Who are the Saints?  Reflecting over a very busy and difficult past few weeks, I am blessed to know a lot of saints.  So many helping hands have reached out to various members of this congregation and the community because of illness and flood.  I am humbled by people’s generosity of spirit, by their caring and their compassion.

Who are the saints?  The first letter of John gives us one definition, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”   Another name for children of God is saints.  Because that is what we are when the love of God is the central focus and the core of our lives.

Saints aren’t just those women and men who have been canonized by the church, but all people whose lives reflect the goodness of God.  I’d like to call such people saints, Everyday Saints.

Sometimes extraordinary circumstances, like our flood, bring out the everyday saints.  It is everyday saints who donned work clothes to raise and rebuild Romeo and Nita’s trailer after the flood.  Every day saints from churches and temples around Vancouver are flooding (no pun intended) into Squamish to help with the relief cleanup.

Other times, we hardly notice the everyday saints. They are the ones who see needs and respond; and unless you happen to be in the right place you don’t notice them. Even if you did notice them, you might be tempted to think they were helping out because that’s who they are, or they are the ones who have the time.  But they are the ones who give from their love of God.  Perhaps taking soup to someone who is sick, or cleaning their home, offering prayers in church, visiting, or walking with someone: countless acts of charity and kindness.

Last week at the Labyrinth Workshop, we walked the labyrinth outside by candlelight.  As I waited for my turn to enter, I closed my eyes to pray, and I then could hear the gentle swish of people walking past me.  Some were walking in front, some behind, some on my side, some close, some far away.  I was reminded of the saints moving through history who I didn’t know about or see, but who were/are nevertheless visible to God. I wondered what the world sounds like if the goodness of saints is the only sound you hear.

I am equally grateful for Everyday Saints who have donated hours for the good of this church, and our witness to God’s love in this community.  As a community of saints, children of God, that is what we offer to the community ? the love of God.  A flea market might not seem to be about the community of saints.  But it is.  Countless hours and energy, donations of time, talent, and money for one purpose: to help support the ministry of God’s love in the community.  Just as each one of us has been given the light of Christ to carry, so too our faith community carries the light of Christ.  As a community of saints our Christian practices (habits) form a way of life, a way which is not shaped primarily by a cultural style, class, nationality, or age.  Rather, our way becomes visible as we ordinary people, everyday saints, search together for specific ways of taking part in the practice of God, as we faithfully perceive it to be in the complicated place and time where we live.

Robert Ellsberg, in his book All Saints, Daily reflection of Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for our Time, defines saints as people who, “ in some partial way, embody---literally incarnate—the challenge of faith in their time and place.  In doing so, they open a path that others might follow. “   Everyday Saints are people who have said yes to the call of God in their lives ? and have found a way to express that yes.  In the living out of their yes, they show others a path of how to follow.  Saints are not perfect people.  They have their faults, idiosyncrasies, and weaknesses.  They have their own struggles and difficulties.  Even the canonized ones are noted to have been difficult to live with, because of some of their unique mannerisms.  Yet, the saints are people of integrity.  They have a central focus at the core of their lives; the love of God.  They consistently choose to act out of that central reality, no matter how ordinary or extraordinary their lives may be.

This morning we gather to our hearts all those who have influenced our lives with their love and goodness.   Although they have may  passed on to the other side of this live, their lives continue to affect who we are and what we do.  You are invite after the following prayer to share a story of an everyday saint who has influence you by their faith.

Let us pray:

Divine Light, Radiate Holy One, Light of all Lights,
We call upon all the saints to be with us.
We remember how each one brought a touch of your light into our world.
We recall how each one reflected the radiance of your goodness.
We now recount their loving deeds and rejoice in their faithfulness.
Amen.                                               (Joyce Rupp, Out of the Ordinary)