Sinners and Saints of God's Redeeming

 All Saints Sermon 11-1-20

Grace to you and peace from God the creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

How many of you remember when you were baptized? If you were a baby, and DON’T remember, let me remind you what happened that day. In the service of baptism, we are publicly acknowledging the fact God loves you and has chosen you to be his beloved child. If you were a baby, your parents promised to raise you so that you could live into this reality, both with their help and with God’s help. You would be welcomed into the company of God’s saints.

The truth is, we’re still going to mess up. Being a saint, a beloved child of God, does not mean that we are going to be perfect and nice all the time. That is not the Lutheran understanding of a saint – we don’t believe you have to be extra holy or perform miracles to qualify. We ALL are saints.

But… We’re still going to get frustrated at our kids or grandkids. we’re still going to want yell at people in traffic or for not wearing a mask. We’re still going to screw up our relationships and spend our money on things we don’t need and make judgments about people who are different from us.

But this is why Jesus didn’t just skip ahead to the cross to get to the “dying and rising for us part,” though that part is SUPER important, of course. Jesus knows that we need help, he knew we can’t do it alone. That’s why he walked around for three years saying stuff like “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Stuff that really is pretty obvious, but is actually really hard to do.

Martin Luther was on to something when he described our both-at-the-same-time realities like this – we are both 100% sinner and 100% saint, at the very same time. A few years ago at a conference in Philly I attended, one of the presenters greeted us this way… “Good morning saints…” (meager response) “Good morning sinners.” (robust response). Yes, and it went EXACTLY like that!!

THESE are the saints –those who don’t have it all together, those who carry heavy burdens with no one to help them, those who do good deeds behind the scenes with no notice, those who are lonely and ignored, those who humble themselves and serve others. Jesus calls THESE people saints. And I am sure that we can all find ourselves somewhere on this list.

God loves you. And God chose you as a beloved child of God. A sinner yes. But also, a saint.

At the end of every funeral service, we hear these words: “Into your hands, merciful God, we commend your servant. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive them into the arms of your mercy…. And into the glorious company of the saints in light.”

We lost many of our beloved saints this year, members of our community who we loved and valued. Where each and every one of them prefect in every single way? Certainly not. Were they still God’s saints? Absolutely yet. And Someday, we will too will join the saints who have gone before us, and rest in the arms of God’s mercy as we are laid to rest in the presence of our loved once. Today we remember them, and today we remember that promise. We are sinners redeemed by God, and saints of God’s own flock. Thanks be to God, amen.