Superhero's and Saints

Superhero’s and Saints

To help us celebrate All Saints Day (even though we are a few days late) some of the children have dressed up as their favourite saints. (Ask children to come to the front so that the grown ups can see their fantastic costumes). What saints have they come as?

When I was thinking about what to say today it came to me that in a way the saints are actually quite similar to Superhero’s. I’m sure that when they were younger lots of the grown-ups here had a favourite Superhero, maybe that they read about in a comic or watched on TV or at the cinema.

 Superhero’s can usually do some pretty amazing things, some can fly, or jump over huge walls, or see through solid objects, or are incredibly strong. But what they all have in common is that they have these amazing powers so that they can protect people from bad things and keep everybody safe.

Can you think of any Superhero’s? Maybe Batman, Spiderman, Superman or even Wonder-Woman? It might actually be somebody completely different altogether! What is it that you like or admire about them? Saturday morning TV used to be great fun watching the good guys always winning over the bad guys.

 A hero is someone we can look up to and admire because they have done something really good and special. And we admire them because we would like to be like them in some way. We all have people who we look up to and admire. Sometimes it might be a pop star or a favourite footballer or even a teacher at school.

We remember today those people who in all the history of the church have sometimes done some really amazing things, and these are the Saints. Sometimes they were put in prison or even tortured for what they believed. A lot of them have stories of miracles that happened because of their faith in God. And these Saints are a bit like the Superhero’s of the church! They are often looked up to and admired because they are seen to be especially holy and close to God.

But the interesting thing about All Saints Day is that is a day for ALL the saints and not just the well-known ones like St George. Even those saints who have been long forgotten or who maybe people don’t think are as important as the more famous ones are remembered today. It’s easy to remember the ones that we all know, but they all have something which we can learn from and help us in our journey with God.

The church also teaches that ALL Christians are saints in some way. That’s you and me, from the very youngest to the oldest! Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t very often feel like a saint, and those who know me best would say that I don’t always act like a saint.

But I do try my best even if I don’t always manage it. And that’s all any of us can do really, try our best to follow the example of the Saints who have lived and died before us. Probably most of us won’t make it to being a Superhero saint, but we are all part of the same family of God and we are all loved and cared for in just the same way as they are.

So in that sense today is a day for all of us too, as we join together with our brother and sister saints and remember that we all play a part in the family of God. So let us go out from here today with a real sense of our calling as saints in the church of God.

AMEN