The Foundation of the Saints
David C. Myers
November 2, 2008
All Saints' Sunday
Communion
Text: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, . . . let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us." . . . from Hebrews 12:1 - 2
Today is All Saints' Sunday, that time of the church year when we remember the saints - all of them. But please note, when we use the word saints in a biblical way, we are not just talking about the saints listed in the Bible, or those who have been elevated to Sainthood by the church, or even only the dear, departed ones whose names we remember today. Biblically speaking, saints refer to the faithful, all the faithful, not just those who have, as we say, "gone on to their reward," but also those of us who are here, now, still busy living into whatever God has in store for us. All Saints' is therefore not just a time to think about the dead, but also about the living, all the saints.
We've got some rethinking to be done about heaven. Sometimes we think of Heaven as the place where God is. Most Christians think of heaven as related exclusively to the afterlife. If we in this life believe in Christ, then when we die we "get to go to heaven." To be sure scripture is concerned with our eternal fate. But what often gets obscured is scripture's stress upon Jesus Christ as the invitation to share in God's life here and now. Scripture reminds us that Jesus came to earth not to get people into heaven, but rather to get heaven into people. God comes to earth bringing heaven to earth, making all of this earth into what God intended earth to be in the first place.
With that understanding, the saints are not only the dead who have died in the Lord, but also the living whom presently, to some greater or lesser degree, live in the Lord. Heaven isn't just an eventual destination; it is our present vocation.
So, indeed God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Esther, Mary and Priscilla. Our God is the God of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley. And our God is the God of Norton Crockett, Clare Hendee, Betty Phillips, Alda Brown, Bill Wyatt, Brad Kormann, and Neal Potter. They are the foundation, and we are dependent on each one of them - and so many more - as we struggle with living out our faith today. With their very lives, they have shown us something of God's grace, something of God's way.
Dependence on them is not enough, however. We also continue what they began; we "pick up where they left off". These are the things that are bound up in the meaning and celebration of All Saints' Day.
So here we are today, remembering the saints in this service on the first Sunday in November. And part of our remembering and honoring them is building on the foundation they have laid for us.
So who are the saints?
One isn't born a saint or elevated simply through anyone's formal announcement. Nor is one a saint because they died or have been imprisoned for their faith. A saint is a saint because of their faith and their commitment and their perseverance. What it takes to become a saint is available to each and every person who lives faith, commitment and perseverance.
The writer of Hebrews was talking about saints in our Scripture reading for today.
"Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, . . ." (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The writer here builds a challenging call to faithfulness. The whole chapter that precedes this text - chapter 11 - has been called the "hall of fame of the faithful". Indeed, we read there of many great heroes and heroines of faith. Abel and Noah; Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Jacob and Moses; Rahab and Gideon and Samson. We are dependent on those saints, challenged by them and the many others who follow after them.
Some saints are remembered by name; others more easily by their experiences. But they are remembered. If we were to forget them we would be the losers, for they are not merely figures in history. Their experiences in the face of challenges requiring courage and/or suffering may be just what gives us the courage to face our own challenges. And courage is often no more than just plain stick-to-it-ive-ness". The kind reflected in the words of contemplation this morning that mountaineers have learned: "Heroism, the mountaineers say, is endurance for one moment more."
But our saints aren't limited to only the ones who have gone before us. And while today we do honor those who have gone before us; we need to understand that to refer to all the saints refers to, among others, all of us. Indeed, we have saints in our midst. Bishop William Willimon defines a saint in this way: "A person is properly designated as a 'saint', not when that person succeeds in living a strenuously virtuous life, but whenever God commandeers that person's life, whenever that person embodies, at least to some degree, what God really wants for that person's life, here, now."
We are inspired by the saints in our midst as we see them walk faithfully in the face of the same challenges we face. And the surprising thing is that some times we discover that our living becomes as a saintly example for others.
It's all about standing on the shoulders of someone who brings God's realm to you. Riding on the shoulders of another can be important. Just think how difficult it was to see the parades when we were children, except when a parent or a big-hearted adult let us watch from his or her shoulders.
And as I live out my life I stand on the shoulder of my dad who genuinely loved life. I stand on the shoulders of Whittie Rogerson, Arsine Aharonian, and Bill Wyatt who showed me how to live while facing death. I stand on the shoulders of a Jane Keeler, Bob Fisher, Patty Watson, and Fran Drabowski who showed and show me how to live gracefully in the face of pain or daily struggle with disease; on the shoulders of Bob Gray who shows me openness, hospitality and gentle strength; on the shoulders of Linda Trageser who shows me thoroughness of preparation; on the shoulders of Esther Saito who feeds the hungry and practices Christian compassion; on the shoulders of Henry, Linda and Jesse who leads our songs of life and praise; on the shoulders of Vivian Otto, whose years of faith and helpfulness have inspired many; and on the shoulders of Carol Armstrong-Moore and Lisa Moreau and all the others who let the children "safely" come to them and won't let us "hinder them."
And if your name wasn't mentioned, it's not because you aren't a saint in my eyes. It is your shoulders on which I occasionally stand. For we, each and every one of us, the Body of Christ found in this church, are the saints of God.
So even as we keep on running our part of the race of faith, let us give thanks for those who ran ahead of us, those who run with us and those who have been and will be our shoulders to faithful service to God, our shoulders to glimpse God's new realm - let's give thanks to . . . the saints!