November 1, 2005

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14 + 1 John 3:13 + Matthew 5: 1-12

The longer I live, the more I am beginning to realize that this day is not about dead saints. Hardly a week goes by that I do not recognize that my life is filled with truly holy people who have taken this Gospel seriously and embraced its spirit as a blue-print for a holy life. It is not exactly that they set out to become saints, got up every morning and said to themselves, “I think I’ll be a saint.” On the contrary, I suspect it was the farthest thing from their mind. I think they got up this morning and said: “Another day” if they said anything at all!  What they did and what they do is simply live each day of their lives facing disappointment, discouragement tragedy, pain, or great sorrow without becoming bitter or withdrawing from life and love. In short, they lived much as Jesus did, not doing anything great or memorable, just meeting what comes along with the gifts at hand, and never withdrawing from suffering, misunderstanding, conflict, betrayal, abuse, and suffering. In short, saints are people who have experienced the life, death, and resurrection of Christ themselves. They have come through it in victory.

They have no hidden from the needs of others. They have not refused anyone their time or their attention. They have not pushed for the “best seat in the house” or the first place in line. They have waited. They have watched. They have won even when in the eyes of this world they may have looked like losers or the least.

They are simply the people who work at Walmart to support their children.

They are the people who care for aging parents while raising their own children.

They are the people who bus tables without tips, who take in our dry cleaning, stand at the counter in 7-11 Stores while we are impatient in line.

They teach our children, clean our church, and pick up our garbage.

The point is, no one recognizes them – they do not look like the saints on our cards and in our books. There is no specific day in the honor, no one is named after, and there are no memorial buildings, hospitals, or schools.

There is just one day in the year when the church says:

Stop. Look around. There are holy people everywhere who are faithful, loving, and kind; who serve, who suffer, and who rise again just “because.”

It is All Saints. Let them be honored, respected, revered, and treasured.