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A Sermon by The Reverend Allen Michel
Nelson Cathedral
Sunday, 2 November 2008
The Saint loves people and uses things.
The sinner loves things and uses people.
Today we are celebrating "All Saints Day".
As I sat down to write this address I wondered who are these "saints" we are
celebrating and what do we mean by celebrating.
At home I have a book called The Dictionary of Saints.
It contains many names including several St. Peter′s, St. Joseph′s, a St. Chad
and a St. Wilfred plus hundreds of others, some with familiar names and others
with very foreign sounding names.
Are these the only Saints who we remember today?
I don′t think so or else today would be called "All The Saints Day".
Who then are all these saints?
To answer this question I looked up my Bible concordance and the word
Saint and as usual St. Paul looked as though he had the answer.
To the Romans he wrote "To all God′s beloved in Rome called to be saints",
in the letter to the Corinthians he begins "To the Church of God in Corinth,
including all the saints throughout Achaia", to the Ephesians he says " "to the
saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus".
Finally Paul opens his letter to the Colossians with this greeting" to the saints
and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae".
The letter to the Colossians gave me the answer.
To Paul the saints are those faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.
A saint then is a person consecrated and committed to God not a
person of perfection or without fault but a person whose life is dedicated
to Christ.
A person like you and me.
Today then we are celebrating our day. We the consecrated people who have
dedicated our lives to Christ.
Today as we remember the Saints who have gone before us, those who have
touched our lives and shown us the way to live our faith, we also celebrate
the people alive today whose lives are consecrated to the living God and they
include you and me.
Today is their day and our day and today we are celebrating.
But what does that word celebrating mean?
In the secular world the word often means to eat, drink and make
merry. Birthdays, anniversaries are times for parties’, times for enjoyment.
A time to celebrate the present.
To me the word celebration in our context means a time for thanksgiving, a
time to thank God, for the guidance and protection we have received during
our journey of faith, our journey of sainthood. But how do we do this?
As I wrote this I set aside time to do three things as I celebrated this time of
"All Saints".
Firstly I reflected on my journey so far with thanksgiving and wonder
at all the things God had done for me.
A number of years ago on Sunday the 5th of November I was confirmed.
I suppose that was the real start of my journey, a would be saint making his
own decisions to go forward in life with Christ.
I remember my confirmation for various reasons. It was the first time I had
seen a Bishop. He was nothing like I imagined, not tall and dressed in fine
vestments.
It was the first time I had been to a service away from the small suburban
church I attended. We were confirmed in the main Church in town
that seemed big and cold.
I remember the disappointment at having to wait a week to partake in my first
Eucharist.
Two weeks later my journey took a new turn as I started my ministry as an
altar server. I had a job I could do for Christ. I was part of the active church
family. As I looked back over those years I remembered the number of times
God had nudged, prodded or grabbed me by my shirt collar as he guided me in
the direction he wanted my journey to go.
What a lot we saints have to give thanks for.
The next stage in my time of celebration was to look at my life now.
The things I am doing. The things I would like to do and the things that
perhaps I should give up and let someone else take on that ministry.
Today is the launching pad for tomorrow.
It′s a time to ask for faith, guidance and trust as we continue our journey.
Some of us have just begun our journey, some have reached the middle years
of their life and others see a long road behind them.
But whatever the stage we have reached there is still more to do.
Have you ever had a time in your life when you have said "time for a
rest" and given up some responsibility in the Church and then within a short
time God has lined up something else for you to do? I have.
I remember shifting to new town thinking of a year sitting in the back row, out
of sight would be nice and within a fortnight the Vicar had me teaching
Sunday School. There is always something for a saint to do!
Last week I read an article about a truly amazing woman, who at eighty
seven has bad arthritis and is deaf. She has been blind in one eye for quite a
while and now is losing her sight in the other eye.
She came to her vicar to tell him she thought her days as an active worshipping
member in the parish church were over but after much thought she now
felt she had a special ministry in prayer. For years she had said the service
of morning prayer daily and was now memorizing evening prayer.
She had started learning Braille and if the Vicar could get prayer lists printed
In Braille for her, of the needs in the parish, the community and the world
she would include them in her morning and evening prayer.
What an example to all us saints.
Each one of us, is called to be a saint, and, each one of us because of the love
of Jesus Christ, can be a saint.
At times it can be difficult to live up to this calling,
at times it is hard to love,
at times it is hard to do things that shows God′s care,
at times it is hard not to just act out our faith,
at times it is hard even to have faith.
And that is where the saints in heaven come in.
Our saints, the ones we remember, and the saints of the whole
church, are with God and we can honour them, by listening to them
and by remembering how they lived and how they believed.
We can take strength from the saints, who are gathered around God′s throne,
we can take strength from them - and in that strength, as the church has
always intended by naming the saints, we can then go forth to imitate them;
to copy in our behaviour and attitudes those things which cause us to name
them as special and holy to us and to God.
In time all of us will join the saints with God in Heaven.
here is a room reserved for us with them.
In the meantime remember the saints.
Take strength from them and honour their memory,
by becoming more like them.
But above all, remember the mark of a saint is commitment not
perfection; not a person without fault but someone who is
dedicated to God. And that means You and Me.
Amen
The Reverend Allen Michel
This sermon was written and delivered by The Reverend Allen Michel at Nelson Cathedral, 2 November 2008 at 8am
