November 1 will mark the traditional Christian celebration of All Saints’ Day. Talking about saints will conjure up images of ancient figures with halos or medieval stained glass windows. They are beautiful, but little more than a cosmetic addition to church, pretty people who do the courageous work of discipleship the rest of us could never do. Baptists generally leave the idea of sainthood alone entirely. But if that were the only way to view saints, why would Paul write to the Christians in Rome addressing “all in Rome who are loved of God and called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7)? We receive those words as Holy Scripture today, and should reckon with the implication that we are in that number, too.
All Saints’ Day is a challenge to everyone who has committed to follow Jesus and trusts his faithfulness. One writer put it this way: “All Saints Day is nothing less than a dare. It says to us: ‘Dare to be more. Dare to be a saint.'”
Don’t forget that a saint is a flesh-and-blood person like you, with strengths, weaknesses, appetites, longings, ambitions, disappointments and eccentricities. Sometimes, saints are figures of history, sometimes family, and sometimes neighbors. Always, saints are forgiven sinners. Nobody is born a saint. A saint something you become as God works your life into am ever clearer reflection of the image of your maker.
In his recent visit to the United States, Pope Francis named four Americans who exemplified important values he wanted to communicate in his address to the nation. Among them was a woman named Dorothy Day. An anarchist and communist from Brooklyn, Day was a journalist who spent many nights in self-indulgent nightlife. She lived through several unfulfilling relationships, once aborting a pregnancy in an attempt to keep a boyfriend (he left her anyway). She tried marriage once, but that broke up after a few months. Then she was drawn to Christ and committed herself to a relationship with him. Her conversion led her to embark on a tireless ministry to the poor for the rest of her life. Late in her life, people called her a saint. “Don’t call me a saint,” she said. “I don’t want to be dismissed that easily.”
Don’t dismiss any of the saints in your life, either. They have struggled with sin and temptation, stumbled and fallen, but show us how to get up again, trust God, and press on to the goal to which we are called in Christ.
You have been given what they have been given. You have been given a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ and power to live for him by the Holy Spirit. You have been given the words of Scripture to call, comfort and challenge. You have been given a church full of companions who teach, mentor, and inspire you to bolder steps of faith. Together, we are given a fellowship that bears witness to the love of God who is making something new out of this broken world and makes us part of that work.
Giving thanks for the saints reminds us of our great potential in Christ and reassures us that though no one is born a saint, by the grace of God you can become one!