Lord of light - shine upon us. God of love fill our hearts with
your wisdom. Holy Spirit, bring yourself closer to us in my words
and how we hear them, in our thoughts and how we think them. Use
this time - and use us - to accomplish your good and gracious
will. Amen
There is an old story - perhaps it is a joke - perhaps something like this really happened at one time, I don't really know – the story is about two brothers who lived in particular town where they were involved in corruption, deceit and every manner of vice. It was well known that they were affiliated with some very famous organized crime. Whatever the case, both brothers had accumulated much wealth through their dishonest means.
There was little grief in the town when the older brother died. But his younger brother, wanting to honour his elder brother, went all out in planning the funeral. The problem was finding a minister willing to do the service, given that neither of them went to church. Knowing that the one of the local churches was in the midst of a raisin fund for some much needed roof repairs, the younger brother called upon the minister.
"Reverend," he said, "I know my brother and I never attended your church, as a matter of fact we never attended any church. I also know that you've probably heard a lot of things about me and my brother, this being a small town and all, but I'd like you to do my brother's funeral. And if you'll say he was a saint , I'll write you a check for 50,000 dollars. That'll go along way to fixing up the roof of the church."
After some thought, the pastor agreed to have the service. The pastor, however, also had a condition. The $50,000 had to be paid in advance. And so it was.
On the day of the funeral, the church was crowded. The sanctuary was packed with local people, not to honour the rich man, but to see what the pastor would actually say.
The remainder of the crowd was made up of mobsters and women the brothers associated with. The service began with the usual scriptures, hymns and prayers -and then the homily began. The minister began slowly, but then step by step launched into a litany of the horrible things the rich man had done, how he had been selfish, greedy, corrupt, caring about no one but himself, and on and on.
The younger brother, sitting up in the front pew, was getting hot under the collar about how the minister was not fulfilling his promise, but there was not much he could do about it. He could only wait and hope that the minister would keep his end of the deal.
Finally, after about ten minutes of outlining the rich man's flaws, the minister concluded his sermon in a booming crescendo proclaiming: "Yes my friends, this man was a no-good, dirty, rotten person! But, compared to his brother, he was of a saint!"
When people think of the saints, they most often think of people like Paul, or John or James, and the other apostles; or they think of people like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine, St. Bernadette, or St. Ignatius of (Pascal St. Chateaquay) Loyala.
In short we think of those people that the church has long declared to be saints - those people whose faith and vision and moral integrity has been thoroughly examined and widely known; those normally long dead folk who have been judged to have advanced the cause of Jesus Christ notably in this world; those folk who have been deemed to be worthy of imitation and of praise by both church bureaucrats and popular opinion.
Dear Friends in Christ, Over the years, St. Ansgar's have lost persons who shaped the character and ministry of this congregation. Many of you have been present here in this sanctuary, when we have celebrated the life and ministry of these passed saints. For countless years, these saints have given tireless, visionary leadership to this congregation.
Over the years, I have been honoured to participate in the funeral or memorial services for some of these saints. The deaths of these saints have been a real, personal loss for me. Both were mentors. Both were friends. Both were servants of Jesus Christ and leaders of the church.
For all the saints, who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed, thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia, alleluia! I am glad to be your pastor
Feast such as this has been celebrated for hundreds of years within the Christian church. But in our tradition - and in many of the traditions arising out of the Protestant Reformation - often not much is said about the Saints.
That neglect of the Saints in our tradition is a pity in a way because it can make the whole idea of sainthood and of the communion of the saints, inaccessible to us. But - when we get down to it – sainthood are ordinary folks with bright examples of something that is very common - namely bright examples of a deep and abiding faith in Christ Jesus, a faith that has issued forth in action.
And in the bible the word saint - is applied without further distinction to the company of those who believe in Christ Jesus and who strive to live faithfully according to his teachings and his example.
- people who are set apart from the rest of the world who are different because they believe in Christ Jesus and seek to live faithfully as he has shown them.
In the bible in our faith, saints are normal people, normal people who differ from most others in this world, not because of the degree of their moral perfection, but because of the degree of their faith and how, because of their faith and how they live it, draw others to give praise to God and inspire them to want to believe in and follow the Christ whom they believe in all follow.
We are called to be saints.…. A saint is someone who is set apart because of their faith. A saint is someone whose life is dedicated to the worship of God and the doing of God's will. A saint is someone who inspires in us the desire to know and follow Christ Jesus.
What we admire in them after all is part of what we are called to imitate part of what we hope God will work through us, part of what God calls us to be and to embody and to live out. A saint is a person who is an example of faithfulness; a person who, because of their faith in Christ, shows forth something of his light in their lives.
Think of the saints -- not of the famous saints - like Saint Paul or Saint John or Saint Theresa, or Saint Catherine, or Saint Francis of Assisi etc, but think of the saints who have touched your lives of those who have inspired in you a deeper faith in God, of those who have made you want to bless the God they believe in... of those whose love and whose testimony have awakened something in your soul.
I can think of two men and three women immediately who stirred me to faith.
Maria and Paul Heuberger a teacher and housewife in Kitzingen , Germany , who loved God deeply, they knew the bible and knew that before God they were naught but sinners - sinners forgiven and destined for an eternal glory with all others who love and serve God.
Another one was a Norwegian farmer Edwin Gulstein in Herbert, Saskatchewan, a man of patient, tolerant, and who could teach the bible like no other I have met, and whose welcome of my family and myself helped teach me what the communion of saints is: that communion where souls touch upon souls - in prayer, in play, in sacrament and in eating supper together. He taught me that the way “we die is not as important as the way we live.” He served the Lord until the day he was called home to his eternal rest.
Another couple, Maria and Jen Forum Jensen of Ølgod in Denmark , simple folks with extraordinary faith in God. I think of Maria in her humility -such that she did not easily pray for her own needs and her care that led her to pray for others. I remember how when trials came upon her – such as problems of health, problems of family, she plunged more deeply into the heart of God - saying that her Lord had brought her thus far and that she believed that he would see her through.
Who are you thinking of? May your own heroes of faith
Think about whose names on the Memorial plague, lives offered to God. I think of my own mother whose faith has inspired over the years. I think of each and every one of you. Fellow saints in the body of Christ as precious in the sight of God.
I could like to encourage you to take some time and write down the name or names of those whom you want to thank God for, of those who faith has inspired you to faith, of those who dedication to God and to showing God's love has warmed your hearts.
Bless God for those who seem to you to be blessed,
- those like the ones to that Jesus calls blessed in the beatitudes we heard today,
- those whom we believe are indeed set apart by God and made holy because they have encouraged us to live towards our high calling as the children of God........
Blessed be God day by day.
Amen .
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
November 23 , 2003