All Saints Sunday 2008                                                                      Past, Present & Future                                                                    Grace   November 2, 2008

How many Samaritans does it take to change a light bulb?  PAUSE – One, if he’s GOOD!  [[Get it?  Good Samaritan?]]

On this Sunday, this very date, five years ago, I showed up to be your rent-a-priest for three months.  I want to say it’s been a long three months but a short five years.  Today we celebrate the festival of All Saint’s Day.  Remembering.  That’s what All Saints Day is all about.  All Saints Day is a day in which we remember the saints that have gone before us, and the ones living in our midst.  We remember saints that may be well known as well as those not so well known and those known only to God.  Together we are all the communion of saints.  The Greek word for saint is hagios, which means holy. The Latin is sanctus from which we derive the word saint.  The word holy literally means to “be set apart”, some paraphrase this as “special.”  And that is us.  We are special to God and set apart for His purposes.

In the Old Testament, something became holy when it came in contact with holy things.  An example of this is in Exodus 29:37 where it says: “For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it.  Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy.”  Contact with holy things was limited solely to the priests.  This created a separation and hierarchy among the priests and the Jewish people.

For us, there is no longer this hierarchy or separation.  Many lay folk, and sometimes clergy, act as if clergy are set above but that’s not true.  We are set apart for God’s purposes, as clergy, but we are not set above.  Jesus changed all that.  We all come into contact with holiness, not just the clergy, all the time through our contact with God.  We are each made holy by God through faith in His Son Jesus.  Our Holy God then makes contact with us through the written Word of God, the waters of forgiveness in Baptism, the body and blood of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion and the fellowship we have in the Body of Christ.  Through these points of contact with God, we are made and continue to be saints.

Saints are not just those people who have served God well and get a title for doing so.  Saints are not just the martyrs who have died for what they believe.  To be a saint is really a gift from God.  It is not something we earn or even deserve yet through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we were given grace, so that, in baptism, our old selves die to sin and we are raised to new life.  We are no longer seen as a sinner in God’s eyes, we are seen as a saint. Not because we live a good life or do useful things or help others, but because we are in contact with the Holy God through His Son.  We are saints because of God’s mercy and grace.  And then we live our life in the light of that reality and truth.

The Good Samaritan, which I somewhat humorously referred to earlier, is an example Jesus uses to show us how we should live.  A vignette of how we should follow the example of loving neighbor as self which we looked at last week. So let me ask you – who was an example to you of living that kind of life of which Jesus speaks.  Who were the saints in your life who pointed you toward Jesus?  Look and think beyond mom and dad if that’s who you think of first because you probably think of them often.

I have many.  I have told you about a few in the past but I want to remember a few with you and hope that you will take some time today to think about them and thank God for them.

There’s Tom Andrews.  Tom was a Senior when I was a freshman in high school.  He went away to Bridgewater College but came back at the end of his first year due to an illness.  When he did, he took over the leadership of the Young Life club at Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria.  Young Life is a non-denominational outreach ministry to high school students founded in order to share the Gospel of Jesus with that age group.  Tom was a person who week after week shared from the Scriptures at YL club meetings and pointed to Jesus both in his words and his life.  He was a good example to me of what it was to be a servant leader.

Next, I remember Arnie Jacobs, who was a YL leader in Indianapolis and who was the speaker at a YL weekend in the spring of my sophomore year of HS.  Arnie spoke of Jesus and sin and forgiveness in such a way that I got it.  I understood it.  I had to gone to church as a child and been confirmed but I really didn’t get it.  Not until I heard Arnie tell the story of sin and redemption.  THEN I got it.  And I am grateful to Arnie for his gift to me.  One year, after telling this to one of my congregations, I wrote a letter to Arnie to tell him what he had done for me and what I was doing now as a priest.  I encourage you to do the same with someone who has made a difference in your life regarding Jesus.

There are many others in my life.  Bruce Scott and John Rodgers, who I have talked about in previous years.  There’s Dorothy Jessup, a deacon I worked on staff with in one parish in PA. And one I have never named before but I will today is my wife Dale.  She probably doesn’t know what an example of Jesus she has been in my life but she has been and still is. 

Who has it been in your life?  Remember them today and thank God for them when we get to the prayers whether silently or aloud.  And then live what you believe so that you may be that person to and for others.  Amen