Revelation 7:9-17; November 5, 2023; All Saints Sunday
“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” – Revelation 7:9
One of the common misconceptions when we think about saints is that all saints must look the same on paper. As if there is a common and shared resume. A copied list of characteristics, attributes, and superlatives.
I’d wager that when we hear the word “saint,” most of us first, if not always, think of people whom we never met; historical people who we’ve been told lived a pure, holy, and distinctly Roman Catholic life. We think of Saint Thomas perhaps, or Saint Augustine maybe, or even, probably Mother Teresa. And while each of these and countless others led truly exceptional lives, they who carry this canonized title of “saint” aren’t yet the only saints who ever lived. Nor were they perfect.
Thomas for instance freely admitted to his limitations and imperfections. Augustine was known to struggle with several temptations, most notably lust. And Mother Teresa, well, she has a difficult track record in certain medical and charitable circles for her approaches to pain management, hypodermic needles, and financial oversight, or lack thereof.
And so, while each bore likenesses of God; none ever matched the holiness of God. For the only human who ever embodied God fully, and purely without sin, was who we believe to be Jesus Christ himself.
Saints then are not Jesus substitutes, nor secondary gods to whom we should pray. For saints are never perfect, as saints are yet sinners; and, as our text in Revelation reminds us, they can and do look different and come to us in a great multitude of ways. Heck, they can even be Presbyterian! For a saint is a saint irrespective of denomination, irrespective of adherence to a particular history, tradition, or dogma.
Some people then can be considered saints merely for their love and embrace of nature and their tender care of both wild and domestic animals. Others have been considered saints for their lives of humble simplicity and their encouragement unto others to forgo the pitfalls of excess luxury. And some can even be considered saints merely for their love of little old us; for their patience with us; for their forgiveness of us, for their examples, teachings, and memories that they left for us. Have you ever heard someone say, “boy, she was a saint for putting up with him?” Exactly. There are saints everywhere, in all places, in all lives, and in all times.
So, when we remember the saints then, today, we remember all persons who have journeyed with us throughout history. The history that came before us and the history that was experienced right there next to us; and even, the history that has yet to come well after all of us here have returned to dust.
This is what we talk about then when we say we remember the saints triumphant. People who throughout all time and place, have embodied a life and a proximity to God, and who have helped make our lives richer for both.
So today, my friends, we remember not perfect people. Nor just historical people. But real people, sinners even, who populated our real everyday life. People who sat with us. Who watched “I Love Lucy” with us. Who entertained us on soccer fields and lacrosse pitches, and who also dealt with us each and every day down in the ditches of our anger and our sadness. People, real people, who in their own way of living made us think and wonder, and who even made us assured enough to say, yes, God is here with me, for in this person who lived in my midst, I have felt both loved and uniquely blessed.
We remember then in particular the saints of Grace who died in the space between All Saints Day last year and this year. These names known to us who have brought us and others the fondness of memory. We remember:
J. Wallis Miller (12/10/2022)
Colin Still (2/8/2023)
Shelly Erwine (4/30/2023)
Jean Barto (9/5/23)
Carol Young (9/22/23)
Ann Miller (10/15/23)
Miriam Murdock (10/17/23)
We remember them, not pretending that they were holiness personified. But that in them, we felt the holiness of God wrapped around us.
We remember them today, just as we remember those other names, who are known privately to us and yet who are obscure to others, who throughout history have colored our own lives with joy and inspiration, and who have brought us closer to the loving grace and embrace of the Divine who promises to be with us even into the life and the world to come.
We remember then in silence all these people, our saints, who have made a measurable and positive difference in our lives.
Remember.
…
This past week a great friend of mine died. She was more like family than a friend. A grandmother unrelated by blood and genetics.
Her name was Sally.
A month ago, Sally texted me saying she had something to tell me. Something she needed to tell me in person. Fearing the worst, I drove to her place. And in her living room she told me she had end-stage lung cancer. That she had maybe 6-7 months left. We cried. We prayed. And then she made me promise that I would bring her favorite wine and cheese next month after I got back from Disney, so that I could show her pictures of our time and of Seth whom she adored.
That scheduled date with wine and cheese was this past Wednesday at 4:00pm. But on Tuesday, the day before around 1:00pm I received an email from an old friend saying that Sally had died. I looked over to the bottle on my table that I had bought for her and the day after, and I thought about the Brie at Trader Joe’s that I was going to buy for her on the day to come. And then I cried as I remembered how mundane and ridiculous my last words were to her. Something like, “I’ll frame a picture of Darth Vader for you.”
You see, I thought I had more time. More time to tell her just how much she meant to me. To my family. And just how thankful I was for her life that helped shape my own, as well as my faith. Our conversations on resurrection and the world to come shaping my own belief and hope structure, which made me in the end trust more in the words from Revelation that say, “the Lord will guide us to springs of the water of life, and that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes (v.17).”
I thought I had more time. But that is a common misconception when living amongst our saints. We think we have enough time left to one day tell them about everything they meant to us. But then the moment comes to pass and their body is buried, and the only conduit we have left is the prayer and hope that they are looking down from Heaven with the saints triumphant who have all been re-membered together.
See that’s the beauty of memory as my son alluded to last night. “That when we remember those who we have lost, we can bring them back and see them again.” Yes, he really told me that…
But my friends, on this All Saints’ Sunday, on this Remembrance Day, we not only celebrate and revisit all those who have lived and died, but also all those who are yet alive. Who are still in our presence. Saints who have and are still making impressionable differences in each of our lives.
I encourage you then, no longer in silence, but in word and action, to find someone after the service, either here or somewhere else, who has been a saint to you, who has been good to you though imperfect all the same, and to thank them, while you still have time.
To show them your appreciation and your love for everything they have meant to you. And for all the ways they have helped make the grace of Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14) both known and real to you.
Amen
