Our Family Tree of Saints and Sinners

Pastors have the privilege of being invited to family gatherings.  Dr Delmer Chilton remembers the family reunion where a woman excitedly began a report on her family history.  Beginning in the 1700s, she went on and on and on, talking for more than an hour.  As she finally came to the end, she asked, "Did I leave anyone out?"  The bored kid next to Dr Chilton responded - under her breath - "Yeah, Adam and Eve!" (Rev Dr Delmer L Chilton, "Sermon for All Saints Day")

On All Saints Sunday, before we recite our Christian family tree, remembering the saints who've gone before us, we should clarify what we mean by a saint.  I especially like Frederick Buechner's definition of a saint:  "In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a pocket handkerchief.  These handkerchiefs are called saints." (F Buechner, "Beyond Words," Harper San Francisco, p352).

I remember sitting in my seminary New Testament class, when the professor would begin class with:  "Welcome Saints.  Let's get started."  I was jarred by being addressed as a saint because at the time I was wondering if I could survive the journey of seminary when I was plagued with doubts.  But I believe my professor was right.  Seminary students, professors, everyone sitting in a congregation - we're all saints because we're all grafted into God's family tree through our baptisms.  As adopted children of God we're sisters and brothers of Christ.  We've been marked with the sign of the cross on our foreheads and so we try to live into our adopted identities as holy ones (Greek for saints).  But we're only human, so if we adopt the moniker of saint (which I think is justifiable), we also should claim our status as sinners also.  Robert Louis Stevenson characterizes our status as: "The saints are the sinners who keep on going."

So, what is the witness of the communion of saints who have gone before us - that great cloud of witnesses who hover over and around us?  First, their witness is that we are part of a family - a family that began long before our present time and will continue long after us.  We have a place in this family. Second, God calls us to remember our own saintliness, our blessedness, and our holiness as a gift from God.  We're called to live into our saintliness.  Living into our saintliness means remembering the values and traditions of our ancestors and translating them into our rituals, our daily lives, and our care for ALL beloved children of God.  Third, we remember the promise of resurrection as we read about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 32-44) - a precursor or foreshadowing of Jesus' own resurrection available to us.  Lastly, Revelation 21: 1-6a describes the new heaven and the new earth, the holy city and the new Jerusalem.  This is God's kingdom being realized here on earth:  "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'See, the home of God is among mortals.  God will dwell with them; they will be God's peoples.'" (Rev 21: 3)  While we honor the saints who've gone before us, we sharpen our eyes for God's handkerchiefs living now among us.  For we are all part of the communion of saints past, present, and future.  Let us follow in these footsteps.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley