Reflections on All Saints

Reflections on All Saints

(Revelation 7:9-17): After this I, John, looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Who are the Saints according to the Book of Revelation?  Who are the Saints for the Church?  Who are the Saints in your life?  This time of remembrance we call the Feast of All Saints, and the Feast of All Souls gives those of us who are God’s people the opportunity to reflect on these questions and to reflect on how our lives are affected, changed and even made better by the presence of “Saints” in our lives.

The Book of Revelation, Chapter 6 tells us that the saints are “those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given.” Worship on All Saints Day suggests that the saints are those who have set an example for us in virtuous and godly living, even if they were not slaughtered for their life of faith.  St. Paul in some of his letters addresses all the Christians in a particular community as saints:  “To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 1:1-2)  This progression leads me to believe that all Christians, maybe even all of God’s people, are saints, and that some of them have influenced me in such a way that I have become a follower of Jesus Christ and that I may even be considered to be a saint for others in this world which is striving to be the Kingdom of God.

The promise from God according to the book of Revelation to all the saints is that:

They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:13-17)

I want to pick just two “saints” whose lives have something to share with us and who have made me a different and better person than I would otherwise have been.

William Law, born to a respected family in England, attended Cambridge University and had a bright future in the Church of England, but because he refused for conscious sake to sign a document necessary to allow him to become a priest, was denied that future.  Instead he became a teacher and writer, his most famous book being A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.  This book reflected the commitment and seriousness with which Law approached his religion and his life.

Law and two elderly women he cared for began to distribute food to the poor from their home, something that did not thrill the neighbors.  The three of them also began schools for poor girls teaching them to read, sew, knit and to love and live the Christian faith.  Law and the two women made a commitment to live off of 10% of their income and use the other 90% for works of ministry.  This goes for beyond the Old Testament teaching of giving 10% of our income to God, but it does show how our commitment to the Mission of Christ in the world can affect our stewardship of all that God has given us.

This story leads me to describe another saint in my life.  The life of William Law was shared with me in a book by friend and Pastor LaMon Brown.  In this book Brown reviewed the lives of two special “saints,” William Law and Catherine of Genoa.  LaMon has been a part of my life for a long, long time, and I want to share just a little bit about how I am a different person  partly because of the relationship LaMon and I have had over the past 60+ years.

I first met LaMon Brown in a small Alabama town when we were five years old and on our way to “Mr. Martin’s Store.”  I lived two blocks from the store and LaMon a block from the store.  I walked there (on my own) to buy baseball cards, and LaMon road his tricycle there (on his own) to pick up bottle caps for his bottle cap collection.  Mr. Martin would empty into LaMon’s wagon the contents of the cap container into which the caps fell when people paid their 5 cents for their soft drinks and opened the bottles on the drink machine.

Since that time we went to school together from first grade through high school, and I was an usher in LaMon’s wedding when he was a sophomore in college.  He became an ordained Baptist Minister and then an International Missionary.  When I was exploring my own call to become an Episcopal Priest I received a News Letter from him in which he stated that “if you believe God is calling you to a special ministry you will not know more about that call until you take the next step and then God will reveal more to you.”  With that encouragement, not even directed personally to me, I took the next step and have been an excited and passionate priest for the past 27 years.

Our paths have crossed over and over again in the past 30 years and we never fail to challenge and strengthen one another in our faith.  A friend like this is a blessing and a gift from God and certainly the kind of person St. Paul would refer to as a saint.  Who are these saints in your life?