Prior to starting seminary school to become a pastor, I spent 6 years as a preschool teacher. I genuinely loved working with the kids, reading stories, singing songs and watching their imaginations come alive as they played and learned. Kids can surely be a lot of fun—but they can also be a handful (Even these little Saints can sometimes make less than Saintly choices!).
Often times when I told someone that I was a preschool teacher one of the first responses I would get was “You must have the qualities of a Saint—I could never have the patience!” And it’s true, it does take a lot of patience and understanding to work with kids, and some days were better for me in the patience department than others. I’ll just say that trying to dress twenty to thirty three year olds in their snow clothes can test even the most saintly of folks.
It is not uncommon in popular culture that we hear phrases like “He/She is such a saint!”, but I sometimes wonder what it is that makes someone “qualify” as a saint. Do they have to do something really important? Do they have to be perfect? According to the dictionary, a saint is a person who is acknowledged as being holy and virtuous. Said in another way, a saint is someone who is kind or reflects some of the qualities that others often admire and strive to replicate in their own lives.
In the Church, we often imagine that Saints are the people who are or were particularly holy, those who did something remarkable with their lives or lived and died for the sake of the Church. Examples of these kinds of saints could include the early Christian martyrs, great theologians, or religious people who dedicated every moment of their lives to serving the poor. These Saints are important and certainly people we can learn from, but chances are few of us personally know of many Christian martyrs or deeply dedicated theologians. It is more likely, I think, that the Saints we personally think of tend to be the ordinary, imperfect, people who we have known and loved, those who in their own ways left an impact on our lives.
This week as I have reflected on the Saints, I have had many people come to my mind, some of whom are still living and some who have since passed. For example, I think of my childhood pastor, Pastor Terry, who had a kindness and nurturing spirit that reflected God’s love and made each child in the church feel special. I think of my friend Kim in Tennessee who has a genuine faith and a passion for the Bible. I think of my 4th grade teacher, Mrs.Reznicek who helped me discover my love of writing and taught me the importance of kindness to all people. But mostly this week as I reflected on the saints, the person who came to my mind the most was my grandpa, Lyle.
My Grandpa Lyle was born into a farming family in rural Nebraska in 1928. Growing up in a family of 10 children during the Great Depression, the family was poor and struggled to scrape by. School was difficult for my grandfather, and at the age of 16 he dropped out of school and began working full time as an apprentice at a carpet cleaning business. He worked hard at that job for 25 years while raising a family with his wife Sylvia, and eventually he was able to support his family by opening a small carpet cleaning business of his own. After retiring he and Sylvia enjoyed camping, square-dancing, and my grandfather was well known among friends and family for his woodcarving. During his lifetime he raised three children, 5 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. He passed away two years ago this week at the age of 92.
There is nothing about my grandfather’s life that stands out as particularly remarkable—in fact his life story is probably similar in many ways to other rural midwestern folks—but nonetheless he is one of the most influential Saints in my life. What makes him a saint in my life has more to do with who he was than what he did. He was one of the most gentle men I have ever met, and he had a genuine kindness and patience about him. He was a weekly attender of his local church, but I can’t remember a time where he and I really had a conversation about faith and God. Yet I knew his faith was influential in his life because he couldn’t help but reflect God’s love simply in the way he interacted with his friends, family and community.
Perhaps the story of my grandpa reminds you of a friend or relative of your own, someone who you learned from simply by watching them live their lives. It is often in these precious relationships that the Saints touch our lives, even after they are gone.
As much as I adored my grandpa, though, I know he wasn’t a perfect man—and chances are the Saints in your life weren’t perfect either. We all sin, and we all make mistakes. We all have moments when we fail or fall short of expectations, and we all have moments when we may doubt our faith, but thankfully that isn’t what defines us.
What defines the Saints—and all of us—is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, Word Became Flesh, came to earth and lived among people as an example of a new way to live. Jesus faced many of the temptations and challenges that we face, and Christ had compassion on the poor and the marginalized. Jesus saw the brokenness and sin in the world, and he was determined to do something about it. He allowed himself to be crucified on the Cross to reflect the depth of God’s love, and did so in order to overcome the power that sin and death held over us. Because of Christ our sins are forgiven and we are reconciled to God and no one and no thing can snatch us away. While we live on this earth we will continue to sin and fall short, but through grace Jesus Christ has saved us and claimed us as saints. As ELCA pastor Nadia Bolz Weber puts it—the saints are just sinners who have been forgiven, and that is all of us.
This is good news, but also news meant to challenge us. How are we going to live this good news?
We are the living saints—imperfect as we may be, and as saints we are tasked to love, to serve, to praise and point the way back to God.
In our Ephesians reading today Paul is writing to the gentiles in Ephesus. They have accepted faith and have received the inheritance of God’s promises. They have been transformed and now Paul is encouraging them and praying for them as they grow in wisdom, grow in the Lord, and seek to reflect God’s love. They were being called to be loyal to Christ and to love and serve in the example of Jesus, and we, as the Body of Christ, have that same calling today.
And how is it that this community lives out this calling? There are many ways. We are the Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints, in this time and place, and in this community. We worship together, pray together, learn together, and encourage one another in faith. We create life long friendships and connections through this church, and we walk alongside and lift up those who are hurting. We work together to do mission. We work to feed the hungry, tie blankets for Camp Noah and help provide for children and families during the holidays. We support global missions including ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Response. We live out our calling as simultaneous sinners and saints by living our lives each day and touching the lives of people around us.
Our Gospel reading today, however, reminds us of the challenges in this life. Being a Saint and a follower of Christ does not guarantee an easy life, for there will be moments of challenge, suffering and even mistreatment. In this text Jesus is speaking to the disciples and to a large crowd gathered around, and the people in the crowd are likely the poor and the oppressed in that society. He has compassion for these people, and he wants to reassure them that they too are seen and known by God. Yet these are some striking words that Jesus is using, and I want to be careful how we reflect on them this morning. I want to be clear in saying that when Jesus is blessing those who are suffering, Jesus is not glorifying suffering, because suffering does not make one more holy or dignified. As Christians when we see suffering, poverty and other brokenness in the world we are called to try and do something to help, or at least to enter in and stand alongside those who are hurting so they know they are not alone. And when we are the ones experiencing suffering, we remember that we are seen, and that our suffering is not the end of the story.
Similarly, when Jesus is talking about being abused and mistreated, Jesus is not condoning this behavior. We are all God’s beloved children and no one deserves this kind of treatment. I want you to hear these words—if you experience mistreatment or abuse in your life, it is okay to step back from the situation, to get help or to set boundaries. It does not make you a bad Christian to set boundaries or move away from a bad situation, because you are a beloved Child of God and you too deserve to be cared for and respected. But at the same time, Jesus in this text tells us to pray for those who persecute us, to put those people in God’s hands, and not to seek revenge. As living saints we treat others the way we want to be treated, and we love the best we can as Christ first loved us.
What I hope you also hear in our Gospel today, though, is that God keeps God’s promises. Jesus reassures us that no matter what this life may bring—good or bad—we can rely on God because God keep’s God’s promises. Through Jesus Christ, God promised us a new life, and an ending when all will be restored. God promises us that we are loved, we are forgiven, and we are meant to be free to love and serve in the world. So we do our best day after day to reflect God’s love, and when we fail we try again with God’s help. That is what is means for us to be living Saints, living in faith in our daily lives and in hope of God’s promises.
And then, finally, each one of us will reach a day when we will be called home to God and to the Saints in heaven. But be reassured, for when that time comes and you breathe your last breath, Christ will be there. Jesus will take your hand, and smiling at you he will say, “Beautiful Saint, my Beloved, welcome home.”
This is good news, and until that day, may God be with us and guide us. May we live in the example of Jesus and in the example of all of the Saints and all of those who have lived and inspire us to keep moving forward in faith. Thanks be to God. Amen.