Pastor's Message

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Saints

The Lectionary Scriptures for today’s "All Saints Day" help to describe the character traits of a saint in the early days of Christianity.

Epistle: I John 3:1-3 describes the love of God dwelling within these early Christians. "See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! Beloved, we are now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be upon His return. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is, in all His glory. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

GOSPEL: Matthew 5:1-12 (AMP) Today’s Gospel contains the Beatitudes.

The word beatus first appeared when the Greek New Testament was translated into Latin. Beatus, is a word meaning blessed, happy, and fortunate. I’ve always reflected on the word beatitude as an attitude reflecting what we might be as Christians; be attitudes, those beneficial attitudes, habits, dispositions, which ultimately benefit us as Christians. Listen now to them as the Amplified Bible helps to define these profitable attributes. Jesus describes those who are so blessed because of their attitudes, habits and dispositions.

But be careful, these are not meant by Jesus as that which we are to aspire to. thinking such will gain us access to heaven. No, we are to aspire only to do that which we believe will please God and benefit others. He speaks not of financial gain, prestige, earthly success or prosperity. These are the results of one’s relationship with God.

Matthew 5:1-12

TOPIC TALK: "SAINTS"

Christmas Eve. Yes, we all know it as a time of great anticipation for Christmas Day. The flow of the Christmas Eve into the Christmas Day, like minutes on the clock, lead us from one in to the other with anticipation and in reality.

All Hallows Eve (you know Hallow’een) was once nothing more than the evening of anticipation of All Hallows Day.
The root word of Halloween - ''hallow'' - means ''holy.'' The suffix "een" is an abbreviation of "evening." It refers to the Eve of All Hallows. It’s the night before the Christian holy day that honors saintly people of the past. "All Saints Day is a celebration of the communion of saints, those people we believe are in heaven, through good works and God's grace."
More than a thousand years ago, in Ireland and Britain, a common custom of Christians was to come together on the eve of All Hallows Day to ask for God's blessing and protection from evil in the world. Often, they would dress in costumes of saints or dress as evil spirits and act out the battle between good and evil around bonfires. That's the source of the modern observance of Halloween. This is to flow from All Hallows Eve to morning as a single message; honoring All the Saints, overcoming evil.

SERMON: "Saints"

  1. In Roman Catholicism, there are three categories that have provided a path to Sainthood: Martyrdom; ‘being killed for the faith’, living a life heroically by exhibiting Christian virtues, and having a strong reputation for religious devotion.
  2. Three years ago, in July of 2017, Pope Francis introduced a new pathway to Catholic sainthood, recognizing those who sacrifice their lives for others. The person must have shown Christian virtues, must have a "reputation for holiness."
  3. Then on Oct. 31st of 2017 On the Eve of All Saints Day, Pope Francis, announced that Martin Luther is certainly in heaven. Pope Francis declared him Saint Martin Luther.
  4. However, when one looks at the Bible’s criteria for saint-hood we find that a saint may be someone who is not particularly pious, nor whose prayers cause miracles, nor who sacrifices a great deal for their faith. According to references in the Scriptures, a saint is anyone who has "accepted Christ" as their savior; anyone "who follows in the Way of Jesus".
  5. A Christian is therefore, one who is set apart from the world, to do good works through Christ’s indwelling spirit. The term "saint" is a reflection of the changes God makes in us, not the degree to which we have successfully embodied those changes.
  6. Therefore, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, in the Christian Church, saints are those who have achieved the ultimate joy in heaven, complete communion with God. They enter this bliss because of their faith in Christ that enabled them to lead lives of holiness and to do great deeds of mercy and healing.
  7. They persistently produce good deeds for humankind because of God’s indwelling love. Paul makes this so very clear in his letter to the Corinthians "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." (13:1-2)
  8. On All Saints Day, Christians celebrate the mysterious joy of "the communion of saints" which sees beyond death into the heavenly realm where kindred souls unite together in their love for the Lord."
  9. Rev. Martin B. Copenhaver, retired President of Andover Newton Theological Seminary, writes: "We Protestants need more saints. The Roman Catholics have more than 10,000 canonized saints. By my count, we Protestants have as few as five."
  10. I don’t mean "saint" in the Pauline sense, a term that includes all of the people of God. Rather, I think we need more saints, those particular individuals of faith about whom the church says, "Pay attention to these lives. Take inspiration from them. Try, as you are able, to follow their example."
  11. The author of the book of Hebrews was writing to a small band of new Christians who were suffering persecution and feeling isolated in their struggles. In the great 11th chapter, he points to various people in salvation history who were able to face every manner of challenge and hardship because they had faith.
  12. The author says, in essence, "You are not alone in this. Look to Abraham. Look to Moses. Look to David and Samuel and others so that you, too, might rise to the challenges that face you through faith."Having such examples of faith can be both instructive and inspiring. It is through saints that we can see faithfulness embodied. We see what it looks like in a human life.
  13. I envy the Roman Catholics their saints, because they have many people of history to whom they can point. To be sure, there are some who are rather quirky. St. Neot did his daily devotions while submerged neck deep in a well and became patron saint of fish.
  14. There are others whose qualifications for sainthood seem rather thin like the chief accomplishment of Simeon of Stylites was to have been sitting on a pillar for decades at a time. But the sheer variety of saints in the Roman Catholic tradition stretches the imagination to encompass the multitude of ways one can serve God and manifest the presence of the Holy Spirit.
  15. Sometimes it appears that we Protestants have only a small handful of people to point to, those whose lives reflect God’s glory. Names like—Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
  16. These are often invoked with whenever the preacher needs an illustration of faithfulness. Of course, these individuals are great examples of faith. They are saints, to be sure. However, my hunch is that people in congregations have quit listening to what is said about these great individuals. Either they've heard it too often, or the heroism of these lives is so rare that one cannot hope to reflect anything like it in their own life.
  17. Is All Saints Day not a time for our personal reflections; you know like reflections of our self in a mirror?
  18. (Note: At this point in the sermon I show a picture of someone looking in the mirror at their image which suddenly changes to be the image of Christ looking back at them. It then fades and returns to their own face. A slowly pulsing heart appears on the screen as the words EMPATHY and KINDNESS likewise appear. This is designed to suggest that when we look at Christ’s life and teachings, we imagine if we are replicating these attributes in our own lives.)
  19. We ask ourselves; "Who have I been, and who am I, and who am I possibly yet to be in the remaining days of my life?" This is the essence of "All Saints Day"!
  20. All Saints Day is a day to see if, to any degree, my life, my actions, my words, reflect evidence of Christ in me? Such evidence may exist in our empathy and compassionate acts for other and/or kindness shown to anonymous struggling people.

All Saints Day Prayer

Written by Karen Barber founder of "Prayers Ignited International"

Dear Father, We thank you for the communion of saints, through which we are mysteriously United in Christ, with those who have walked before us, and with us in the faith. Although they now rest from their labors in your heavenly realm, we continually draw upon their indelible and living examples of excellence and holiness.

We are grateful for the way they have shared their lives, struggles, faith, courage and acts of mercy during their lifetimes so that we might today live better lifetimes of joyful service to You in your kingdom.

With them we pray in one accord, "Thy Kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Preserve the vivid lessons of their deeds of heroic trust, healing compassion and sacrificial love. Inspire our hearts to dare to follow in their fearless footsteps.

Help us to gaze steadily toward your face as they did before us, resisting evil and humbly depending on you to strengthen and preserve us in the days of testing.

God of all nations, who calls us each to yourself; may we aspire to holiness and service, joining the saints of the ages. To you be the glory and praise and honor for all time to come. Amen.

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