Dear Saints,
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is upon us, as is All Saints Day, and this reminds us of those people who have held a tender place in our hearts.
We remember them, and we are thankful to have journeyed with them for a season.
Who are the saints you remember, and as you remember these names, what is it about that relationship which you carry with you most intimately?
Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, the pastor at House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, speaks powerfully about saints when she shares the following:
“…In the church, we do the very odd thing of proclaiming that the dead are still a part of us, a part of our lives, and are even an animating presence in the church. Saint Paul describes the saints as “a great cloud of witnesses,” so when they have passed, we still hold them up, hoping perhaps that their virtues … might become our own virtue, our own strength.
“…It has been my experience that what makes us the saints of God is not our ability to be saintly but rather God’s ability to work through sinners. The title “saint” is always conferred, never earned. Or as the good Saint Paul puts it, “For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). I have come to realize that all the saints I’ve known have been accidental ones —people who inadvertently stumbled into redemption like they were looking for something else at the time….”
(taken from Accidental Saints – Finding God in All the Wrong People)
Saints are not perfect people. Saints are those who seek to point to the work of God’s constant grace in their lives.
Saints are those who speak of the redemptive love of Christ on their journey.
And saints are those who witness to the surprising and startling work of the Spirit from one moment to the next.
Those who I remember this week were far from perfect, but they each offered, in unique ways, the reminder that being in relationship mattered.
As those who are called to be saints, and as those who are in relationship with God, maybe we can offer the same to those whom God places in our path today.
“To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ…”(Colossians 1:3)…thank you for your good work in the name of the Resurrected One.
It is good to be on this journey together.
God’s peace to you.
Neil
