Seeing the Saints Amongst Us!

Sermon 3rd November 2013

All Saints

 

Luke 6:20-31

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hands up anyone who thinks that they are a saint! No?

Hands up anyone who thinks that the person sitting next to them is a saint!

I suppose if we were to ask ourselves the question “What is a saint?” then we might get a variety of answers depending on our own experience or point of view. Ask someone who lives along the coast in Southampton and they will probably tell you that “The Saints” are their local football team! The Roman Catholic Church has some pretty rigorous standards by which it recognizes a person’s sainthood, yet it seems to me that our reading today from Luke’s gospel gives us a pretty good idea of what makes a saint!

 In Luke’s version of The Beatitudes we read of such things as “Blessed are the poor”, “Blessed are the hungry”, and “Blessed are those who weep”…….even “Blessed are you when they exclude you”. So much that chimes with what has become the daily experience of many in our own communities, yet which on the face of it seems to be complete nonsense! Poverty, hunger, mourning, hatred, exclusion,  – these things certainly don’t seem like blessings!

But Jesus is convinced that they are. And most shocking of all, Jesus says that these are the sorts of people to whom the Kingdom of God is entrusted.

 It goes on to tell us “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you”. I guess some of us will find it easier, and even perhaps temporarily more satisfying to hate those who hate us, ignore those who are different from us and give as good as we get when someone starts hurling abuse at us! Yet we are called to do the exact opposite and to demonstrate what it is to be a part of the Kingdom of God!

 It’s a pretty safe bet I reckon that most saints tend not to go around with lofty ambitions of one day achieving sainthood and maybe getting their own special day named after them. After all if they did then they would probably be going against the basic job description! When we read about the lives of the saints very often they are simply ordinary people who find themselves in some very extraordinary circumstances! We tend sometimes to think of the saints as a sort of breed apart……a kind of “Super-Christian”, much to be admired and looked up to, but there’s no way that any of us can ever hope to be part of such company!

Here in this church of course we remember St George, and there are those here who will have a particular place in their heart for St Anne and St Mark. I’m sure that most people here could come up with the names of any number of saints. Many of the churches in our own deanery are named after, or dedicated to saints.

Just up the road we have St Mary’s. A little further afield there is St Luke’s, St Bart’s, St Peter’s, St Michael’s, even St Wulfran’s in Ovingdean. Some of the saints may seem at times to be so well known that they almost have a kind of celebrity status surrounding them. Others remain relatively obscure and unknown, except by a few!

The witness of many of these women and men – such as St Francis of Assisi, St Theresa of Avila or St Augustine of Hippo – are well known. Many of their writings have become popular, their deeds have inspired us to name hospitals and schools and churches after them, and their service to the Church has been taught over many generations. Yet, for others – such as St Simon, St Jude or indeed, St Wulfran– little is known beyond their names.

But regardless of how much or how little we know about these faithful witnesses, one thing is certain: Their life and ministry has richly blessed and influenced the church. And as we gather to celebrate the Feast of All Saints, we are called to give thanks to God for the blessings that the saints have given the church, as well as the many blessings God has given us.

When we look around this church we see and feel the dedication, the love, the prayers, the lives of thousands of very ordinary people who have lived out what it is to be a part of the Kingdom in this place and in this community. The Kingdom of God is built of these people here in Kemptown over the generations, often quietly getting on with what it means to be the Body of Christ to those who come. These are our saints, often unnamed, who stand alongside the roll call of all the official more well-known saints. People whose lives and witness have helped shape this church and this community!

I do speak often about both inclusion and community, and it seems to me that All Saints Day is a great example of both. As people who are set apart for God we are all called to one day be a part of that great community of saints worshipping our Lord………not standing on the outside looking in, but to be right there taking our place before him.

And so we gather today, not just as a relatively small group of people in our own little corner of Brighton. We gather as part of a wider community. A community which goes beyond the walls of this building, beyond the invisible parish boundaries, beyond Brighton. A community which goes beyond what we experience in this life and joins us with all who have gone before us and who will come after us. On this All Saints Day we are all called to be a part of the great Communion of Saints which we affirm whenever we recite the Apostle’s Creed!

As Fr Andrew often tells us, look around at the people next to you, or in front and behind you………go on, take a good look! Because they are the saints you will be sharing the Kingdom with, and YOU are the saint they will be sharing the Kingdom with.

 

AMEN