November 6, 2022 – All Saints Sunday
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Luke 6:20-31[1]
What is a
saint? In the New Revised Standard Version Bible, the one we use in this church
for worship and study, the word “saint,” or the plural “saints,” appears only
once in the Old Testament, in Psalm 31, verse 23: “Love the Lord, all you, his
saints. The Lord preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts
haughtily.”[2]
The word seems to refer to anyone who is faithful, who fears the Lord. As an aside, the “fear of the Lord” is often
misunderstood as the fear of getting in trouble, but it is better understood to
mean the fear of offending someone you love, or of disappointing someone who
trusts in you.
There are 63
references for the word “saints” in the New Testament, almost all of them in
Paul’s letters, and similarly, they seem to refer to anyone who is a faithful
believer, who has been baptized and lives as a Christian.
The term
“saint”[3]
has taken on special meaning as a person who has been recognized for having an
exceptional degree of holiness, sanctity, and virtue. In Orthodox and Catholic
teachings, all Christians in heaven are considered to be saints, but some are
considered to be worthy of higher honor, emulation, or veneration, with
official church recognition given to some saints through canonization.
In the Roman
Catholic Church, the title of “Saint” refers to a person who has been formally
canonized (officially recognized) by the Catholic Church, and is therefore
believed to be in Heaven. In Church tradition, a person who is seen as
exceptionally holy can be declared a saint by a formal process, called
canonization. Formal canonization is a lengthy process often taking many years,
even centuries.
The process
involves a detailed investigation of the candidate’s life, undertaken by
experts, bishops, and a special group called the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints in Rome. Titles are given along the way, such as “Venerable” and
“Blessed.” A minimum of two important miracles are required to be formally
declared a saint. These miracles must be posthumous, or attributed to the
person after their death. Finally, when all of this is done the Pope canonizes
the saint.
Some people
pray to certain saints who they believe will intercede with God on their
behalf. In other words, they pray to a saint who they ask to pray to God for
them. Someone going on a journey might pray for protection to Bona of Pisa, the
patron saint of travelers. Many Protestants consider prayers to the saints to
be unnecessary at best, and idolatry at worst, and believe that prayers should
be made to God alone.
In many Protestant
churches, such as ours, the word “saint” is used more generally to refer to
anyone who is a Christian. This is similar to the way Paul used the word in his
letters. In this sense, anyone who is within the Body of Christ (i.e., a practicing
Christian) is a “saint” because of their relationship with Jesus Christ.
In his book, Making Saints, author Kenneth Woodward
notes the following:
A saint is always someone through whom we catch a
glimpse of what God is like—and of what we are called to be. Only God “makes”
saints, of course. The church merely identifies from time to time a few of
these for emulation. The church then tells the story. But the author is the
Source of the grace by which saints live. And there we have it: A saint is
someone whose story God tells.[4]
However a saint
is defined, the person in question is usually someone who is recognized by
others as having lived a particularly faithful life in service to others. They
have a story worth telling, a life worthy of imitation, and they hold a special
place in our collective memory.
I want you to
think about some of the saints in your lives, and perhaps share a story during
fellowship time. I’ve got a saint for ya. At the risk of being a hard act to
follow, I want to tell you about my grandfather, Robert Inglis.
When World War
II broke out, my grandfather was pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church
in Oakland, California. A student named Masayoshi Wakai, who was born in
On February 19,
1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which
declared that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire
Pacific coast, including all of
Mas Wakai, along
with thousands of other Japanese people, many of whom were U.S. Citizens, was
taken to Tanforan Assembly Center, a former racetrack. It was there that Mr.
Wakai received his seminary diploma. Rev. Inglis asked Mr. Wakai and a
classmate, George Aki, about having an ordination service in camp. They wrote
their ordination papers in the horse stables far into the night while
disturbing their neighbors in the adjoining stalls. In the summer of 1942, all
of the Bay-Area Congregational churches sent their delegates to the camp, and
Masayoshi Wakai and George Aki were duly ordained into the Christian ministry.
When the
Japanese people were evacuated from the west coast, many of them lost their
homes, their businesses, and their possessions. My father told me that Plymouth
church, and my grandparents, safely stored the personal and household
possessions of many people who were detained during the war. Perhaps this
wasn’t a miracle in the traditional sense, but I’m sure it felt like one to the
people who retained at least some of what they would otherwise have lost.
So, there’s my
saint. Who is someone who has lived an exemplary life that has touched you
deeply? Whose life has had a profound impact on yours? Is there a saint that
led you closer to God?
In thanks for
all the saints who have gone before us, I pray that God will guide us to be
saints to others, to make a positive impact in the lives of our neighbors, and
live on in the memories of those whose lives we have touched.
May God bless
all the saints in this place. Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2]
Psalm 31:23.
[3]
Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint.
[4] Kenneth
L. Woodward, Making Saints: How the
Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn't, and Why (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), p. 13.
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