Ephesians 1. 11 – end; Luke 6. 20 – 31
I learnt recently that daily obituaries only started in the paper I read in the late 1980s. I’m glad they did: you learn some remarkable things about some remarkable people. Quite often the worlds they inhabit are completely alien to me, but even then there will be some detail – perhaps a flaw they had or a challenge they faced – which makes them a little more human. And that way they can be an inspiration rather than being so amazing they make you want to give up.
All Saints is the season for Christian obituaries. Many saints are made up. Lots of them are very much embellished. And some are hilarious: there really was a ‘St Dodo’. Some of what they did was quite ridiculous: St Simon the Stylite sat on top of a pillar for years. But many of the saints in the calendar are attractive and inspirational, and worth a careful look.
This week, for instance, the church remembered John of Beverley. On October 25th relics of John of Beverley were placed in a shrine at the High Altar, following his canonisation, his recognition as being a saint, in 1037. It was John’s banner which was carried into battle by English Kings, not least Henry V at Agincourt on that day. Henry came to Beverley later to give thanks. It’s just a shame Shakespeare excluded him and went for the Crispins instead. Perhaps they scanned better.
It was deeply humbling to me to lead worship day by day and week by week close to the place where John, the holy Bishop of Hexham and York, rested still. It was odd that he became associated with battle, because his life was all about peace: he was remembered because of his compassion, because he served his communities, because he touched people with the love and forgiveness and healing of the Jesus whom he loved to serve. He was loved by his clergy – not always easy when you are a bishop – and especially by the Venerable Bede, whom he ordained deacon and priest. His was, and is, a life which attracts. His is a life to emulate. The church he founded in 700 AD continues today. That’s a legacy and a half.
There were other saints this week: October 28 was the feast day of the apostles St Simon and St Jude. I like Jude. You ask Jude for help if you are desperate (because his name was shared with Judas the betrayer). If your prayer is answered you are meant to say a public thank you – you’ll find such messages in some newspapers still. And today we celebrate All Saints’ Day – in anticipation of November 1st . At All Saints – and as All Saints – we give thanks for the Christians who lit up their generations with faith, and passed that faith on to us. Whether we know much or little about them, we know it was their following Christ which laid the deep foundations of our believing today.
Today we ask how the church of this generation might attract, how it might grow, how it might serve and challenge in such a way that people will know the Kingdom of God has come near, in a way which will enable people to come to their own faith. Wouldn’t it be good if there were a few saints around, who could just do their saint thing and be so fabulous that the people of Hampstead could not help but flock through the doors?
And, yes, you are already here. No, you don’t feel very saintly, do you? Reflect for a bit on the sayings of Jesus in Luke 6 – what in Matthew 5 we call the Beatitudes. Well, this is about being poor, hungry, tearful, excluded, reviled, defamed. This is about loving enemies, doing good to haters, blessing the bullies, giving and giving and giving. It is no recipe for success in the world as we know it. But it is the way of a saint in the kingdom of God. The saints who are a real inspiration to me are those who fought and battled and thought they failed. That seems to be the way.
So how do you recognise the saints who will get this done? In art you would look for the ones with the golden dinner plate behind their head. By definition, they are the dead ones. As they join in the worship of the company of heaven they can be of help to us in prayer and encouragement – they are the cloud of witnesses – but they are not much practical use in making the tea, cleaning the building, organising children’s work, sleeping overnight at the winter shelter or taking food to the foodbank. We need the living for that.
Those in Christ now are the saints. We don’t need the halo of the dead. Our Ephesians reading states that if we are in Christ we are the holy ones already. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (1. 3), we have been chosen before the foundation of the world (1. 4), we have redemption (1. 7), the mystery of God’s will has been made known to us (1. 9), we have obtained an inheritance (1. 11), we have been given the Holy Spirit (1.13). All this is ours now. It is our present reality, even as we live mixed up with all the rest and await its full revelation at the end of time. Our life as a saint is about discovering what we already have.
This means that what happens to us now is not about another mile ticked off on a pilgrimage which will only make sense when we achieve our ultimate goal. What happens to us now is part of the revelation of our eternal present. As we look for Christ’s coming in glory, so we will meet with Christ in the face of our neighbour, the stranger, the needy, our in laws, our work colleagues, and we will be Christ to them.
How will we manifest the Kingdom of God so that people will see and encounter and come and join? How will we be the church in the world for the God of mission? By realising what we are, not measuring ourselves against the kind of impossible example which the great saints have been edited to be. Do you get it? Here, and now, with the impossibilities of the demands of God, we have everything we need to be the church God wants for the people who need to hear.
The way of the saint is not easy. Read those saintly obituaries again and see how many of them felt they had failed, didn’t think they had got close. Perhaps the definition of a saint is someone who doesn’t think they are one. But someone else will spot what you are doing and who you are, and encourage you. You will do the same of them. You’ll realise that it’s not about skilled techniques and fail safe programmes and tricks. It’s about telling others that here are the words of life, here is the bread of heaven, and that following God is the only thing you can do. It’s about doing that in action as well as word. It’s about becoming who you are. And changing the world. Amen