Ordinary Saints
Ordinary Saints by Rev. L. John Gable
June 2, 2019
We come this morning to the next affirmation in our study of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the communion of saints”, and I can’t quite decide whether this is the introduction of yet another aspect of our faith, or is simply a continuation of the phrase we looked at last week, “I believe in the holy, catholic church.” Let me review for a moment what we talked about last week because a number of you weren’t with us, apparently there was some kind of sporting event in town.
Historically the Church, the Greek word being “ekklesia”, referring to a community or company of believers who have acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus Christ, so not a building, has been defined by four characteristics, as being, “one”, “holy”, “catholic” and “apostolic.” When we say that the Church is “one” we are affirming that while there are many churches – and certainly there are – there is only one Church because there is only one foundation, just as the body has many parts but only one head, that being Jesus Christ. When we say the Church is “holy” we are not suggesting that we who are a part of it are holy, we know ourselves too well to make that claim, but that the One we worship and serve is “holy.” It is not that we are members of a “holy club”, but that we believe in a “holy God” who has “called us out and set us apart” to live lives which reflect His Lordship.
We confess as well that the Church is “catholic”, which has long been a confusing statement for those of us who are protestant. This is not referring to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the Church “universal.” This is the affirmation that the Gospel message applies to, and is intended for, all people in all times and places, which leads to the fourth characteristic of what has historically been called the “true Church”, that being that it is “apostolic”, meaning that our preaching and teaching today is consistent with that of the first apostles, the first witnesses and evangelists, of the faith. These four lead us to the affirmation that we look at today, that we believe in “the communion of saints.” What does that mean?
Again, it might be helpful for us to unpack our terms a little. The Greek word we translate as “communion” is “koinonia” which we best understand as being a “fellowship” or “gathering”, which is another good reminder to us that the church is not a building composed of brick and mortar and stained glass, but is a “fellowship of people, of believers.” Recall the early church did not meet in stand- alone structures at all, but in people’s homes, as do many of our brothers and sisters around the globe still today.
This then touches on one of the great debates of Christendom, who then belongs to the Church, and conversely, who does not? I remember hearing the argument that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car, and while a clever turn of phrase, the early Reformers of our faith may not fully agree. The Reformers, Calvin and Luther and the like, would argue that the Church exists wherever the Word of God is rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. Wherever and whenever people hear and believe the Word of God there is the Church. Hearing the Word of God unites us, one with one another, as the fellowship of believers or the “communion of saints.”
So how do we know who is part of the Church universal and who is not? For starters that is not for any one of us to decide, however, if you were with us last week you might recall my touching on the idea that there are two different models often used to define our relationships with one another, “the boundary set model” and the “center set model.” Those who identify with the “boundary set model” define their relationships in terms of “us and them”, those who are like us and those who are not; those who agree with us and those who do not. As a result they draw a boundary which defines them in relationship to others as being either “in or out.” In contrast, those who hold to a “center set model” look to those principles or beliefs that are central or essential to them and their faith. They seek to identify those things which unite them rather than define those which divide or separate them from others. I believe the Church historically has functioned from this “center set” model, holding that the One who unites us is greater than anything that seeks to divide us or as you have heard me often repeat the great Moravian saying, “In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things love.” That saying reflects “center set” thinking, which means that when it comes to trying to answer the question as to who is and who is not a part of the “true Church”, while of course it is not up to any one of us to make that determination, I do believe the boundaries can be wide as long as the center holds, the center being a shared confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
The second term which needs some defining in this phrase of the creed is “saints.” Who might they be? You might be surprised to hear that they are the likes of you and me, rather than an exclusive group of those who have been canonized because they have lived extraordinary and exemplary lives of faith. The Apostle Paul frequently addressed his letters to “the saints” living in the particular community to which he was writing. “Saints” then are not somehow “perfected people” but are those who are called out and set apart by God; who are “holy” even as the Church is “holy” because they belong to the fellowship of those who acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That means you and I, we, are “saints”, warts and all, not because we are holy, but because the One we worship is holy; not because of anything we have done but because of what God has done for us and is doing in us, through Jesus Christ.
One day two little boys were walking through a great cathedral looking at all of the stained glass windows when one of them asked, “Who are all these people?” The other answered, “They are saints.” Unfamiliar with what that meant the first asked, “What’s a saint?” His friend wasn’t quite sure, so he answered, “A saint is someone the light shines through!” Perfect answer.
One of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner, describes a saint in this way: as being “a life-giver who makes others come alive in a new way, a garden-variety human being through whose life the power and the glory of God are made manifest even though the saint him or herself may be standing knee-deep in muck.” A saint is not then a member of an exclusive club of the sanctimonious, but is someone who is as “ordinary” as you and me, who day in and day out yield their lives to God and seek to do His work and His will. Buechner urges us to look at the ordinary, to listen to our lives and seek God in the most unexpected places, for that is where God will most likely be found. Friends, look around you, you are surrounded by “ordinary saints.” How do I know? Because I see the light shining through you.
Ordinary saints take off early from work on Thursday afternoons to help tutor a child. They serve a meal or sit and chat with a neighbor at the Open Door soup kitchen. They offer a couple of hours a week to coach a team or a couple of days of their vacation time to take the youth on a mission trip. They give of their finances because they see a need or want to support a cause. They pound nails and donate furniture. They smile at the clerk in the grocery store who is having a hard day and offer to pray for their neighbor who is sick or who has suffered a loss, and then actually do pray. Ordinary saints ensure that their employees are paid a fair wage and that their employers are given their best efforts and honesty. They hold babies in the nursery and visit hospital rooms and nursing homes and prisons and homeless shelters. They look for ways to bless others as God has blessed them by seeking to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. They share their faith in ways that are gentle and genuine and put in to practice things that will help them grow in their love of God and others. Again, look around you. You are surrounded by “ordinary saints” and you are one of them as you let the light of Christ shine through you.
There is one last aspect of this phrase “the communion of saints” that we need to touch on. Just as the Reformers wrestled with the question as to who is and who is not a part of the true Church, so they also wondered about the Church “visible and invisible”, the part of the Church we can see and those parts we can’t see, the part of the Body of Christ that sits and worships and serves with us here and then that part of the Body that has gone before us and is yet to come. They too are part of the “communion of saints.”
In our lesson from Hebrews, after the writer has recited a great litany of the great heroes and heroines of the faith, he writes, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” The writer makes it clear that while this race, this journey of faith, is uniquely our own we do not run it or walk it alone. We are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses”; those we can see and those we cannot. The image is of the runners entering the arena at the end of the marathon and the great cloud of witnesses standing, cheering them on. Who are they? They are the “communion of saints”, those we know and those we don’t, those with whom we enjoy fellowship today as well as those who have gone before and even those who will follow, the faithful who have heard the Word of God rightly preached and received the sacraments rightly administered, which brings us to a second and perhaps more common definition of the word “communion”, even as we are invited to come to this table where we will receive the body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for us and our salvation. This “ordinary” bread and cup has also been made “holy” as it too has been “set apart” for this special purpose. Here, we too are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses” who participate with us in this foretaste of the great banquet feast in the Kingdom of heaven we call “communion”, and so we join our voices with them using the words of Charles Wesley in his beautiful hymn, “O For 1000 Tongues to Sing”: “To God all glory, praise and love, be ever, ever given; by saints below and saints above, the Church in earth and heaven.”
Imagine that, the likes of you and I, as part of the communion of “ordinary” saints. Amen.