ARE YOU A SAINT?

REYNOLDS RAP
October 30, 2010


ROLLING OUT THE RAP
A few years ago, our congregation, University Hill on the campus of the University of British Columbia, celebrated the lives of our elderly saints, those of our fellowship over eighty years of age. They all protested that they were not saints, but gradually the true meaning of the word began to get through to them and also to members of the congregation.

Hallowe’en, the evening before All Saints Day, the day to remember any forgotten saints; which is the day before All Souls’ Day, giving hope to the rest of us who would not call ourselves saints. It’s all kind of confusing and most of us don’t get it. We just go along with the crazies, ghosts and goblins, all the things that make it such a great day for the retail stores. The sad thing in all this is that we forget what it is that makes us saints. It seems a good time to think about it.


ARE YOU A SAINT?
Two “men” went up to the temple to pray (Luke 18:10-14). One was a Pharisee, a good man. Pharisees were good men, very good men. The other was a – well, a “sinner,” a despised tax collector. But, what d’ya know? It was the sinner who was the saint!
We would say that the Pharisee was the saint. He tithed his money, and prayed a lot, and went about denouncing people who didn’t, and he thanked God that “he was not like other people.” Probably didn’t have many friends, that man.

But the tax collector, Jesus said, the one who cried, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” this is the one who “went down to his house justified.” He was the one who was forgiven. The sinner was the saint!

Now think of your own local church assuming you have a local church. Think of the people there. Any you would call a saint?

Well, there is that man over there, always well dressed, here every Sunday. He is obviously a good man. He must be a saint. But how well do you know that man? Do you know that he has a heavy heart? There are things in his somewhat remote past of which he feels ashamed. In fact, he has a “besetting sin,” that only God knows about. He comes here Sunday after Sunday to ask God’s forgiveness, and to pray for help in a life that is a continuing struggle.

Then there is that woman who, occasionally, comes straggling in at the last minute with three kids in tow, her hat askew and her clothes not well pressed. She hasn’t the time or the money to care much about respectability. She sits at the back so that the young ones won’t disturb other people. Someone should tell her that if she sat up front where the little ones could see what’s going on, they would be more interested and less trouble to people around them. She could improve her language a lot. It’s sure that she’s not a saint.

Are these people, sitting around you Sunday after Sunday, are any of them saints? -- Not likely, you say. Well, think again, with the mind of Jesus. In fact, ask yourself, are you (yes, you), are you a saint?

There is Peter, for instance, the one we call “Saint Peter.” There is surely one who can be called “saint.” Peter was the name Jesus gave him. It means “the rock.” Peter, the rock, steadfast and sure. Jesus said to him, “Upon this rock I will build my church!”

But Peter? The one who cried, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Peter? The one to whom Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me.” Peter? The one who boasted, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And then, of course, denied his Lord not once, not twice, but three times. Peter was no saint.

We do something good, and someone says to us, “You’re a saint.” And very embarrassed, we say, “Oh no, I’m not a saint!” Why do we say that?

We seem to think that the saints are the good people. We even hesitate to call ourselves “Christian.” We seem to think that a Christian is someone who is better than other people, someone who can pray, “Thank God I’m not like other people.” And we don’t want people to think that we think we are better than other people!

But maybe that’s one of the qualities of a saint, one who doesn’t have an inflated opinion of his own goodness, one who can acknowledge her faults, one who will ask God for forgiveness and pray for all the help he or she can get in living life. Maybe, as Jesus said, love and forgiveness are more important in the life of the kingdom than a strict moral goodness that lacks the qualities of justice and mercy?

In the New Testament, the saints are the ordinary Christians, the members of the church, the Christian community. Paul’s letters are often directed to the saints, and they were not all glowing examples of the life in Christ. Read I and II Corinthians. Perhaps it meant more to be a Christian in those days when being a Christian meant real sacrifice and possible death. But my experience is that there aren’t many perks in being a Christian or church member in our secular society today.

We come to church, week after week. We bow our heads in acknowledgement of God’s presence. We say words confessing that we, like the disciples, often fail. Like Peter, there are times we deny our Lord. Sometimes, we are even like Judas, who betrayed His Master.

And we are not alone. Around us here are others, like us, who come to ask for mercy and for aid. And beyond them, across this nation and around the world, in fact stretching back through time, there are so many thousands of others. Here we come to remember that we live in God’s world, and around us is the wealth of over two thousand years of prayer and praise which enrich our being here, long years with their thin read line of martyrs, the gaunt faith of scholar and monk, staunch reformers like Martin Luther who took their stand, the saddleback preachers who transformed the life of this continent, missionaries in far parts of the earth carrying their message of hope and life.

All these, with the sound of their muffled voices joining with ours, “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of hosts!”

When we come here to this place and these hours, which seem to shine with all the light of sacred story, there is a Spirit that meets us, that lifts our hearts and satisfied and cleanses, and knits up the broken fragments of our lives and lifts our faces undaunted again to the everlasting God.

And if we listen, listen closely, we hear a voice saying, “This is the Word of God, the Good News of the Gospel for all the saints, even for you.

This week is Halloween, the night before the day we call, in the life of the church, “All Saints Day.” All saints day. We have largely forgotten this day. It’s regrettable, because “All Saints Day” is our day!

Somehow, in the history of the Christian church we got this idea that “saints” were people who are especially good and devout. That’s wrong. Saints are ordinary people, people like you and me, people who acknowledge their faults before God and call on God’s grace to help them in their living.

Take this as your definition of a saint: A saint is one who seeks to live each day with a sense of God’s presence and in the knowledge of God’s love!

Two people went up to the temple to pray. Tell me, which one are you?



AFTER WORDS
By the way, University Hill publishes an annual calendar, based on the church year. It is one of the ways that we recognize that we are different than the secular society of which we are a part. It indicates the weekly lectionary reading and has some very fine art work. Copies can be obtained for $15.00 from University Hill United Church, 6030 Chancellor Boulevard, Vancouver, BC V6T 1L4.

In response to the numerology of the last issue (central verse in the Bible, etc.), my daughter-in-law, Valerie, referred me to http://www.snopes.com/religion/center.asp. It notes that the numbers refer only to the King James translation and even then Psalm 117 is the central chapter not Psalm 118. In any case, it was Stephen Langdon, Archbishop of Canterbury and the one who framed the Magna Charta, who first divided the whole Bible into chapters in the thirteenth century, and it wasn’t until the mid-sixteenth century that numbered verses were applied to the whole Bible.

Re the article on Satan, Jim Taylor wrote (in “Sharp Edges” jimt@quixotic.ca),
As a younger man, I wrote once about the parallels between light and goodness, darkness and evil. Scientifically, I argued, there is no such thing as darkness –only an absence of light. I remember writing, “You can turn on a light that drives away the darkness; you cannot turn on a dark that drives away the light.”
By that argument, there is no such thing as evil -- merely the absence of good.
It’s an idealistic way to think about evil. But as I grow older, I find it less satisfying.
“We cannot deny the reality of evil,” Alan Reynolds reminded me.
The danger, he suggested, lies “in concentrating on evil, or on the figure of evil. It seems the more we become concerned about the devil, the more powerful the devil becomes. But to dismiss the power of evil, the reality of an objective force of evil, seems to me to be incredibly naïve and dangerous.”
Coming a week before the Russell Williams revelations, my friend’s words feel uncomfortably prophetic.

Bruce Harrower responds,
Satan - now here is a subject you can really get your teeth into. You seem to think, Alan,
that Satan cannot be defined as 'human'. On the contrary, I say that Satan is human and
I make this assertion because I think Satan is us. Think of all the evil that mankind has
loosed on the world, (never mind the evil that 'religion' has done) and then tell me that Satan is not human?

Regarding “Courage,” Bruce says,
Although I am not a particularly religious person, I do think faith makes a difference. The mind is a very powerful instrument and if you have faith in something, no matter what the subject, it will surely make a difference. Unfortunately most people tend to associate faith with religion while in reality faith covers everything from faith in a doctor, a drug or medication, even the lottery.

Bruce, I don’t have much faith in the lottery, but we’ll come back to that another time.



LAST GASPA woman was asked by a co-worker, “What is it like to be a Christian?”
The co-worker replied, “It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you.
“Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.”


Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

It’s a Rap. Grace and peace. Alan