After Dad’s funeral and the church lunch, Dad’s younger brother David washed Mom’s dusty wine glasses and suggested we have a round of toasting to honor my father.  So as the grandchildren played in the front yard, we pulled dining room chairs into mom’s living room and each of us shared a few reflections on dad’s life. I heard stories I had never heard from his five living siblings.  Dad’s sisters shared how dad, the oldest child, joined the army at age 18 to get away from their hellish childhood home. Ruth shared how dad sent money home from Korea for his siblings, well not exactly home.  Not trusting his father and stepmother to spend the money as he intended, dad sent his money to a beloved children’s Sunday School teacher, who then purchased new dresses each Christmas and Easter, so they had something nice to wear to church.  Dad had never told this story to my mom.  Dad always said “be good” instead of “I love you” whenever we parted. The old sergeant could have a scary temper and I clashed with him as a teenager, but Dad broke the cycle of abuse. The longer I live the more I see God’s grace in my father and how lucky I was to call him dad.     

Today, we come to remember all the saints,  we come to lament for God is in our tears as fully as our alleluias.  We come to remember all the people who have helped us see Christ a little better in this world. Who shone the light of Christ along your path? 

At times we may struggle to see our moms, dads, children, or aunts as saints, thinking they did not measure up to that title. You may have trouble imagining those sitting around as saints. Maybe we have the notion of saints all wrong?  Some think of sainthood as some sort of heroic spiritual achievement, but that is not how the Bible uses the word saints. 

The Common English Bible translates saints as “holy ones”.  All Holy Ones Sunday does not dance off the tongue does it? But the idea of Holiness is at the root of saints.  God’s holiness is with us, in us: our baptismal liturgy reminds us “we are incorporated in God’s mighty acts of salvation”. Paul writes “To the church of God that is on Acklen, together with all the saints throughout Nashville: Grace to you and peace from God.”  God’s grace, peace, holiness, love, joy, gentleness and self-control flows into us as we open and offer ourselves to God’s grace, path, and will.

 The word saints ( holy ones or “haigos”) is a common designation in the New Testament Greek. “Saints” shows up 63 times.  Every reference is the plural except one, Philippians 2:21 “Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The siblings who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you”.  “Saints” is a community plural term. The Bible never names a single individual saint, there is no Saint Mary, Saint Peter or Saint Paul. No one moved about with a halo on their head.  “Saint” Peter and the other saints blew it just like we do.    \The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible declares “Unlike later usage, “Saints” does not designate a special class of God’s people… (W)ithin the Christian tradition, there has sometimes developed both an elitism and a privatism in the use of terms like saint and holiness. The New Testament supports neither of these directions. … In other words, in the NT, all the believers are saints.” 

For the Apostle Paul our individual efforts are unimpressive; everything revolves around God’s grace. Paul writes to dear church friends “To the church of God that is at Corinth together with all the saints throughout the area, Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul calls out in a litany of names and images for God: “God, Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies: the God of all comfort”, rehearsing in prayer who God is in.  I love that image: the God of All Comfort!  The God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trouble.” Where does our comfort come from? Well, comfort comes from our God of All Comfort!  Sometimes we end our prayers right there, “God help me, comfort me and  bless me.”  But Paul understands that we are part of God’s Body and serving in the world, so the sentence continues: “The God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort other people who are in every kind of trouble. We offer the same comfort we ourselves have received from God.” Paul then talks about the beauty of sharing our suffering together. There is deep comfort in that as well. Our comfort comes from God often through God’s people, the saints. As comforted  people, we offer comfort. Saved from trouble, we help troubled people. As forgiven people, we forgive.  As reconciled people, we reconcile.  As people enjoying justice, we work for justice. Saints manifest God’s holiness by passing along God’s grace, comfort, help mercy, forgiveness, and justice. We are saints together, we need each other, we comfort each other,  forgive each other, and cheer each other on: giving ourselves to God by giving ourselves to each other. 

So who are those saints who have comforted you, forgiven you, helped you in your troubles, or modeled a life of hope, justice and love? Recall today, as you light candles, kneel at the altar, sing and pray, those holy ones who helped you see Christ a little clearer: maybe parents, authors, teachers, preachers, partners, family, friends, creators, musicians… pause and give thanks for their light. 

Remember the Light they offered, but do not try to keep that light for yourself. Somehow saints only appear in the community as they pass grace along. Remember the light that the saints have shone on your path and resolve to honor that light by sending light into the world. Oh you beloved saints of God, be gracious in remembering the saints and be gracious with yourself as you live as holy ones in this world. And may we all leave a legacy of grace behind us. amen