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The Feast of All Saints A reconstruction of the Sermon on November 2, 2003 by Hartshorn Murphy "The feast, kept in the West, on November 1st, to celebrate all the Christian saints, known and unknown. Reference to such a feast occurs in St. Ephrem Syrus (d. 373), while in St. Chrysostom (d. 407)…but in the West, the feast did not become firmly established until the consecration of the Pantheon at Rome... in 609 or 610." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church ed. F. L. Cross If St. Paul of Tarsus were here today, he'd be a bit mystified that more of you do not consider yourselves to be saints. If you read the earliest literature in the New Testament, you will discover that in the Epistles, Paul addressed all Christians as saints. His letters would often begin with a salutation: to the saints in Ephesus, to the saints in Corinth, to the saints in Rome. Paul was not being sarcastic, nor was he guilty of a false flattery. Often Paul's letters to the saints were full of reproof and correction. But still, the Christians in these various communities were designated by Paul as "saints." The word we have in English as "saint" in Latin was "sanctus," which means "holy." To be holy is not to be possessed of a particular quality (as in "holier than thou" or, another word associated with "saint" - to be "sanctified"). Rather, to be holy means to be set apart for God's use. We say that this sanctuary is holy not because of its design or its furnishings but because its primary purpose is to be the arena in which God and God's people encounter one another. When the clergy say a prayer of blessing over water, it becomes holy water used in sacramental ways - in baptisms such as the ones we'll celebrate at 11 a.m. worship today - but not to do the dishes. The followers of Christ were holy ones not because of any supernatural gifts but because they claimed Jesus as Lord, were God's beloved and were available to do God's will. In a sense, they were saints not for what they had accomplished but because of what they were becoming. The reason so few of you identify yourselves as being holy is because over time, the church has lost Paul's wonderfully inclusive definition. If you turn to the dictionary, Webster's defines saint in this way: 1. a holy person (Paul would approve), 2. a person who is exceptionally charitable, patient etc. (That seems to me to be a rather sentimental, almost cinematic, Disney sort of definition. Perhaps a few of you fit this definition but you'd be "exceptional" because most people aren't patient or generous, I suppose). And 3. a person officially recognized and venerated for having attained heaven after an exceptionally holy life. (Nobody here fits that one. We'll call it the "hierarchical definition".) The process for sainthood established by the Roman Church is arduous and requires the attribution of at least 3 miracles. The exceptional, miraculous life of officially designated saints removes from them the very character trait that we need most: that is their accessibility. As a flawed follower of Christ, I desperately need heroes of the faith, who face the struggles that I do and who remain faithful to Christ nonetheless. And those heroes don't need to be superheroes to be effective. Paradoxically, the very act of examination, canonization and veneration makes those we call saints less useful to us. The feast day of all saints exists to celebrate all the saints, known and unknown to us. Ones that don't have a day on the Kalendar or their name in the dictionary of saints or their likeness on an icon but who were lights for Christ in their generations, including our own. We are all, each of us who call ourselves followers of Christ, we are, each of us, saints. It's not about perfection; it's about the journey. So let me offer you three simple keys to holiness. First, we need to think not logically, but theo-logically. To think theologically is a disciplined way of reflecting on the world in which we live, the times we inhabit and our relationships. For most of us, we learn the art of theological thinking through reflection. In our Newcomer's class, we ask people to chart their spiritual journeys. To look over their lives and identify times they felt closer to God and times when God felt far away and to think deeply about those moments because since God is always present, we need to tune our awareness. And if we are more aware of God in our pasts, we may be more aware of God in our present. Kierkegaard once said: "Life is to be lived forward but it is to be understood backwards." Second, sainthood requires prayer. Our prayer life centers us in the presence of God. Prayer enables us to disengage from anxiety and fear. Prayer doesn't change the circumstances we are placed in but prayer can and does change us and that changes everything. When we remember that we are God's beloved, we can live free, Third, saints are folk who risk for God. To be a saint means willing to step out of our comfort zones. To face the future with hope rather than with despair. To be open to being changed. Both John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth pointed to the coming of the Kingdom and told people that in order to enter in, they would have to "repent". The Greek word doesn't mean "feel sorry" but rather to "change directions." Annie Dillard, in one of her novels, once warned people to beware of congealing too soon, because when you do, there are no more surprises, your life is over. Theological thinking, prayer and openness to risk and change are the ingredients of holiness; of being set apart for God's use. All three disciplines, however, have to be exercised in the context of community. There can be no solitary saints - those folks are called hermits. I need you to be the saint God is calling me to be and you need me to be the saint God is calling you to be. I need your strength, your joy, your quiet dignity and faith, your gentle humor - and on and on. We are that beloved community, the Church; that community of unexceptional but holy ones who seek to do God's will. Today, All Saints day, we welcome three new saints among us. We wash them in holy water to symbolize their being set apart for God's use, the drowning of their old selves and a rising to a new life in Christ - a life of holiness. They will need your support, your prayers, and your openness if they are to live into the fullness this day proclaims. In renewing our own baptismal covenant, we reclaim this day our vocation to holiness as the saints of God.
Copyright © 2003 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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