November 4, 2018, All Saints Sunday

Today is All Saints Sunday. Some saints in the Bible have their own, special day on the church calendar, like St. Peter (June 29) or St. John (December 27). In the history of the church, there have been many martyrs and evangelists and teachers who are remembered on the day of their birth or the day when they were martyred. One such famous church saint is St. Patrick who preached the Gospel in Ireland (March 17). We remember these people as special models for our faith life. They give us courage to preach the Gospel even under persecution. They give us strength for our daily life. But there have been many, many great Christians who are not famous, many who are unknown or not remembered. All Saints Day gives us an opportunity to thank God for them.

And today we remember not only the famous saints, but we also remember those saints who are special to us personally. We remember our parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, or other people who have influenced our Christian lives. That is why we have a special memorial prayer today in our worship service.

What is a “saint”? The word “saint” means “a holy person.” But what makes a person “holy”? “Holy” can mean “pure” and “without sin.” But the saints were not holy because they lived sinless lives, rather they were forgiven by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. None were completely sinless because they lived in this world of temptation and sin.

Or are the saints holy because they are the people of today’s Gospel reading, Matthew 5:1-12? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mournful, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted.” Sometimes, the saints were like that. And they can be models so that we can learn to be like them, even if being like that means that we will be persecuted. But they are not holy because they are like that. Their charcter does not make them holy. They live that life style because they were first made holy.

Today I want to define the word “holy” in this way: to be holy is to be connected with God who is holy. For example: I have two books. This book is an ordinary novel. This book is the Holy Bible. It is holy because it is the Word of God. It is God’s book, therefore it is holy. Baptism water is holy. It is different than ordinary drinking water because it is connected with God’s word and God’s promise, “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” Holy Communion is holy because it is body and blood of Christ; therefore it is different than regular sandwich bread. These things are connected with God who is holy.

What makes a person holy is that that person is connected with God. The connection is Jesus Christ. The grace and love of God sent Jesus to this world. Christ became a person, born, suffered, died, buried and arisen. Christ connected himself with us. That means forgiveness, life and salvation. Forgiveness means that we are not broken off from or separated from God. We are connected, and that is what makes us holy.

In Holy Baptism we are connected with God, and that makes us holy. In the Holy Communion, Christ reminds us of his covenant promise and we are made holy through his holy body and blood. We are holy. We are saints.

Now officially, even though we are saints of God, today’s celebration of All Saints Day is not about us who are still alive. Yet we join with the whole church and all Christians of all places and all time to praise God whose praises are eternal and infinite.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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