Saints by Calling
First Congregational Church – Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Communion Reflection for
All Saints/All Souls Sunday – November 4, 2007
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[Texts: Ephesians 1: 11-23/Luke 6: 20-31]

So, what’s a saint? Last year when we celebrated this day I was privileged to dialogue on this topic with my good colleague and friend, Dr. Geraint Tudur from Wales. I consider him a saintly person. This year has seen the passing of several persons whom I held to be saintly. Several of these saintly souls came from my past life, several from the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and several from among our membership here at First Church. They weren’t statues. They weren’t icons. They didn’t look out at the world with an otherworldly or far-off gaze. They loved God, loved God’s people and they tried to serve as best they could. No glowing in the dark. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary marked their lives, save their focus and faithfulness to God and I guess that is why I consider them to be saintly.

Now, if we look at the dictionary definition of ‘saint,’ this is what we’ll find.

Etymology:

Middle English, from Anglo-French seint, saint, from Late Latin sanctus, from Latin, sacred, from past participle of sancire to make sacred.

Date: 13th century

1:one officially recognized especially through canonization as preeminent for holiness2 a:one of the spirits of the departed in heaven; a:one of God's chosen and usually Christian people;one eminent for piety or virtue5:an illustrious predecessor

“Holy” means to be set apart, specifically to be set apart for service and those who hear and respond to God’s call are precisely that – chosen, set apart for God’s service. People don’t determine saintliness – even though we may recognize it – God does. Our Congregational ancestors used ‘saint’ to describe “one of God’s chosen.” In fact their whole understanding of what it means to be church was based on that. According to the Cambridge Platform (1648), a church is made up of “saints by calling.” So, to us a saint is someone who has heard and responded to God’s call to relationship; which makes us – saints.

Being a saint, then, is having the Good News take root in us and we then become more and more like Christ in our life, our attitude, and our conduct. We thus become witnesses to the difference God can make in everyday living. This is one of several important points that the early Congregationalists pushed, that one is to be every bit as holy in the workshop as one is in the meeting house. William Perkins said, "The action of a shepherd in keeping sheep. . . . is as good a work before God as is the action of a judge in giving sentence, or a magistrate in ruling, or a minister in preaching." Richard Steele would write that it was in the shop "where you may most confidently expect the presence and blessing of God," because "every step and stroke in your trade is sanctified." To be a saint by calling is to know that ALL of life is blessed and to live like it!

Today we heard Luke’s version of The Beatitudes. To recount blessings and woes is a common genre in Scripture. Here the term “blessed” is really more like “congratulations.” These sayings speak to people in various situations, points them toward the future – the eschaton – and what God has to say about ultimate reality. If we distill this passage down to its ultimate moral for us this is what we hear. Congratulations to the poor, because they have nothing and thus are able to focus and depend completely on God. Woe to the rich and the well-off because they have it all already and so they depend on themselves. They take what they have, what is good and even God for granted. Jesus isn’t canonizing one group and demonizing the other. He’s just pointing out the reality that those who have it made tend to think that they don’t “need” God, faith, the church, and so forth. I think all of us here know instances where that is true. To enter into a relationship with God means to be intentional, to answer a call and then to be faithful in living it out.

I guess if we break it down to its essence, the Gospel is teaching us that to be a saint by calling is to love and depend upon God, not upon self, and then to show it by loving our neighbor (even the one who is an enemy) – loving them as God loves them, unconditionally. To be a saint by calling isn’t about being extraordinary, but about being extraordinarily faithful in the ordinary business of living every day; loving and depending on God and loving God’s people, caring for God’s creation. Loving God, loving neighbor – it’s what saints by calling do. Someone said to me the other day, and I loved it, that what I preach every week is “Go out and spread the love around.” I went back and looked at most of my sermons and sure enough, at the end there was “Go out and spread the love around.” “God loves you – go spread it around yourselves.” That’s what saints do.

So, what’s a saint? It’s someone who knows God, longs to know God better and better, and whose life reflects that knowledge and desire. When we come to worship; when we come to the Lord’s Table we renew our commitment, renew our seeking to be saints by calling. Being a saint isn’t about a halo; no, it’s about living to God and living for God and for God’s people. If you hear yourself in that description, even though sometimes it’s a struggle to do, then you’re a saint by calling – and you’re in good company. Because as the Scripture says, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses; may we grow together, may we love together and may we spread it around. Amen.