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Today is the day we celebrate All Saints Sunday.

"A Recipe for Making Saints"          Cicero United Methodist Church                      Jack Keating
All Saints Day              November 7, 2010                    Text: Luke 6: 20-26

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            Today is the day we celebrate All Saints Sunday. This is the day when we read the names of those members of this church who have gone from our midst this year to the reward of eternal life. A day to light candles in their honor, to help us remember them, and the hole their passing has left in our lives. But what great recipe makes a person a saint?

            Well, we think first of great people. People for whom special days, hospitals and churches are named. We might think of more recent people, John Wesley, Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We might think of Mother Theresa in Calcutta or perhaps the young girl at Columbine High School who is reported to have declared her faith and was shot as a result. We might even think of a grandmother, a grandfather, Mom, Dad, Aunt, or Uncle.

            I think of a friend named Gerald. A seemingly quiet guy. Husband, father, grandfather and church usher. But not just a church usher. For more than 50 years it was Gerald who arrived at his little church each week before anyone else. It was Gerald who greeted you at the door, handed you your Sunday bulletin, welcomed you to church and made sure you knew that there would be some wonderful treat after worship in the church's Fellowship Hall. It was Gerald who stayed after worship to pick up bulletins left in the pews, turn out lights and locked up the door after everyone else had left. It was Gerald who worked at every church dinner and event the little church offered, doing exactly the same thing that he did on Sunday mornings. It was Gerald who served as the church Treasurer during the years when decisions about how to pay the pastor had to be made. And I believe it was Gerald who, behind the scenes, might have financially kept the little church afloat during a few lean months in his check book. And when Gerald was called home to receive the great reward Jesus promises, it was fitting that his funeral was held on a
Sunday morning and during the children's time a church full of "kids" sat around his coffin
and heard the message and recalled the amazing life of this saint of the church.

            A bishop in Europe once said, "Saints are those who make it easier for us to believe
in God." Robert Louis Stevenson said, "Saints are sinners who keep on going."

            If we look into the scriptures for people who we might consider saints, we might include King David. He wrote so many wonderful Psalms that give us hope even yet today. He was a powerful leader for his people, leading them to follow the God of Israel, holding in front of them the covenant and promises of God. But we would also need to remember the incident at Bathsheba, the lust and adultery that lead to murder. The idea of a saint could also take on a new dimension for us.

            We could think of Rahab, or maybe we wouldn't. She was the prostitute in Jericho who helped the people of Israel take possession of the Promised Land. She is declared as faithful for her trust in God. She is mentioned over and over again whenever the writers of Scripture want an example of faithfulness.

            We might think of Peter, the faithful disciple, even with his ups and downs, his declarations of faith and his betrayals. He was the one who boldly declared, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" not too long before he answered "I do not know the man."

            We might think of those folks whose names are printed in our bulletin and we could
remember their wonderful, positive examples or their normal human failings.

            Who are the saints? A saint is one declared a saint by God. A saint is one given the inheritance promised in Ephesians when we were "marked with the seal of the promised Holy
Spirit." A saint's identity is assured by God through baptism and this identity cannot be changed or lost.

            We are declared saints, and we are invited to live our lives in response to that fact.

In Ephesians, Paul declares who they are and encourages them to live accordingly, even though we get the impression that he is a little disappointed in the fruits of their sainthood to this point. He speaks in past tense as he talks of God's realities for them, "who were the first to set our hope in Christ" and "we were marked with the promise of the Holy Spirit." And he speaks in the future of his hopes that God "might give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him."

            A saint is one who is faithful in all circumstances, one whose identity is not shaken
by the daily circumstances, the ups and downs of life.

            Today's Gospel reading is the Beatitudes from Luke's gospel. Jesus is declaring what is God's plan according to God's order.... in spite of whatever conditions in which people might find themselves. "Yours is the kingdom of God" so you are blessed even if you are poor. "Yours is the kingdom of God, so blessed are you if you weep. Yours is the kingdom of God, and your trust is in the Son of Man. So blessed are you even if people hate you, exclude you or persecute you on my behalf." The Beatitudes praise those who will be fulfilled in their whole being. Discomfort and pain only reinforces for the children of God that the kingdom which is promised is not yet here. We long for the kingdom and are reminded daily that it is not yet here.

            Jesus declares "woe" to those who claim self-sufficiency, to those whose circumstances would suggest that they made it, that they do not need God in any way. Those who are tied to the order of this world because they are "full" or laughing or are spoken well of, according to the measures of this world. Jesus says that they have had their reward. But it is not the reward of living in relationship with God and in line with God's purpose for their lives.

            Blessed are those who recognize their identity as a child of God, as a saint, declared
so by God and seek to live in that relationship.... even if we are not always successful. Blessed are those to whom painful and difficult things happen, when they know that God does not fail them in such difficulties.... but instead finds them in their pain and gives them hope.

            Woes are promised today for all of us who are well off, respected, secure, not simply because we have security and respect, but because it inevitably binds us with an almost irresistible power, to this age and the culture of how things are. The Beatitudes are promises today to all of us, not simply because we are lacking, or are mourning, but because of the very fact that our lack of sorrows may turn us away from things as they are, toward the kingdom of God for which we pray. "Thy kingdom come" gives us urgency and new longing. We weep for those who are ill because we know life is not complete, we are poor because we have heard the immeasurable riches of which Jesus speaks, and we know that we do not have them today.

            The bottom line is that when you let your situation in life determine who you are, you
will have great woe. But when you let God determine who you are, you will be greatly blessed. Who we are has already been determined - we are children of God, we are saints. When you let your poverty, your hunger, your sadness, and your lack of popularity be the final word about the meaning and significance of your life, you will indeed be in hopelessness and despair. But when you let the kingdom of God have the final word about the meaning and significance of your life, you will have true joy.

            When the world calls the shots for you, then you will be easily debased by your enemies. Those who curse you and abuse you will be able to reduce your life to rubble. Those who make great and unreasonable demands on you will be able to lord it over you, and you will feel as though you amount to nothing. What Jesus is saying is that you are free not to give the world that much control over you. You are now free not to let your enemies have the final word in your life. When you give bullies more than they demand from you, you show that you are free from their control. When you refuse to let abusers control your life with their threats of pain and death, then you are indeed free from their tyranny.

            So, Jesus disciples are able to love their enemies, because they know that it is God and not their enemies who have the ultimate authority in their lives. His disciples are blessed because they trust God above everything else.

            We are saints.... that fact is made real in baptism. A saint is not someone who by his or her own reason and strength has achieved greatness. Rather, a saint is someone who God has declared a saint by his grace in Baptism. When we are baptized into Jesus Christ, we are given a brand new perspective on reality - a reality that is quite a bit different than the reality of the world. The world tells us that only the rich, the self-satisfied, the happy, and the popular are those who are blessed. And Jesus replies, "Nonsense! You are blessed because I say you are blessed. You are blessed no matter what external conditions prevail in your life, because it is God, and not the world with the final word about who you really are." You are baptized, you are saints, may your whole life reflect this reality.

            This is the good news that we share this day with all the saints on earth and all the saints in heaven, with all the saints who have gone before us and all the saints who will come after us. We rejoice this day in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. We rejoice that God has called us to sainthood and for having given us a totally new way of looking at life, which turns out, in fact, to be the only way there is.

            There once was a young man who was about to graduate from high school. He really
wanted to be the valedictorian of his class and worked hard to make a 4.0 average. A few days before graduation, the principal called the young man into his office and said to him, "Well, you've done it; you made valedictorian. Congratulations. So what are your plans for the future?" The young man said, "Well, I plan to go to college and get my bachelor's degree." "Great," said the principal, "what then?" "I guess I'll go to medical school and become a doctor." "What then?" said the principal. "Well, then I plan on getting married, having children, and pursuing my career." "What then?" "I guess I'll retire." "What then?" "I would like to travel the world." "What then?" The young man thought for a few seconds and said, "Well... then I guess I'll die" And the principal said, "And what then?"

            It seems to me, if we live our lives remembering the promises of the Beatitudes, we
would all know the answer to that principal's question very early on in our time in this place.
And I'm guessing, as we pause to remember those who have gone before us today, we will
know that they had the answer to that question throughout quite a lot of their lives among
us. May it be so for each of us today, as well.