|
Today, Sunday November 2, 2008, is known as All Saints Day, also known as “All Souls Sunday,” in churches throughout the United States of America and the world. On this Sunday, we remember our love ones who have died this past year. As I think of this sacred Sunday I am led to ask, “What is a “saint” and how does one become a “saint?”
In the first three hundred years of church history, a saint was someone who got killed for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These were the martyrs of the church. St. Ignatius said that the “blood of the martyrs were the seeds of the church.”
Then, things changed in the year 313, Constantine became emperor of the Roman Empire and he made it legal that everyone had to be a Christian. It was not that Constantine was religious; he did not get baptized until he was on his deathbed, but he was a smart emperor and he used Christianity to be the glue that held his empire together.
In Constantine’s time the Roman Catholic Church and the church canonized saints, famous people who had died. The church built a chapel in honor of a saint. Lighting a candle and praying to the saints, a practice people practiced for thirteen hundred years, believing the saint would intercede to God.
Then came the Reformation and Martin Luther, and all the other reformers, did not like the idea of praying to and through saints. They believed one could pray directly to God. So the meaning of “saints” changed. A “saint” became one who had died and have gone to live with God in heaven.
Some say a saint is one who lives with an unbearable person or who roots for a professional sports team from Ohio.
In the Greek language the word “Saint” is always plural like in the hymn, “For All The Saints.” For in the Bible the word “Saints” means “God’s holy ones.” We are God’s holy people, not because we ourselves are “holy” but because we are connected with God. God is holy and because we belong to God, we are holy.
The first time, approximately nine years ago, when Pilar and I walked into the Tremont United Methodist Church, we were taken back by the beauty and the beautiful stain glass windows. After the honeymoon of our being here was over Pilar and I discovered something else about this church family that is still true to this very second.
In studying the Bible, it becomes evident that none of the saints are dead. Saints are living people, living down here on earth. Our definition of “saints” from the past two thousand years is not Biblical. In studying the Bible it is evident that saints are living people who belong to God. God greatest pleasure to be with those who will hang out with Him, talk with Him, are not ashamed to associate with Him. In the Bible the word “saints” always refers to a person who, like the beautiful stain glass windows in this sanctuary, lets the light of God shine through them.
A pastor walked into the foyer of the church to find young Sara standing and staring at a plaque on the wall. Curious Sara turned to her pastor and asked, “What is this hanging on the wall?” The pastor replied, “Sara, those are people from this church who have died in service.” Sara, without blinking an eye replied, “9:00 or 10:45?”
As we gather in this sanctuary take a second to look at the beautiful stain-glassed windows that beautify this sanctuary. Do you notice what I notice about these stained-glass windows that my wife and I first noticed when we came here? It is not ‘our’ light that shines through these stained-glass windows and makes them so beautiful. It is the light of God that shines through these windows and makes them so beautiful. It is the ‘light of God’ that shines through a saint and leads others to want to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ at their Lord and Savior.
A saint doesn’t say, “I want you to be a Christian. I am going to try to subtly force you to be a Christian. I AM GOING TO FORCE YOU TO GO TO CHURCH! No, by the nature of their lives, these saints inspire you to be holy. A saint is a person who lets the light of God shine through them so that others may see the light of God through their actions, verbal and non-verbal.
Dr. David Livingston was a famous missionary in Africa and while in the heart of Africa he disappeared into the jungles. Henry Stanley went on a search for Dr. Livingston and after a lengthy search, upon finding Dr. Livingston; Henry Stanley gave us a famous line that is remembered to this very second. “Dr. Livingston, I presume?”
Dr. Livingston and Henry Stanley lived together for three months and after that Henry Stanley wrote in his memoirs, “Dr. Livingston made me a Christian and he didn’t even know he was doing it.” He inspired me and didn’t even try to.
Such a man in my life I have never physically met but because of Him I have came to realize that in my pain, in struggling, real men and real women cry. The man is world renowned and in two words He is remembered, for they make up the shortest sentence in the Bible, John 11:35, Jesus wept.”
Jesus wept; when He saw His buddy Lazarus sisters crying as they were upset over their brothers death. Upset because, if only Jesus would have been there, their brother might still be alive.
Unbeknownst to Lazarus’ sisters (Mary and Martha), Jesus sat in the Upper Room with His disciples on the night of His betrayal and taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it and saying, “Take, eat, this is my body given for you. Eat this often in memory of me.” Then after supper Jesus would take the cup, bless it and say, “Take, drink, this is my blood of the New Covenant shed for the forgiveness of the sins of many. Drink this often in remembrance of me.”
The table of the Lord has been set and all are welcome to come and receive the body and blood of Christ.
Today we honor three saints who are no longer physically alive with us here on earth, yes they do still live in our individual hearts and memories, but they live now in heaven, in God’s house. Their lives continue to live on in the hearts and memories of those who know and love them. Their lives have inspired their families; loved ones, and those who have been blessed to know them.
As I say the name of three in our bulletin this morning I ask if you are family, friends, of the individuals named who may have been a member or whose loved ones attend worship here named, please stand for a few seconds in silence and then be seated.
Louie Clark
Carlene Price
Phyllis Roberds
They say the greatest sermon is never spoken, but lived through our actions and our thoughts. Louie, Carlene, and Phyllis, gave sermons to their love ones and those who were blessed to know them through their actions. Actions that do not mean being in church every Sunday, which is not a slam for being in church doesn’t make one a Christian. How they lived their lives, which continues to live on in the lives of those who are blessed to know them, is what sets them apart. Now they live what is yet to come for the saints that shall enter into heaven one day.
Revelations 7:13-17
Then one of the Elders addressed me saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night within His temple; and He who sits upon the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not blind them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
In death, as we know life in the sin of the flesh, those saints who have gone before us, and those, including ourselves, have the very best in heaven. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, as our love ones who have gone before us, and death will be no more.
What is a saint? A saint is someone who has died in the life of the church. What is a saint? You and I. Yes, you and I, who are living saints of God when we give inspiration to others.
Let us enter into prayer.
Father God we thank you for those we love but cannot physically touch and or see no more. In our lives when we have conflicted feelings caused by change. When the sky looks dark, may we see the signs of Heavens Way and Victory Boulevard. That lies right before us to you Father God.
Amen.
|
|
