Sermons for the Month

Saint Search
DATE: November 5, 2000
SERVICE: All Saints Sunday
TEXT: Mark 12: 28-34

“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

This is All Saints Sunday. Believe it or not there are some people on the internet clamoring for a new saint. Or maybe an old one who's ready to become the patron of a new realm.

Meet the already sainted Isidore of Seville, last of the ancient Christian philosophers, probably the most learned man of his era and an immeasurably influential instigator of education in the Middle Ages. He was the author of the 20-volume magnum opus Etymologiae, and an indefatigable compiler of the world's existing knowledge. It was a bulky tome, but jam-packed with useful data.

For his efforts, Saint Isidore has been placed on the short list of spiritual superstars being considered for the role of patron saint of the Internet. And why not? Pasta eaters have their own patron saint. So do tax collectors, beggars, seekers of lost causes, students and people with sore throats or troubled marriages. Maybe the time has come for a certified cyber-saint.

Support is growing for the idea, with Isidore an early favorite. Also in the running is San Pedro Regalado who was said to have appeared in two places simultaneously, at the monasteries of La Aguilera and El Abrojo, which lie 48 miles apart. In addition to this miracle, the priest was a renowned navigator - so in terms of exploring the world of virtual reality, you'd have to say that San Pedro Regalado has been "all over the map."

But some folks are objecting to attaching a saint from the past to technology of the present. They suggest finding a modern figure. How about ... Saint Gates of Microsoft?

Naaaah.

So, just what or who is a saint? Today's passage from Mark drops a few hints. Someone asks Jesus what is the greatest commandment, and he responds by citing the Shema - "Hear, O Israel ... you shall love the Lord your God" - and adding "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:29-31). When the questioner affirms Jesus' response, Jesus says, "You are not far from the kingdom." Even though this curious questioner is not a bona fide, official, one-of-the-twelve disciples, he is able to grasp and accept the truth of Jesus' teaching.

Sounds like God is on a saint search, looking for people headed for the kingdom. The qualifications seem to be acknowledging that God is the one true God, and then showing love that flows in two directions, to God and to our neighbor. In other words, a saint is not necessarily a scholarly superstar like Saint Isidore of Seville, or even a supernatural steeplechaser like San Pedro Regalado ... instead, a saint is simply a person who lives out an intense devotion to both God and neighbor.

But can we spot them? Not necessarily, at least not at first glance. Back in the 1920s, a divorced woman worked for a series of leftist periodicals and lived a bohemian life in New York's Greenwich Village. In 1927, she became a Catholic, and then led a quiet rebellion within the church to reach out to the poor, the needy and the desperate. She was a pacifist, an anarchist and a crusader for social justice - not your standard-issue saint!

And yet, her name is being processed these days in the great saint-making machine of the Roman church, even though she said before her death in 1980 that she wasn't interested. No joke. This woman, Dorothy Day, lived one of the most highly-regarded lives in the modern church, but said she never wanted to become a saint because she didn't "want to be dismissed that easily." During the depression, Day set up a network of soup kitchens where people could come to eat and sleep, and her Catholic Worker movement - as well as her following - soon spread nationwide. But Day resisted accolades and attempts to portray her work as anything but ordinary. She saw herself as a simple woman seeking to live in the gospel - a person who demonstrated nothing more than an intense devotion to both God and neighbor. God went deep into the most desperate parts of a sin-sick city and came up with Dorothy Day, a woman whom the archbishop of New York recently called "a model for all in the third millennium."

But wait a second ... not everyone's a saint. In fact, most are far from it. What about those who are a long way from the kingdom, or at least on a significant detour? How did they lose their way? And how can they find their way back?

Some get lost because they haven't received good directions from earthly parents or haven't learned how to listen for guidance from God. They are the ones who have never even heard of the seven habits of highly effective Christians let alone practice them.

Others stray because their judgment is clouded - they are driving while drugged, drunk or debilitated by earthly desires. Others race after big thrills and big money, losts of toys and risk losing their hearts, souls and minds in the process.

But there is always hope because God is always saint-searching. Kathleen Norris tells the story of a friend named Willie who had fallen in with a drug dealer in Wyoming and dreamed up a scheme to make some truly big bucks. Willie thought that things were working out just fine - making good contacts, setting up a network - but one day he and his colleague were cruising down the road when the drug dealer saw a man traveling the opposite direction. "I need to kill him," said the dealer quite matter-of-factly, reaching for a gun that was stashed under the front seat.

"It was right then I decided to get out," said Willie, badly shaken. "This was over my head." And that, concludes Kathleen Norris, is where salvation begins - in the sudden awareness that a particular path is leading to death, in the naming of something as "wrong," and in taking steps to turn away from it. And it is continued in the unexpected and astounding action of God to free people from whatever is holding them in bondage.

The way back to the right path - the kingdom path - always begins at the very same place: At the point where God in Christ reaches across miles and missteps and a multitude of messy mortal mistakes, at the point where Jesus wraps his arms around the shoulders of wayward, wandering souls and gently guides them back. Christ doesn't discard people because they're moving down an imperfect path - look at how warmly he addressed the scribe in today's Scripture lesson: Jesus said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." (v. 34). Nor does he disqualify people who have made a mess of their lives before finding the right road - Dorothy Day became quite Christlike after having had an abortion, a divorce and a child out of wedlock.

My friends, God is forever on a saint search, and it is not only perfect people who are going to be found. Sure, there may be some who are born with the natural ability to love the Lord with the totality of heart, soul, mind and strength, 24/7/365 - but for most of us, this passion and power come only after we discover that God has always loved us, and that his love precedes our own.

This morning we remember nine members of Faith Lutheran Church, who this last year passed away from our presence only to find themselves in the love of our Lord: Roy Anderson (1/3/00), Lowell Chrisman (1/5/00), Dorothy Ederer (1/17/00), Frances Scholl (2/6/00), Archie Linden (4/1/00), Betty Gross (6/11/00), Flora Schild (7/2/00), Clyde Boose (9/5/00) and Clara Frankenfield (9/13/00). None of them, I am sure, would tell you they had been saints all there life. Fact is, most of them found the Lord only after they had been found by the Lord in baptism. In other words, they were--are--now saints not by their own doing but by God's love. But each loved the Lord and tried after their fashion to love one another. We who are here today can rest easy knowing that because of God's love, we will someday be reunited with those we love and those who love us.

But until that time, God asks of us only that we respond with that same level of passion ... loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength ... and showing a willingness to love our neighbors as ourselves.

If we do, we'll be God's saints, set apart for his service. Can't get more holy than that.

AMEN

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