…and leads us to plains and places where we can make a difference in the lives of others.

Life sometimes presents enormous challenges…ones that can cause us to drift away from God.

Our reading from Revelation sings the praises of those “who have come through the Great Ordeal.”   The “great ordeal” referred to in that case was a time of persecution during the Roman Empire in days when Christians were getting blamed for all the ills of society…and were being thrown to lions and crucified.

But in truth…we face great ordeals of our own every day here in the 21^st century.

Wars and violence and increasing tribalism…unbridled greed… threaten to cancel the covenantal relationships we have with God and one another…to live into that Great Commandment to love God and love neighbor as ourselves.

And yet the message we hear in our scriptures today is one of encouragement and hope. And a reminder that if we stick close to the source of love and life…we can pass through whatever fires are burning around us.

Again…I’m not much of a gambler…but I bet everyone in this room can think of time when they faced a crisis or some kind of turmoil…and can identify a person or persons who showed up at a critical moment to sit with us…hold our hand…dry our tears…and walk us through to the other side of whatever seemed like an insurmountable obstacle.

Those people…the poor in spirit…the peacemakers…were our saints and the embodiment of Jesus in our world today.

On Wednesday…we held a prayer service to commemorate All Saints’ Day.

I said then, and I’ll say now, the saints in our lives are not just the St. Matthews or Luke’s…or even Barnabas’…although those saints can point us in a Godward direction.

But quite often there are saints in our own lives and experiences who we can see and take lessons from in what it means to live out our faith.

Siblings…parents…best friends…teachers…co-workers…strangers: these are the people who we notice and can see through them how to live lives that show us the way to be caring, loving creatures of God through stewardship of the earth and each other. We will be remembering some of those saints shortly when we have our Prayers of the People.

God’s purpose…to grow a people grounded in Love and loving-kindness…is still getting worked out through the saints of today: that’s you and me. As we head back out into the world this week… may we carry with us the knowledge that we are God’s beloved children…made for goodness.

Claim it!

In the name of God…F/S/HS.