Wednesday, November 1, 2017

                So, are you feeling particularly saintly today?  If so, this must be your day – All Saints Day on the Christian Calendar.

                What is a saint, you might ask? But you would be asking the wrong guy; I am no saint. Saintliness is not on my resume.  You might say that I have had a devil of a time in grooming the characteristics of sainthood. I don’t think a little plastic figure of myself will be sitting on anybody’s car dash in the near or distant future.

On the surface, saintliness sounds like a lot of blood, sweat and tears.  Saintliness seems to be the result of a lot of humbling, selfless, sacrificial work. I am pretty sure that it is not about how religious you are, how many bible verses you have memorized or whether you have a perfect attendance pin for Sunday School attendance. I don’t think it is about piety, creedal purity or being chair of the Church Board. Not that any of those things just mentioned are necessarily bad things; they just don’t add up to a full-bodied saintliness.

The Apostle Paul would regular address his letters to the saints who were in whatever particular church to which he was writing. E.g. “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints.” (Romans 1:7) Now he was neither buttering them up with fake accolades or ignoring their faults.  He knew, just like himself, nobody is perfect. “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” (Philippians 3:12)

 Nobody is without sin. Nobody has it all figured out. Nobody has achieved a flawless selflessness or faultless service or has a spotless record of good deeds and works.

Nobody has completely mastered being like Jesus!

Some impossible, idealistic notion of perfection is not the foundation of saintliness, by a long shot. I know that Jesus said that we are to strive for perfection as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48), but I don’t he is referring to some cold piety of stiff, religious duty.

If God is Love then our perfection is pointing in that same direction - the Way of Love that Jesus embodied and exampled for us to follow. "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."  (Matthew 19:21) Many of us are more likely to emulate the rich young man to whom Jesus spoke and walk away from Jesus grieving that Jesus was setting impossible standards of discipleship.

The continuous and selfless act of loving and therefore the road to true sainthood is indeed hard, uncompromising and challenging at times. We are taken beyond our comfort zones, find ourselves in strange company, and are forced to take risks and make decisions that ruffle our assumptions and stretch our spiritual muscles to weariness. 

This is the stuff of sainthood and the miracle is that commonplace, ordinary, regular men and women and even children show saintly natures each and every day. They are the saints who quietly go about loving others by working in food banks, help in making meals for the homeless, run shelters, spend nights in Telecare watch, volunteer at hospitals, make a phone call on somebody’s birthday, etc. etc. etc. There are saints in church choirs and those who lead scout troops. There are saints who pray regularly and continuously for others’ well-being, health and salvation.

You actually may be a saint although you would probably deny it.  But if you love others as you are loved, you have taken a step toward sainthood.

“I send this letter to you in God's church at Corinth, Christians cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life. I include in my greeting all who call out to Jesus, wherever they live. He's their Master as well as ours! May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours.” (1 Corinthians 1:2 – 3, The Message)

Saints alive! That’s powerful stuff!

Dale