I’m sure many of you will remember the story of the little boy in church who was asked, what is a saint? The little boy pointed to the stained glass window and said, a saint is someone the light shines through.
The little boy was essentially right. Saints are those people who let the light shine through them. People who let the light of God shine - through what they say, what they do, how they love, who they are and how they live. After all, what is the primary way that we come to know God and learn what life is really all about? In large measure, we learn about God and the meaning of life through relationships with those people who care about us and touch our lives - obviously our parents, our grandparents - I think grandparents are one of God’s greatest inventions, as they are so often people through whom the light of love shines so brightly for us - those special teachers who took an interest in us, Sunday school teachers, mentors, youth leaders, spiritual guides, the occasional priest, special friends, family members and neighbors who took a special interest in us and touched our lives in ways we will always remember.
We learn what God’s love is like as we receive love from people such as these. We learn what God’s faithfulness is like, as others show us what it means to be faithful. We learn what God’s caring and compassion are like, as others show us what it means to be compassionate and caring. This is what saints are: those who let God’s light, God’s love, God’s caring and compassion shine through them.
So, today we celebrate All Saints’ Sunday, one of the principal feasts of the church year. And on this day we honor all the saints, known and unknown - those who are famous in their time, those who are remembered by history, but also those who may be remembered only by family history or personal memory, those very ordinary saints, the “rank and file” of the church so to speak, people like you and me, the countless men and women, boys and girls, who simply lived their lives faithfully, loved their God, quietly practiced their faith, followed their calling, expressed their particular gifts in the world and loved the people they were given to love. The vast majority of them may no longer be remembered by history, but they are forever remembered by God. And, on All Saints’ Sunday, we remember them too. Today we especially remember those very ordinary saints whom we have known personally, the ones who have touched our own lives, those people whom we love but see no longer. And though death may have put an end to their time on earth, it can never put an end to our relationship with them.
Edward Bowen tells the story of a woman who went to visit a monastery in
We could do the same by stepping outside into our Columbarium and introducing all of you to “the rest of our community,” those who have come and gone before us in this place and, in many cases, without whom we would not be who we are today. In fact, immediately following this service, we will invite you to do precisely that - to step out into our Columbarium. But we want to broaden the circle beyond just those saints who are buried in our Columbarium. Because, in addition to these saints, I know that every one of you could bear witness and tell the stories of those particular persons who have touched your life, through whom the light has shined for you to see, and without whom you would not be who you are today.
Each of you, I hope, has been given a little white paper cross. And, if you haven’t, I’m sure one of our ushers will bring one to you if you raise your hand. There should be enough pencils to share as well. In just a moment, I will invite you to write on that cross the name or names of some of the saints in your own life, persons through whom the light has shined for you to see. Then, following the service, you are invited, if you wish, to go outside to our columbarium and place your cross in the ground around the edge of our labyrinth. By the end of our three services we should have a beautiful and inclusive display of what we mean, in this particular community, by the communion of saints, that “great cloud of witnesses” who surround us every time we worship in the presence of God, that radiant array of souls which the Book of Common Prayer calls “the glorious company of the saints in light.”
So, if you will, take a moment now to call to mind and heart some of those persons in your own life whom you would like to remember today, who have touched your life in ways you cannot forget, those saints through whom the light has shined for you. And write those names on your cross.
MUSICAL MEDITATION: I Sing a Song of the Saints of God
You know, that little tune, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God,” the repeated refrain is, “And I mean to be one too” - a saint, that is, a person in whom and through whom the light of God shines. As God’s people, that is who and what we are all called to be. But, don’t be put off by the popular usage of the term - a “saint” as some rare and perfect specimen of holiness. The biblical definition of a “saint” is simply this: a member of the baptized community - a member of the Body of Christ.
When a person is baptized, the priest traces the sign of the cross on their forehead and says these words: “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.” Which means that you are now and forever connected to a source of life, love and light from which you can never be separated. That sign of our baptism reveals our truest and deepest identity as the beloved child of God, as a living member of the Body of Christ, and forever a member of the communion of saints.
As Barbara Taylor puts it, “The moment we rose dripping from the holy water, we joined the communion of saints; and we cannot go back any more than we can give back our names or the blood in our veins. So, All Saints Day is a family reunion, of a family made kin by Christ’s body and blood. There are heroes and scoundrels at the party, beloved uncles and estranged cousins, relatives we adore and those who plainly baffle us. But they are ours, and we are all included,”1 by the grace and love of God.
Because, “Once you are baptized, you belong to God, you belong to God forever, and all that remains to be seen is what you will do about it. Just remember that you do not have to be famous, you do not have to be perfect, you do not even have to be dead. You just have to be you - the one of a kind, never-to-be-repeated human being whom God created you to be - to love others as you are loved, to throw your arms around the world, to embrace the life you have been given, and to shine like the sun.”1
To shine like the sun. And you don’t have to do it alone, either. Because you have all this company - all these ordinary and extraordinary saints sitting here with you as part of this church, and that “great cloud of witnesses” with which God has surrounded us today, the whole communion of saints, including those whom we love but see no longer, that, in the words of our Eucharistic prayer today, “we might rejoice in their fellowship, run with endurance the race that is set before us, and, together with them, receive the crown of glory - that radiant light - that never fades away.”
What is a saint? A saint is a person the light shines through. And I mean to be one too.
1. Barbara Brown