Nov 1 was “All Saints” day: the day we honor saints, living and dead. We remember the saints that have given us spiritual strength when we don’t have it for ourselves.
Years ago, when I was a seminary student in Atlanta, my pastor and teacher Claiborne Jones taught me about community: we say the statements of faith for each other. We show up when we feel strong and when we feel weak, and we say that we trust in God. And when I don’t believe it, you say it for me, and when you don’t believe it I say it for you. That’s what it means to be part of the community of saints together. We are strong for each other. One day we mumble through, without the strength to believe them. Other days we say them with vigor and provide the energy the person sitting next to us mumbling needs.
This scripture for today talks about that. When you get home, take out your Bible and Read Hebrews 11 and 12. We did not read all of it, but here’s some of the best of it:
8-10By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.
29By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.
30By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.
These were all saints, our ancestors in the faith, the pioneers who blazed the way, the veterans who never quit– who trusted God. Their strength, is our strength. Hebrews Chapter 11 goes on and on with more stories.
There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn't deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.
Chapter 12 1-3Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit!
On All Saints Day in the church, we remember that “great cloud of witnesses, “all those pioneers who blazed the way. We give thanks for saints, living and dead who trusted God through the ups and downs of life and never quit. They are the ones who created communities of faith to welcome us. There would be no churches without those saints. We would not have found our way to Jesus without the saints that have gone before us, telling the story and showing the way. Today we give thanks for the saints. Pause for just a minute and picture that great cloud of witnesses in your own life – the people who have touched your life and encouraged you to trust God. By their lives, and their trust in God, they gave you hope that you could trust in God too.
Two of my saints are up on the screen today: my mom, Betty, and our friend, Rock. I asked their permission to talk about them today. I warned them I was going to call them saints, and of course they both laughed about that. But then they each said: “Well we are all saints.” They have good theology and get it. We’re all sinners too, they get that too, but that’s another sermon for another day.
Now I don’t think it’s hard for any of you to imagine my mom as a saint. After all she’s become the grandmother of The Village church. She goes on Facebook every day and checks in on folks. It used to be that the older caring women and men of the church would call and check up on folks, but my mom knows how to keep up with the times so she has adapted to social media quite well; remarkably for a woman of 81! My mom knows how to check up and be the grandmother. It’s not hard to picture her as a saint of the church.
But Rock, well, we must admit that when you look at her, according to the standards of most churches, folks would not immediately jump to the word “saint” when describing her. Do saints have that many tattoos? But those of you who are in recovery and know that Rock has 14 years clean, and . . .well, you call her a saint for that alone, don’t you? And she will tell you that it is trust in God that gets her through every single day. All of those programs out there and groups,they work, but they too rely on trust in God.
I am going to tell you a bit more about my mom and Rock today, because here is the thing. We admire saints because they trust God. They seem to have a deeper faith than we feel like we have. We want what they have. But remember, we are really all saints. All of us in this room, who are trying faithfully to follow Jesus and change the world, we are all called to be saints. If it makes you feel better, you can consider yourself a “Saint-in-Training”. I believe All Saints Day, in addition to being the day we give thanks for the special saints in our own life, is also a day when God calls us to step it up. You see there are other people coming along, who need US to be saints for THEM. That’s how this thing of Christian community works. We can’t just be on the receiving end of the gifts of God; we are called to give as well. Others have given to us and now God calls us to give to others.
So, there are many characteristics that might qualify one to be called a saint, but I have chosen 3 to talk briefly about today:
· 1. Saints are contagious in their care for others. They are not selfish.
· When Rock came to this church, she had not been in town long and she did not have many friends, she busy chasing two grand kids around. . .
· My Mom called her. . .
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· Rock told us that simple phone call meant so much. . .
· Mom notices when folks are not here, and she sends you notes on FB or gives you a call. Who has gotten one of those notes? She cares and connected Rock to the Village.
· Rock really cares about helping people in recovery. Because she has 14 years of sobriety and being clean from drugs, she wants to give encouragement to other addicts and alcoholics who are in recovery. She can do what I can’t do. She can reach people I can never reach.
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Saints are contagious in their care for others. They are not selfish.
· 2. Saints are hard-working for their church community:
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· In her lifetime, I can’t think of a volunteer job my mom did not hold in the church. You see saints understand that a church needs leaders, and team members. She taught 5th grade Sunday school, she chaired the board, and she even cleaned the church! She understands a church needs leaders and workers.
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· Rock had only been attending here a few weeks when she asked what she could do to help. She told me she likes to fix things and keep her hands busy. I said “Thank You Jesus, and I gave her a list, and she did it. I began telling everyone how blessed we were to have a head of our facilities team.
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· My vision for The Village all along has been that we are a church where everyone has a ministry. A few churches have enough money that they pay staff to do much of the ministry, or at least that’s what the members want them to do. Well, we don’t have that money, and to be honest, even if we did, I don’t want us to be that kind of church. I don’t think that’s what Jesus has in mind. And it’s just no fun when a few people do all the work and the rest just coast. The few get tired, and the rest, well, they don’t really feel part of the community; they feel like spectators.
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Saints are contagious in their care for others.
Saints are hard-working for their church community.
· 3. Saints are generous:
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· My mom was one of the first people who started giving money to The Village. In fact, I think she donated the first $100 at a little Christmas Eve service we had 2007 (two years before we opened here!) As soon as we set up on-line giving, my Mom started giving every month and whenever we have a special need she gives to that. She is not a wealthy woman, she lives in Social Security and her pension from being a retired social worker in Texas. But she loves this church. She loves all of you, and most of all she loves God. And so she is generous and faithful in her giving to this church.
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· Rock also gives generously and faithfully to this church. She also set up on line giving to The Village every month. When I asked her why she did it she said, because she was always taught that Christians are supposed to tithe. She also knows that it costs money to run a church. I like Rock. She calls it the way she sees it. It’s not hard to look around and see that this ministry costs money. And so she gives.
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· Together, these two women give at least $200 a month to the Village – EVERY MONTH. $200 electronically that we can count on, plus whatever extra money they give to special offerings. That’s $2400 a year. And mom is retired, and Rock lives on disability. That is generous giving.
As the pastor of this church, I am thankful for saints like Rock and Betty, who sacrifice some other pleasures they might enjoy in life, so that The Village is here for the next generation of people who need a church like this.
Saints are contagious in their care for others.
Saints are hard-working for their church community.
Saints are generous.
Finally, saints never quit in any of their faithfulness. That’s what our scripture says for today. They are the ones who hold it together when everyone else falls apart. Because you see, all along, the saints have trusted in God. They have maintained the practices of contagious care, hard-work for the community and generosity. And so when the world throws tragedy to the saint, well, the saint just keeps moving forward, trusting God.
That’s why we need saints. That’s why we admire saints. That’s why we look up to saints. And that’s why some more of us need to be like the people that we call saints. Because the world needs more saints. The world needs people with a deep foundation of trust in God – who will never quit trusting in God.
So, today, let’s give thanks for the saints in your life. And ask God to give you the strength to take YOUR trust in God to be the next level. Someone in your life needs to look to you for help and hope. Someone needs you to be an example. Someone needs you to be the one who never quits. Accept the challenge on this All Saints Day. Be one of the Saints of God. Amen.
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