Year A
All Saints Sunday 2011
Those of you who have been here on Easter Sunday know that Charles begins his sermon with, “I love this day!” That’s how I feel about today—All Saints. I love All Saints. I’m looking out seeing that many of you have bewildered expressions—love All Saints? Not necessarily the word many would choose to associate with All Saints—appreciates maybe, but not love. But no, love it is for me.
I fell in love with All Saints Sunday 16 years ago and not because it was the day my eldest was baptized; although that was certainly the catalyst. No, I fell in love with it because I embraced it; I reflected on it, and I allowed it to become a part of my life. I do have to admit to you, however, that it was not love at first sight. No, like love often is, the relationship began and developed full of fear and trembling, misunderstandings, and complete panic.
On that beautiful warm autumn day in Augusta Ga, we sat in St. Paul’s church—a historic 18th century church. I held my first born in my arms and listened to our rector talk about the saints, the community, and our responsibility as parents and godparents. I should be honest and tell you that perhaps I didn’t hear it all clearly and correctly—I was a little sidetracked thinking about at what point to take off her bonnet etc. But I distinctly remember this panic welling up inside of me as I heard him talking about all the saints and our responsibilities to produce more saints; the panic continued to mount as we stood and presented Sarah Katherine to be baptized. We made our promises, and for the first time the magnitude of what we were saying hit me like a ton of bricks. Two months before as we were leaving the hospital Chris and I were looking over our shoulders shocked that they were actually letting us walk out with this baby—that was scary enough, but now here we were promising what I thought was to turn her into a saint. Turn her into a saint? I just wanted her to sleep through the night, potty train and go to college. Tears welled in my eyes as she was baptized and I was filled with a mix of emotion—fear, joy and connectedness, and peace; the journey had begun.
All Saints is one of the 7 Principle feast days of the church and it is also one of the five occasions set aside for baptisms. But what exactly is it? What is a saint? Are saints the people that have special days of remembrance; are saints the people whose names we have before us? And doesn’t it seem a bit odd—a juxtaposition—to remember those who have died on the same day we recognize the newly baptized (or renew our baptismal vows).
There’s a good reason it’s confusing. The word “saint” has meant different things over the centuries. For the first 300 years or so of Christianity, saints were those killed for Christ, martyrs. When Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire, that changed a bit, and saints became those who the church canonized—famous people who had chapels built in their honor and who it was believed became intercessors for us with God. The Reformation came and so too our understanding of saints changed. The Reformers, for a variety of reasons, didn’t like the idea of praying to saints, so saints became our loved ones who had died before us, our family and friends who have died and are now with God. That is the history that the church has given the definition of saints.
The Biblical definition of saints expands even further the definition. In Greek the word is agios and it is always plural and it translates into “God’s holy ones.” We the people gathered here are God’s holy ones—we are the saints. And that is the reason we connect All Saints day with baptism—on this day, we are reminded that in baptism we have died to the old self and are reborn with Christ into a new self and that self is a holy person—a saint. John Westeroff summarizes Baptism by saying, “in Baptism we are incorporated into Christ’s body, infused with Christ’s character, and empowered to be Christ’s reconciling presence in the world.” Empowered to be, but we have to be—to intentionally and deliberately be—to live into our baptism in whatever way we are called to do so. In our reading from the first letter of John we are reminded that we are God’s children, part of God’s holy family. It tells us we don’t know what we will be, but it assures us that we will be in Christ—we will be a holy people.
Baptism is the beginning, and our Christian life is a journey. It is a journey that we don’t take alone but rather in community. We are continually living into our baptism—living into our holiness. To be a saint is not to be perfect, but to be a saint is to be a holy person—a person who strives to live a faithful life and through whom the love of and the light of God shines no matter what it is you are doing.
Every year right after Christmas our family goes to the beach. Again last year we went, and the first morning we were there, Christopher and I went to the PIggly Wiggly. Our favorite cashier, Cathy, waited on us. I don’t remember the details, but somehow she asked about our holidays and I told her about the recent death of Chris’ grandfather. It was fresh and raw and I think she sensed that. Cathy stopped what she was doing and although there was a long line behind us, she stepped around and gave me a big hug and said, “You are all in my prayers.” Every time we have seen her since, she asks how we all are. Cathy is one of many saints among us whose lives inspire us and challenge us to be better people.
We don’t have any baptisms today, but we are going to renew our baptismal vows. Renewing vows reminds us that we are continually living into our baptism that being a Christian takes time and intention. And here’s some good news—we respond “I will with God’s help.” We are not alone, we are not perfect. We recognize that and we admit that calling on God to be with us and to help. I suspect that none of the people who were canonized as Saints when they were little said to themselves, “When I grow up I want to be a Saint.” At least not in the way they became saints; no I suspect that instead they lived their lives as faithfully as they could in all they did.
Do you see the connection between honoring the dead and baptism? All Saints reminds us of what we can be at our best. By remembering our loved ones, we remember how they lived their lives. We reflect upon the things they did that made them holy. The reality is that our loved ones were not perfect, the saints on the calendar of saints were not perfect, but in remembering them today we are reminded that God uses all of us the combination of ourselves—saints and sinners. We can all be vessels of God’s grace. As we renew our baptismal covenant, we are reminded who we are, what we believe, and what we can become. The connection reminds us that we are part of a fellowship that extends from the past into the present and long into the future. It reminds us that we are part of the great body of Christ. The connection recognizes the continuum, the process.
I invite you as we renew our baptismal covenant to really think about what you are promising to do, to commit or recommit yourself to a new way of life. Think about what you have done in the past to live into the covenant and what will you do today, tomorrow and in the days to come to be a saint—to be a person through whom the love of God shines. I invite you to bring yourselves, holy (saintly) living sacrifices to God and be nourished to be sent into the world to do the work we have each been given to do loving and serving as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.
