Who are the Saints?
Each year on October 31 we celebrate Halloween, or All Hallows Eve. At Halloween we celebrate our victory over all the things that go bump in the night. Children take calculated risks by going out into the darkness. The movement of the spirits on Halloween is followed on November 1 by a most wonderful day, All Saints Day, and we celebrate not the darkness, but the light of Christ and of Christ’s sisters and brothers.
Who are the Saints? Some people believe saints are people who have died but who were of great renown in their own times for their piety or purity or sacrifice or courage. Their stories might be collected in a dusty volume. Paul thought instead of the living, breathing, faithful people of Corinth as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” (1 Corinthians 1:2) They were people taking steps together – enthusiastically or haltingly, to follow Christ in their lives together.
God, by all God’s names, is a powerful magnet drawing us constantly and patiently. God is a magnet, like this one, drawing us whether we are receptive or resistant. Saints are people who feel the pull of God, and embrace it. Saints like Mark, Francis and Clare of Assisi, Benedict, Hildegard of Bingen help us find our ways out of confusion and pain, they encourage us and challenge us, and they celebrate with us.
Not all saints are well known. I’d like to tell you about Betty, a woman I met when I first came to the Episcopal Church. Betty welcomed me into the Church and into her home. She held a discussion group every week. When I met Betty, I couldn’t even say “Bible Study” or “Covenant Group” without feeling creepy. But Betty showed me something very different. She challenged our thoughts, created a safe place, encouraged us to take risks, and she welcomed all of us just as we were. She formed us into community of God. Even though she never attended the rock service at our church, she had them play at her funeral to make a joyful noise that matched the joy she had and shared.
Betty showed me how to live in the magnetic pull of God not only in Church, but everywhere. She raised so much money selling See’s Candy for the Stanford Hospital nurses organization that they created a scholarship in her name. Betty was a powerful magnet for my faith, drawing me deeper into spirituality, community, and joyful laughter.
Betty reflected some of the Beatitudes for me. She drew me toward God with her generosity and purity of heart. She drew me with her passion for righteousness, for justice. She drew me by sharing her deep longing and hope for the kingdom that is to come. She showed us all how to create that kingdom now.
Who has been your spiritual guide? Who resonates with the love of God, and draws you to find God in yourself and to see God in others? Who saw God’s love in you even when you doubted it? Who invites you to join the children of God, even when you have no idea who God is or if you believe in God or even want to believe in God? Who conveys the magnetic pull of God to you?
As wonderful as Betty and the saints in our lives have been, they, on their own, will never epitomize all the Beatitudes Jesus taught in the Sermon of the Mount. We need a community for that. All Saints Day is a community festival. We celebrate the end of isolation and give thanks for all those who have been with us or are with us now. As John wrote in the Book of Revelation, we are not alone and we are not in an exclusive club, there are many:
[A]nd there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9)
All of us, saints from ages past and saints of today and those of tomorrow, from every nation, are the Body of Christ. God draws us into this body, and we draw one another. We follow those who lead us; we support those among us, and build a new countercultural world of peace, mercy, and justice. This is the body of Christ, called together to be strengthened by God and to strengthen ourselves and all others. We are called to accept each other for our strengths and our sharp edges. We are called to share God’s constant pull to be one.
Join us in sharing and being the one Body at the altar in communion; invite others to join us as well. Blessed are we, who through Christ will inherit the earth with that blessed cloud of witnesses.