Bible Readings
Revelation 7:9-17
After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd – no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They called out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures. Then they threw themselves face downwards in front of the throne and worshipped God, saying, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honour, power, and might belong to our God for ever and ever! Amen!”
One of the elders asked me, “Who are these people dressed in white robes, and where do they come from?”
“I don’t know, sir. You do,” I answered.
He said to me, “These are the people who have come safely through the terrible persecution. They have washed their robes and made them white with the blood of the Lamb. That is why they stand before God’s throne and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will protect them with his presence. Never again will they hunger or thirst; neither sun nor any scorching heat will burn them, because the Lamb, who is in eth centre of the throne, will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Matthew 5: 1-12
Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them: Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them! Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised! Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully! Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them! Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God! Happy are those that work for peace; God will call them his children! Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted.”
Sermon ‘Being Saints’
Being a saint seems to mean different things to different people.
I’ve collected a grab bag of ideas from various sources that show, I think, this diversity.
First I want to read an article our own Martin Stewart wrote for local religious clog Candour blog written 10 years ago. It has interesting things to say about saints that I think are still worth pondering.
He writes;
“It’s All Saints this week for those who observe such things.
I recognise that we’ve become more divided these days around liturgical rhythms – some are more traditional some are less traditional. As a young person I have no recollection of All Saints being observed at all.
I do like the opportunity All Saints gives us to be reminded of a few things…
1. We are part of a long story of the saints marching – nothing we do in church is separated from what has gone before us and what will yet be in Christ. We are saved from thinking it is all about us!
- We are not at the centre of the universe – we are part of God’s very wide engagement with life, the universe, and everything. We are saved from thinking that the world revolves around us!
- In the stories of those before us are many treasures – we are ‘storied’ before our story begins, as are those who follow on from us.
In acknowledging All Saints, we have the opportunity to remember those who shaped our particular church communities – the pioneers and the many workers,
along with the people of the land where our church community began,
along with the people who brought the gospel to this part of the world,
along with the people who held the light in little or big ways through the ages,
along with those first apostles who believed,
along with the ones who looked for and longed for the Christ,
along with those who held the promises made to Abraham and Sarah,
along with those who first found their voices and heard God’s voice giving form to their existence.
The package is rather large isn’t it!”
Secondly I want to refer to the push by the Roman Catholic church in Aotearoa New Zealand to get Suzanne Aubert, founder of the Sisters of Compassion, declared a saint.
Mother Suzanne Aubert has been declared ‘venerable’ but they are waiting for the two miracles and other checks that the Church requires before beatification. If successful she would become our first local saint (although we are able to share a little in the recently beatified Australian saint Mary McKillop, as she set up schools in Akaroa, Arrowtown and Port Chalmers.)
Suzanne Aubert was born in France in 1835. She joined a group of missionaries bound for New Zealand in 1860. She worked with Māori, and cared for the sick in Auckland and Hawkes Bay before moving to Jerusalem, on the Whanganui River where she founded the Sisters of Compassion movement in 1892. Concerned with the many social problems in Wellington she left Jerusalem in 1898, accompanied by three other sisters. In Wellington they established a Home for people with incurable illness; a soup kitchen and a crèche. Suzanne continued this work until her death in 1926.
The movement she started – the Sisters of Compassion, continues to this day. Suzanne would another saint in the long line of special people set aside by the Catholic church. As Protestants we have often considered saints as idolatry and a dilution of our belief we are directly followers of Jesus. The pattern of some Catholics praying to various saints instead of God has been a strong part of this dissent. But over time many have seen the value of having people worthy of looking up to and learning from.
(It helps that last century the Catholic church did a cull of saints that they had not historical basis for.)
Current policy in the Roman Catholic church seems to be to appoint new saints to represent areas of the church with none. For example, a modern teenager has recently been beautified. While we may question the more magical aspects of this process, many in the church now feel seen. Former Pope John Paul II is another example – a priest trained during Poland’s Nazi occupation and remaining there as a church leader during the Cold War era, who resonates with people who remember these times.
While we Presbyterians don’t do saints like the Roman Catholic church something similar is happening with the Church of Scotland’s push for recognition of Jane Haining.
According to Wikipedia “Jane was born on a farm in Dumfriesshire, Scotland in 1897 and volunteered for service as a missionary in 1932, becoming matron of the girls’ home at the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, Hungary. Haining looked after 50 of the school’s 400 pupils (most of whom were Jewish), and quickly became fluent in Hungarian. When the Second World War broke out she was ordered to return to Scotland but refused, determined to remain with her girls. After the German occupation of Hungary she was arrested and died at Auschwitz on 17 July 1944.”
As people that lived and fought during the various struggles of the 20th century die off, we need to acknowledge more of these stories of bravery, whether it led to martyrdom or life-long commitment to a cause, before they are forgotten. In these days of ambivalence and apathy we also desperately need role models who believed so strongly to strengthen our own resolve.
And to a completely interpretation of “saints” – Rev Denis Clow sent this story round in 2007 to Presbyterians in Otago and Southland. He called it ‘Communion of Saints’;
“On Saturday a funeral service was held at our church for a devout, loving, & popular church member who had died suddenly.
The deceased had made it plain that her funeral was to be a happy occasion so the family arrived with a number of blue (the deceased’s favourite colour) helium filled balloons. The plan was to let the balloons go outside the church following the service.
Well you guessed it, during the service one of the balloons escaped & lodged itself firmly against a window frame in the ceiling of the church. There was no way it could be recovered. Hence it was still there for the Communion Service the next morning. Given blue was the deceased’s favourite colour it felt as though she was looking down on us.
Then when the choir were singing their anthem “Among us & before us” the balloon floated gently down to the pew beneath it. A worshipper caught the balloon’s string & tied it to the pew. For the rest of the service the blue balloon hung in the air just above the heads & shoulders of the congregation.
Somehow the Communion of Saints became very real yesterday.”
Becoming a saint, the likes of Jane Haining, requires making dangerous choices and dying a horrible death which many of us may not want – or be able to organise. A life like John Paul’s is impossible for most of us too (we’re not male, or Catholic, or Polish, or chosen to be Pope). Mary McKillop and Suzanne Aubert’s lives of work and sacrifice in countries on the other side of the world are not always possible or desired for us all either. But being mourned as a devout, loving, & popular church member is possible for us all. In fact I bet many can name a few from this congregation in that category.
I always used to think that being a saint meant I had to be perfect, that I had to live a life dedicated to doing hard things and/or die a horrible death. But based on these stories I wonder whether being a saint may mean doing the best I can in the place I am in so that I can be part of the great story of God.
This church is here because of the prayers and lives of many, many people. We are here because of many, many people who influenced us to follow Jesus. I doubt any of them were perfect, but they are part of the great company of saints that we honour today.
A final thought – at the end of this service, during the blessing, I will raise my hands. This is sign of the gathering of all the saints that have gone before us, asking them to join with me in giving you God’s blessing. This action is my reminder that I am not good enough, or saintly enough, to bring God’s blessing to you by myself. However, with the help of the saints around us, you and I can do this powerful thing of blessing.
Some people, who are sensitive to these things, can feel the prayers of the saints that fill a church like this. The rest of us need to take it on faith that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who have made St Ninian’s who it is today. But we can all be filled with awe that each one of us is invited to also be part of this saintly legacy.
[Let us pause for a few moments of silence to honour the saints who have affected our lives]