Hebrews 11:29-12:2, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Introduction
If I were to ask each of you to help come up with an answer to the question, “What is a “saint?”, I suspect we would get to something like… “A saint is someone who is special; set apart from just anyone because they were faithful, had an impact on others by influencing and inspiring others to live faithfully, and made a difference in the world.”
And if this was our collective definition, and I then asked you, “Are you a saint?” I would venture to guess our collective answer would be, “No.”
Those with a Roman Catholic background would tell us Saints are carefully vetted people who have gone through a defined process of canonization. To be a saint, you have to first be dead… for at least 5 years. Then, nine theologians have to make a case that your life had merit for such a title, including citing evidence of miracles.
Now even though we Protestants Christians don’t give much attention to canonized saints they still have some influence on us. Many of us have a backyard or a hospital acquaintance with saints. We have birdbaths of St. Francis in our gardens. Maybe you’ve buried a St. Joseph in your yard to help sell your house or gave a St. Christopher to a loved one for safe travels.
Hebrews calls these Saints and others like them, “a great cloud of witnesses” and we are surrounded by these Saints. But I would contest we are surrounded not just by those who have been carefully vetted by a papal process, but we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and saints who would never be immortalized in statues and figurines, but are nonetheless set-apart, and made an impact through their influence and inspiration. And that cloud—I am willing to bet—includes some people you wouldn’t think are saints.
Move 1
If I asked you to write on the back of your Connection Card, using our collective definition of “What is a “saint?”, “…someone who is special; set apart from just anyone because they were faithful, had an impact on others by influencing and inspiring others to live faithfully, and made a difference in the world” we could come up with a fair number of names—names like those who we read and remembered a few minutes ago. But if the author of Hebrews was here, he would need a lot more space than the back of a Connection Card to list all the people who have influenced history and are part of this great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us.
In one chapter the writer tries to remember the entirety of God’s faithful men and woman—starting with Abel and working through the major patriarchs like Abraham and Moses. In forty verses, he attempts to remember all of the people who made a difference in Israel’s life. And it’s a long list.
We do this ourselves when we gather with our families for holidays or weddings, and especially for funerals. Someone pulls out a photo album and the stories begin to flow. You’ll remember Uncle Harold and his odd habits or Aunt Mable and her tender ways.
There are many ways in which those who’ve gone before us are remembered, but regardless of how we do so, in one way or another, we recognize and remember our ancestors and the impact, influence, and inspiration they made. All who’ve lived prior to us have touched our lives, and this is what the author of Hebrews is telling us, describing all of the heroics of those saints of scripture, and then saying, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12: 1).
Now the race he’s talking about has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans or Tuesday’s vote. It’s the race we call life, and as we run this race, we are surrounded by Saints who we are still impacted by, influenced by, and inspired by the lives they lived and the difference they made in our world.
And this is good and right and faithful to remember, and lean into as we run this race, but if we simply stop at that answer to “What is a Saint?” then we have only lived out the answer from the past to the present, forgetting there is still a future answer we are to craft.
Move 2
While the author of Hebrew talks about the “cloud of witnesses” from the past, the Apostle Paul offers us something in the present while also pointing us to the future.
As he begins his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul says, “…to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2).
What this means is that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord is called to be a Saint. You are called not to be the “backyard type of saint” or the “go to that hospital saint”, rather we are called to be saintly men and woman “who by faith” accomplish something for the Kingdom of God. Your name, as a follower of Jesus, is supposed to show up on that continuation of the list of people in Hebrews 11. If the Hebrews author was still around and still writing, Paul would want for us to live in such a manner that our names would make it on that list.
Now, before you say, “Yeah, right!” and discount yourself from ever being a saint, I want you to first do two things.
First, understand what Paul means when using the term “Saint.” He is using the Greek word, “hagios” which means “one who is set apart” So with a little redacting you can get, “To those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be set apart (saints), together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2).
When you insert set apart into the passage, it reminds us God has a very clear agenda in mind for us—to make us like Jesus. Sanctification is the process where Jesus begins to transform us into saints. As those who follow Jesus, we have already said, “Make me your saint God.”
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The second thing I want you to do before discounting yourself as a saint is look at the original list of saints the writer of Hebrews has made and notice something important.
You’ll find Rahab… who was a prostitute. Samson and David whom the Bible reports as living immorally. There’s Gideon—who, before he put Bibles in hotel rooms— was a destroyer of idols and lives, a vicious warrior. The cloud of witnesses is filled with men and woman who were filled with faithfulness and inspiration, but who also lived incredibly flawed and sinful lives.
This is underscored by the rest of Paul’s letter to Corinth. He is writing to those sanctified in Christ, those called to be saints, but read the rest of the letter, and you find they aren’t acting in very saintly ways. They are arguing about whose baptismal experience was better. They are eating food from idols at fellowship dinners and debating who has the best spiritual gifts. On and on Paul calls them out their flaws and sins—yet Paul calls them saints.
A saint is never a perfect person—but they are always a faithful person. They are someone who knows God has called them to do work that will have an impact, that will inspire others to know having an impact and making a difference doesn’t require miracles of curing disease or performing unbelievable tasks. Rather it simply requires a willingness to follow Jesus.
Move 3
But perhaps the idea of being considered a Saint is still too hard for you. Perhaps you still can’t begin to imagine, years from now, someone writing your name on a small piece of paper—of your memory being part of the great cloud of witnesses we are surrounded by. It can be hard to imagine, so maybe theologian C.S. Lewis can help.
Lewis once wrote, “Imagine yourself as a living house and God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, you can understand what God is doing. God is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the rooms and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But then God starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is God up to? What God is up to is that God is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but God is building a palace— all because God intends to come and live in it.”
Take to heart Lewis’ teachings, and we can hear God saying to us, “Look, you said yes to Jesus which means I am coming to live in you, and when I live in you, that makes you a Saint. And I will always help you live like one.”
Conclusion
God can see the Saint in all people, even in someone like you and me—for truly, God sees potential and goodness and worth in everyone. We are, after all, God’s children, created in God’s image. That is why Paul calls those fussing people in Corinth, and anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus, Saints. Paul knows God is working on us. Paul knows you are a “set apart” work in progress. And Paul knows the lives we live as followers of Christ, are lives that make us into Saints.
Therefore, the challenge is clear… We are surrounded “by a great cloud of witness” and by such we are “called to be saints” because we are already saints. Not because of what we have done. But because of what God is doing, and will do, through us.
So may we “Run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” For when we do, one day, whether you believe it or not, because of the life you live—a faithful saintly life—your name will be on someone’s list of Saints, and you will be part of that great cloud of witness that has them surrounded by Saints. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, November 5, 2023
Holy God, on this All Saints Sunday we are intentional about remembering and honoring the lives who have been vehicles of your blessings, wisdom, grace, and love.
Whether it was a parent, grandparent, or family member; whether it was a friend, spouse, or child; whether it was someone anonymous or even a stranger, we all have been blessed by someone who impacted our lives and became saints to us.
So, for all the saints of our lives, we give you thanks and praise for what they said and did and its impact on us. We would not be the people we are without the saints you blessed us with.
But we want this day to go even deeper. And so, we pray you would help us walk worthily of those whose unseen presence of life is lived.
We pray you help us to have in our lives their courage in danger, their steadfastness in trial; their perseverance in difficulty; their loyalty when loyalty is costly; their willingness to love even their enemy; their faith in knowing you are always at work for good.
We pray you would enfold us into that cloud of witnesses where we are aware of the needs of others, instilling in us a willingness to serve others and be vehicles of your blessings, just as so many were such to us.
Yes, this is All Saints Sunday, and we remember and honor them all with deep thanks. But may this day also be the day where we further become your saints who live lives that will one day be remembered amidst the celebrations of that great cloud of witnesses.
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Hear now, we ask, the prayers we offer from our individual hearts, in this time of Holy Silence.
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All this we pray in the name of the one who makes us all worthy for saintliness, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray saying, “Our …”