Readings may be found by using the search function on the Oremus website. The readings are:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 34:1-10
Revelation 7:9-17
Matthew 5:1-12
Have you ever heard of Thomas Cranmer? How about William Tyndale? You probably know of Columba, but what about Monnica? Hold on, and I’ll tell you who they are.
First off, they are all saints of the church, people whom the Church commemorates and honors for their commitment to Christ and for being in some way examples of faithful living. Ever since March, Kirk and I have been reading about such people during our daily worship, using a book that ties them to particular days of the week, usually the day of their death. There have been some fascinating people and fascinating stories.
Some are people we might recognise as major saints of the Church, because they are mentioned a lot in the Bible. Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for example, who were Apostles, spreading the faith. Or Matthew and Luke, who wrote Gospels, telling the story of Jesus.
There are others who are also major saints, but we might not recognise them as easily, such as Philip the Deacon. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 8, we hear how the Holy Spirit sent him out to baptise and preach.
And there is James the Just, brother of Jesus, bishop of Jerusalem who mediated in a major dispute about converting Gentiles to the faith. If he had not solved the dispute in the way he did, we might not be here today as Christians. James was later beaten to death because he refused to obey the authorities when they told him to stop telling people about Jesus.
Then there are people who are not major saints but who were examples of faithful living or who did something that helped to spread the Christian faith. I mentioned Thomas Cranmer. He wrote the first Anglican prayer book, which set the foundation for all the Books of Common Prayer to follow over the centuries and throughout the world.
William Tyndale started to translate the Bible into English about 500 years ago. He managed to translate the New Testament, and some of the books in the Old Testament, before he was betrayed and put to death in 1536. It might be amazing to us now that someone would be hounded and executed for translating the Bible into English.
Columba is one of the three major saints of the Irish church, born in the year 521. He built monasteries in Ireland, before setting sail and washing ashore on the island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland. From the monastery he founded there, monks went forth to build many more and to convert others to the Christian faith.
And Monnica was the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, back in the fourth century. She prayed that her son might become a Christian, and he did, becoming one of the most important theologians of the Church.
I mention all these people because today is All Saints Day, a major holy day in the Church. This is the day when we remember and commemorate the saints of the Church, both the major ones and all the ones who are lesser known. After spending seven months reading short descriptions of such people and their lives, I am struck by a few things.
First, they are all very different. It is tempting to think of “saints” as people who are very well-behaved, who are all the same and are kind of boring, as if they have been stamped from a bland dough with a cookie cutter. But saints are all quite different. Some were leaders in the church, bishops or priest or deacons. Some were teachers, some writers, some monastics, some missionaries, some campaigners for justice. Some died of natural causes, old or young, and some were put to death for their faith.
Second, there is nothing at all boring about saints. They are real people, with distinct personalities — quirky sometimes, courageous perhaps, compassionate. Perhaps the thing they have in common is that God has reached into their lives to transform them and use them for God’s purposes in the world, and they did not say no. They did not turn their backs on God or decide that it was too much bother to follow Christ.
The third thing that strikes me is how important such people are to those who come after them. The other day I said to someone that we “catch our faith” from others. In other words, it is possible for God to reach into a person’s life and help them to believe, even if no one around them has a shred of belief in Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour of our souls. But how much better and easier it is to believe if someone around us shows us what it means to have faith, and if we can see what a difference it makes in their own life. At one time, I did not believe in Christ, nor did I want to. But I came to believe through the faith and influence of several friends, and some people I worked with. Some showed me the love of God, and with others I could see that because they had faith, they were able to survive through great adversity with integrity and strength.
I caught my faith from these people. I came to see that a life following Christ was far, far better than a life without such faith. But I was converted not only through these people whom I knew. I was also converted through the saints of the Church, major and minor.
I was converted by attending Anglican worship, where I heard some of those prayers Thomas Cranmer had written centuries before.
And I was converted by reading the Bible, in English.
And in the Bible, I could read about St. Peter’s struggles to be true to Christ even when he was afraid, and St. Paul’s sudden conversion on the road to Damascus, and Mary of Bethany sitting at Jesus’ feet soaking in his words, and Philip the Deacon teaching the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus and then getting caught up by the Spirit to go somewhere else.
And I was converted by going to the isle of Iona, when I did not believe a shred of anything about Christ, and experiencing the holiness of this place where Columba had been.
And I was converted by reading the writings, and especially the beautiful prayers, of St. Augustine of Hippo, whose mother Monnica had prayed that he would become a Christian.
We catch our faith from others, from those around us whom we know personally, who show us the power of believing in Christ, and from all those saints of ages past, who had enough courage to let God reach into their lives and shine the light and power of Christ through their own particular gifts and personalities.
I am told that All Saints Day historically in Ireland has had great importance because of the tradition of remembering the dead at this time. We look to heaven, where the saints of all the ages are gathered with God, eternally giving glory to God, free from the woes and travails of this world. Jesus told us of the multitude of the saints, of their variety and the power of their faith, when he spoke the words in Matthew’s Gospel that we call the Beatitudes. I will end with his words:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’
Amen.