Psalm 34:1-10, 22; 1 John 3:1-3
All Saints Day, Nov. 1, 2014
When it comes to
sermons, it’s always a blessing for us all to be on the same page. So let me begin today by asking you to join
me in completing the following rhyme aloud – “Here’s the church, and here’s the
steeple, open the door, and see ...” (all the people!)
Well, it’s not likely
that all the church members and
neighbors in a community will be seen. But
hopefully it’s more than the ten that go with the hand motion! It’s
more likely to be whoever is in town, doesn’t have to be someplace else, isn’t
feeling put out by God or the church for one reason or another, and has decided
it’s always better to exercise the muscles of faith by going to the Sunday
morning spiritual fitness center. Blessedly,
it does also occasionally happens to be folks who’ve felt the Spirit leading
them for a visit.
The headcount at any
given worship service, however, doesn’t matter as much as how the people gathered
together see themselves. How you and I see ourselves here today. Are we American citizens gathered to
experience the rituals of a traditional religious institution? Are we sinners standing and sitting in the
need of salvation? Are we members? Disciples? Followers?
Forerunners?
I conclude the answer is
yes to all these questions. Our
faithful identity is multifaceted. Yet
if we all had Christian I.D. cards, one word would be biblically required to
appear next to our birth date, baptismal date, denominational affiliation, home
address and all. That word is SAINT.
In the New Testament,
this is more than an adjective. It’s
primarily an action word. It’s a verb
referring to a person who is being separated from secular things and
consecrated as a child of God.[i] By
God the Father’s grace in Jesus Christ and by our faith, the church is chock
full of saints! The Spirit is setting apart females and males
of all ages to live sacredly, to live like Jesus.
This has happened in the
immediate and the long ago past. It’s
happening right now. It’s going to
happen in the next second as well as every moment leading up to the final
consummation of all things upon the full return of Christ. We are constantly being and becoming
saints. Our I.D. card won’t be revoked
upon our death. It’s all a matter of being
the Church now and then and not yet.
This is where being on
the same page for the sermon might be at risk.
The time transcending nature of being a community of saints, that is,
the Church, is a bit of a mindbender. It’s honestly easier to think of saints as
only those who’ve lived faithfully, finished the race and passed into
glory. I trust you’ve had the opportunity
to reflect on a loved and revered person’s life by referring to them as a real
saint? Or, if from a non-Protestant
background, agreed with an official church veneration of a historic
person? It’s much harder to say this
about a fellow believer who has disappointed, hurt, or greatly offended you and
others within the last hour or day or week or for many years.
Bottom line -- being and
becoming a saint is a holy process. The
short passage of 1 John 3:1-13 inspires me to turn the familiar nursery rhyme
most all of us know into the following -- “Here in the church, there are saints
for sure, each of them praying, to be made more pure.”
1 John gels with the whole witness of the
Scriptures. It fully affirms God’s love
for us, God’s adoption of us as children as one holy family, that we are to faithfully
hold fast to the hope that we are unceasingly being transformed to be more and
more like Jesus, and that the truth of all this will be completely revealed in
what we understand to be the future.
Our Psalm this morning also
points to this process of spiritual transformation. King David gets the author credit. However, notice the little superscription at
the start of it. It refers to a time
before he was king, a time when he “feigned madness” in order to escape an
unholy situation. As one Bible
commentator puts it, it was “one of the low points in his life, when he was an
unknown on the run, pretending insanity in order to stay alive.” That sure is some extremely curious behavior
for a believer. Yet how powerful is its
witness to what saintliness is and is not.
It’s not “something attained by exemplary personal achievement or
unblemished moral purity.” It is
instead all about people who exhibit deep faith and trust by calling upon God
to care for them in their time of need and to deliver them from harm. “Saints are those who believe this and live
their lives accordingly.”[ii] To understand and celebrate the saintliness
of King David or the apostle Paul, or all the countless other biblical figures
we know, it’s a matter of understanding their story in the great context of now
and then and not yet.
Take a moment to reflect
on your faith journey. Recall a moment
or two when you or someone you know exhibited deep faith and trust in God
during a dark time. A time of
frightening illness. A time of family
breaking apart. A time of
addiction. A time of financial
insecurity. A time of suffocating grief. A time of feeling run down and run out. As you sit here today, how has this shaped
you as a living saint?
Speaking of living
saints, I had the privilege of participating in Princeton Seminary’s alumni
reunion last week. After immersing
myself in a few wonderful lectures, workshops and conversations, I found myself
in Miller Chapel listening to the keynote speaker. This year it was the now 81 year old pastor,
poet, and scholar Eugene Peterson. He
is the author of a popular contemporary language Bible translation called The
Message. He’s also authored a whole
slew of other practical books about prayer and ministry.
On that day I most
appreciated his reminder of what is promised in Matthew 28:7 – that the Risen
Lord is always going ahead of us.
Wherever the community of saints is headed, Jesus is both with us and
way ahead waiting for us there. Waiting
for us to see Him now and then and not yet.
To join with Him. To be further
transformed by Him.
Recently, the editor of
PreachingToday.com read Peterson’s memoir, aptly titled The Pastor. He was particularly struck by a passage
Peterson wrote about his spouse Jan’s understanding of what it’s meant to be
traditional pastor’s wife. However,
this editor found that what Peterson wrote even more aptly fit “all Christians
as they enter fully into the life of the body of Christ.”[iii] So he decided to quote Peterson in a review
but substituted “pastor’s wife” with the words “church member.” I’ll take this a step further and substitute
that with “saint.” Here, then, is the
doubly amended version of what Peterson suggests life in the church of now and
then and not yet should be –
“Being a [saint] is a
vocation, a way of life. It means participation in an intricate web of
hospitality, living at the intersection of human need and God's grace,
inhabiting a community where men and women who don't fit are welcomed, where
neglected children are noticed, where the stories of Jesus are told, and people
who have no stories find that they do have stories, stories that are part of
the Jesus story. Being a [saint] places us strategically yet unobtrusively at a
heavily trafficked intersection between heaven and earth.”[iv]
We saints, therefore,
aren’t to only be found inside church buildings. All of Creation is God’s sanctuary. There are countless opportunities, ways and
places to exhibit the Christian faith, to deeply trust and call upon and give
joyful praise to God.
Do you know where the
largest operational pipe organ in the world is located? It’s the Wanamaker Organ located in what was
the Wanamaker Department Store in downtown Philadelphia. On October 30, 2010, an organist sat down at
this organ’s six manual console and played the opening measures of Handel’s Messiah.
It resounded across the 7 story court of what is now Macy’s. Then suddenly, more than six hundred Philly
area choir singers stepped out from where they were all sprinkled throughout
the store and started singing in full voice.
This wasn’t just what is known as a “flash mob” performance. It was saintly witness to the King of Kings,
the Lord of Lords.
How will you, O Saints,
O Spirit Driven Faith Mob, sprinkle yourselves in society this coming week to bear
witness to the blessed tie that binds our hearts in Christian love? Turn, turn, turn and see all sorts of saints
in every season!
Amen.
[i] http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/hagiazo.html
[ii] Bartlett,
David L.; Barbara Brown Taylor (2011-05-31). Feasting on the Word: Year A,
Volume 4, Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Kindle
Locations 8141-8142). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
[iii] http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2012/february/3021312.html
[iv] adapted
from Eugene Peterson, The Pastor (HarperOne, 2011), p. 95
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