The Bearers of the Mysteries
All Saints Sunday
October 30, 2011
INTRODUCTION:
How do you explain who a saint is? How about someone who is like a grandparent who loves you very much and shows you how to do neat things. A saint is like that. They show us how to live, they show us how to love, they show us what God is like. We have a whole congregation full of people who match this description. We have a congregation full of saints.
Perhaps we need to redeem the word saint from its impossible connotations. Saints in Roman Catholic canon law have developed such a fantastic and idealized definition that our modern conception no longer matches Paul's. When Paul refers to the "saints", such as when he says "I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and your love toward all the saints," he is referring to all the people gathered there in Ephesus who have decided to follow Jesus Christ. There is nothing esoteric or other-worldly about them at all.
A. Saints in my life:
Are saints stuffy people who do no wrong? Saints remain loyal to God. Saints have perspective and wisdom. A saint in my life would be Grandpa Schroeder. Not a saint in the religious sense, but in the sense of accepting me, loving me, and imparting special knowledge to me. He told me about his younger days, when people still rode horses everywhere, and Nez Perce Indians using his father's corral to break in their horses. He once got lost while out on horseback, and finally allowed the horse to find its way back to camp. He knew how to hold your hands when walking out in the brush so as to discourage rattlesnakes from biting you. He once went out to the lower ranch to work one day, and when he came back in the evening, he had shot a couple hundred rattlesnakes that day. Grandpa was someone who had secret knowledge and he was willing to impart it to me. Saints are people who have beheld the mysteries. They are the beholders and bearers of mystery.
Another saint, though also not in the religious sense, was my Scoutmaster, Mr. Dennis. He also taught me various mysteries, such as how to pitch a tent, how to fold it up, how to roll up my sleeping bag so it was neat and compact, how to make a fire, how to cook over its coals, how to use a pocketknife safely, how to carve a neckerchief slide that really looked like something, how to use semaphore and Morse code, how to use a compass, how to read a map (my dad helped me with that, also), how to make a sling out of rags for a broken arm, how to do CPR, and lots of other stuff that was really neat and fun at the time, but were also important ways to help me know how to live with myself, with other people, and with God as well. I also learned from him to trust myself, and to trust my knowledge and abilities.
Another saint would be Jessie Allen, the perpetual teacher of the kindergarten age Sunday School class. She had taught Sunday School for years before I ever arrived on the scene. All through grade school and high school she taught Sunday School. I was amazed to return some time in college to discover that she was still teaching that age level, even though she was in her 80s and could barely walk. She was loyal. She had given her life to Jesus Christ, and she was in his service. She took her membership vows seriously.
B. Definition of a saint: One who bears the mysteries of life and is willing to pass them along.
II. Saints in our midst: We are them.
A. That is what a saint does. They convey the mysteries to us. I know that the churches I have served are filled with saints, because I have learned more about life and its mysteries and about the mysteries of our faith from each and every person. From some I have learned that a lifetime of living and practicing my faith can provide a center of strength and a source for healing in the midst of traumatic and potentially life-threatening injury.
From some I have learned equanimity and perseverance in the midst of declining abilities. From some I have also learned how many years of experience, reflection and faith can mature into wisdom and stability. I have learned the grace it takes to step back and marvel at the world and allow a new generation its place in shaping the future.
From some, I have learned how to not let crises and physical setbacks act as stumbling blocks. From some of you, I have learned the importance of loyalty and dependability. I have learned the importance of my word, of remaining true to what I profess and claim. I have learned the importance of acting upon my beliefs.
From some, I have learned how the attitudes of faith can be enacted in everyday life in various small but important ways. I have learned the importance of sticking up for what is right and for what I believe. I have learned the necessity of common decency and neighborly caring.
These are all mysteries. These are all secrets into how to live a life that really matters. That is what sainthood is all about: finding out how to live the life that really matters, and then passing on that secret. Faithfulness, trustworthiness, loyalty, courage, honesty, and integrity are at the heart of sainthood, but an equally important ingredient is a willingness to share the information. Generosity and gratitude are equally important ingredients.
B. Saints are bearers and imparters of the mysteries of life and faith. Many of these mysteries have to do with basic values such as integrity, honesty, self-giving, community service, trustworthiness, etc. These are mysteries because there is no instruction booklet that tells you how to have integrity, or to be honest, or to give of yourself. You just have to do it, and you learn how to do it by observing someone else do it. That’s what a saint is – someone who just does it.
III. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews, whom some scholars think might actually be Phoebe, the benefactor of Paul, waxes eloquent about all the biblical figures who demonstrated their faith in whatever set of circumstances life met them with. “By Faith…” “By Faith…” We can add to the list people we have known who have borne the mysteries of life for us. “By faith…”
IV. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”
V. Run the race – for the sake of joy. Saints are those in our midst who persevere, and who show us how to hang in there, knowing the joy that lies, sometimes hidden, in very core of each moment, even the cross-filled ones. We are surrounded.
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