“encouraging saints”
By Sara Jane Munshower
joshua 24:14-18 i thess
We
have two sets of scriptures this week... The usual lectionary four and four
others from Tuesday, November 1st, All Saints’ Day. These two groups of readings beckon us in opposite
directions. If we go with Tuesday’s,
we might look back with fond remembrances of the people who have died during
the past year. For our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers this is a time to
honor all “official” saints.
If we choose the Sunday
readings, we are called, to ponder Christ’s return, something once thought
imminent and now, well, maybe not thought about much at all…..except maybe by
the authors and readers of the popular Left Behind Series.. By the way, in case you were wondering…the
word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible.
Either way, whichever readings we choose, we
are reminded of our own mortality, something we don’t much like to talk
about. Something else we don’t talk
about much in our tradition is
Saints. I grew up with the view that
they were a “Catholic thing.” But many
of the saints of the Roman church have fascinating stories, fascinating and
encouraging, especially the ones who wrote liturgy or prayers.
Who doesn’t know the name of the saint
WHO BELONGS TO THIS PRAYER………
MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU…
MAY THE WIND BE ALWAYS AT YOUR BACK…
MAY THE SUN SHINE WARM ON YOUR FACE…
THE RAIN FALL SOFTLY ON YOUR FIELDS;
AND UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN,
MAY GOD HOLD YOU IN THE PALM OF HIS
HAND. ST. PATRICK
And to this one?
LORD, MAKE ME AN INSTRUMENT OF YOUR
PEACE.
WHERE THERE IS HATRED LET ME SOW LOVE.
WHERE THERE IS INJURY, PARDON,
WHERE THERE IS DOUBT, FAITH,
WHERE THERE IS DESPAIR, HOPE…………
………..ST. FRANCIS
OF
A GOOD prayer is a
good prayer, from sinner or saint…and so is a good story.
Last
Sunday we heard some great (and touching)
stories……. about, and from, saints of another kind. I like to call them “small ‘s’ saints.”
They are the people who have lived and served for so many years, and so
faithfully, in the life of the church, any church.. They are also the people who live and serve
so faithfully in the present, in this church and in any church.
I see, and hear a good many little “s”
saints right here…....someone has said “We do not always see the saints among
us,….but that is because we do not see what it is we are looking at….all of the
people in our lives are saints; it is just that some of them have day jobs and
most will never have feast days name d for them.” [Robert Benson,
Between Dreaming and the
Coming True]
That
is partly why I am using the All Saint’s theme in the liturgy, the hymns
and prayers, even though we read today’s scriptures. Ii believe it is critical
that we recognize and remember the people in the faith who have gone
before us, and the people who are with us. That we tell and retell their stories for the
children and youth of the community.
I
can’t stand here today and not mention a woman who was “like a saint” to people
of all colors. It behooves us to hold
her in honored remembrance today. Rosa
Parks gave encouragement to all of humanity.
Her story needs to be told and retold.
the psalmist tells
us………. read psalm 78:1-4
What
better way to be encouraging saints?
I’m curious
about what you thought when you read the sermon title??
·
How many took it as it is a verb….to
mean that we are to be about the business of encouraging saints??
·
How many thought of a person in your
life who was/is an encouraging saint for you??
·
And, how many think it is both??
You are all right! It is both.
But I want to ask you to save the remembering of the special people in
your lives for later in the day….maybe around the dinner table….or on the phone
with a friend. and for now, in these few
moments, let’s consider together how we might be
the encouraging saints……….
·
for each other,
·
for our family and friends,
·
our neighbors and co-workers,
·
even for the person in the seat next to
us on the bus, or plane, or train.
There are several
marks of an encouraging person. We know
Joshua encouraged
That, then, is the first
characteristic of an encouraging person…..they give of
themselves. We saw that
last Sunday as we heard the stories of the 50 year plus honorees. It is what many of you do with the concern
and charity that you show for local and global missions. It is what the early Christians surely must
have done for each other, lest we would not be here today. Look around and see someone you could
encourage with a hug or a handshake, a card or a call. I suppose an email would be ok, too.
A second characteristic
is that an encouraging person accepts you where you are. And they are willing to help you get where
you need to be, to be what God wants you to be.
They have a wonderful ability not to dwell in the past, but to let the past
be the past and to help you start fresh right where you are. No shame, no blame…….just a comfortable
kick-start.
Thirdly, an encouraging
person gets excited, not envious, about the progress of others.
Whether your friend gets a good grade, or your co-worker gets the coveted
promotion, or that other church takes a mission trip or has a stronger
stewardship campaign ……it’s something to be excited about with
them. as
A fourth characteristic, that
we need in order to be encouraging
saints, is the willingness to give others a second chance. How else could Paul have become a saint when
he had been a staunch persecutor of Christians?
How else do partners reconcile and best friends stay best
friends? Patience and forgiveness are
the marks of an encourager. God’s
grace is the gift that makes us able to be gracious to others.
And
fifth,
for those of us who call ourselves Christians …..to be an encourager means to help others
grow and mature in the faith. It
is what parents, and the congregation, promise at every baptism. It is what Sunday School teachers try to do
every Sunday morning; it is what you do when you remember to thank them; and it
is what we can do when we take time to remember and honor those who have been
the encouraging saints for us…………...
Perhaps the best characteristic of all is
not in any list, but in the eyes of a child who was staring at the stained
glass windows of a cathedral when told
that they were the saints of the church, she replied, “Oh, then a saint is
someone who lets the light shine through.”
……Let us then come to the table for holy
communion……giving thanks in our hearts for all the saints of our lives……
…….Praying
for the wisdom and strength to be
encouraging others…….
………..And remembering the one we call, not saint, but Teacher, Friend, and
Savior. amen.