Volume 11 Week 45 November
6, 2005
All Saints
Alert!
Wonder Of
Wonders, God Calls Us Saints And That Is What We Are!
The boss's secretary was told to have business cards printed for herself, and as she set about the task became confused about her actual title. Some called her, "Office Manager," some called here "Executive Assistant," and a few other expressions were thrown in also.
She went and asked the boss what title she should use. the boss responded, "Any title that makes you feel good about your position and describes best what you do." On her cards she had printed, "Supreme Commander and Ruler of Everything"!
That's
a pretty lofty title, and one that would be hard to live up to. (If you know what
On November first we celebrate All Saints Day. In Roman Catholic tradition, the title of "Saint" is reserved for those who meet special criteria and after painstaking research and a number of years, the title is conferred by the Pope. The Bible, however, uses the lofty title much more freely, much like the grace that makes us the saints of God. In fact exactly like the grace that makes us saints of God.
One of St. Paul's (there it is again!) favorite expressions for believers is "saints." He often addresses his letters to "the saints" in the city or region to whom he writes. If he wrote a letter to St. Louis (!) Christians, we'd be called "the saints in the St."!
And that's who we are!
Saint Is Who We Are!
It's a remarkable concept to wrap your faith around, isn't it? God calls me a saint. A saint means literally that we are "holy ones." That's what makes the idea so difficult to fathom. God is holy? Easy to grasp. Obvious. I know God. I've seen His work. Nothing is more clear and true in the universe than that fact that God is holy, pure, perfect in every way.
Me? That takes some convincing. It would take something truly dramatic and earthshaking to get that message firmly planted in my mind, that God considers me holy and pure and presentable to Him in every way, ready to enter His presence at any moment, in no need of further preparation. A saint.
So God sent His Son. And in the most dramatic, earthshaking series of events the planet has ever witnessed, the holy One, the Son of God, was nailed to a tree, laid in a tomb, and then burst the bonds of death, walked with us and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. You are the saints of God." Is that enough to convince you? Jesus came, died, rose and comes to you now for that one simple reason, so that you may know complete forgiveness, that you are made clean and holy, a saint!
And so we don't forget, we gather to remind each other every week. The world, our super-critical bosses, our fussy neighbors, the cosmetic commercials and plastic surgeons, the health clubs and countless other messengers are glad to point out our failures and faults.
God the Holy Spirit dwells in us by faith and says, "You are a child of God. You're a saint."
The devil creeps in and takes our failures and sins, the things we promised never to do again to point out what filthy, rotten sinners we are who should know better but disappoint God over and over again.
Jesus, the Lord of Lord and King of Kings, places his wounded hands on us and says, "You are a child of God. You're a saint."
Even other Christians will attack us a try to grind us down by dwelling on our inadequacies and failures, a tragic as that is.
And our Father in heaven, who sees so clearly that the price has been paid, that our sins have all been forgiven, and who has already dressed us in the pure and clean garment of salvation says, "You are my child. You're a saint."
He means it, too.
Saint Is What we Do!
I think Fred Astaire said, "There's a dancer inside of everyone, just trying to get out." Or if he didn't say that, he should have anyway.
How's your dancing? Some people have a natural rhythm and grace of movement, like John Travolta or Ginger Rogers, so that when they just walk around, it looks like a dance. Others of us need a few more lessons. Children are just natural dancers. It's too bad we lose that as we grow older.
As saints, the holy ones of God, we're learning the steps. Day by day, season by season, as we grow in the word and the sacraments, as we learn to worship and pray and serve and bless, we're learning the dance of the saints.
Sometimes we don't quite get the rhythm and the beat of a saint, but we're dancing. Like knowing where to put your feet, but looking down and seeing them planted on your partner's toes, we struggle along, stumbling and tripping across the floor, but we're dancing the dance of the saints.
One of the great teachings of the Reformation is that we're all saints and sinners at the same time. We're saints: we dance the dance of the walk in the Spirit. We're sinners: every one of us still learning the steps as we go.
Some days we feel like Fred and Ginger. Some days we can't even seem to hear the music. But we keep dancing, walking by the Spirit. And God finds great joy in the dance.
And each week we shuffle in to the house of the Lord, sinner and saint, klutz and ballerina, we confess our sins, and we receive anew the holiness of Christ himself. And we do it usually very early in the service, because the klutz in us is our old nature. We who are in Christ have put on the new, the holiness of God, and the dance begins!
We sing praise to God, who's not a far off distant stranger, but our Father who's embrace we have just experienced anew. We pray, and he hears us, for we have access into his holy throne room, for we ourselves have been made holy. We listen, and God speaks, and it's a voice we know and love. And we feast at His table, the honored guests, the holy ones, the saints who gather at the altar here but will gather soon with all in glory around his holiness.
There's really only one message in the Bible: "I will be your God, and you will be my people. Dance!"
Can you hear the music?