On this All Saints Sunday, I have a quiz for you. It’s from Charles Schultz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. So, here’s the quiz: (You needn’t answer out loud.)
1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America crown.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s World Series winners.
How did you do?
The point is, most of us don’t remember yesterday’s headliners…even these, who are the best in their fields. The applause die. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten, the accolades and certificates are eventually buried with their owners.
Here’s another quiz (answer silently):
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
Do better?
(You’ll have an opportunity to name these silently or aloud during the first communion music while the cantors chant The Litany of the Saints.)
Charles Schultz observes the people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.
On this All Saints Sunday and Stewardship Ingathering Sunday, we’re focusing on the people, the “saints” we’ve known, and who have made a real difference in our lives. These are the saints, with a small “s.” They may still be alive or ones we’ve known who have died, but they’re the ones who practice God’s love and blessing in their ordinary, yet extraordinary ways. On All Saints Day, we remember these saints as well as the ones
formally acknowledged by the Church like Peter, Andrew, James and John; Mary, Martha, Julian and Theresa.
When I think of the people, the mentors, who have made all the difference in my life…the saints I’ve known…I am overwhelmed with gratitude. They are the people
of Christ Church Detroit who taught me as a young adult that even I am a child of God, loved and capable of loving. Then I think of the supervisors and members of my Clinical Pastoral Education groups, who taught me to take risks by sharing something of my real self with others. Through them I learned to trust…one of the hardest things I’ve ever learned to do. And there are the Spiritual Directors who have helped me become aware of God’s constant presence. And there’s my Uncle Lee: So wise. So curious. So fair. So powerful. So generous. So humble. And the teachers and priests who opened the Bible to me, and helped me see God’s word is alive and living today…That our stories are part of “The Story” of God’s Salvation History. And I think of the parishes I’ve served, and especially you of St. James, who have shown me over and over again how God’s Spirit is alive and active in community.
When I think of these, and I imagine when you think of the saints God has placed in your lives, the feeling is overwhelming gratitude. It is in such a posture of gratitude that we can begin to see life as abundant, and then have the capacity to become a blessing to others. When we’re grateful, then we know the truth of that little stewardship sermon we preach every Sunday at the Offertory, “All things come of thee, O God. And of thine own have we given thee.”
The mentors and communities that have really mattered in our lives were given by God. We didn’t earn them or necessarily deserve them. They just came into our lives, and blessed us in ways we could never have asked for or imagined. So it is in God’s economy. So it is in the Communion of Saints, of which we are a part. We too can be the ones God uses to make a difference in someone’s life. God can use us to be a blessing to others. We cannot make that happen, but we can fill our hearts with gratitude for all that’s been given us. When we do that, we will become generous, and my hunch is that generosity will spill over into God’s world as blessing…
“For the saints of God are just folk like [you and] me, and I mean to be one too!” Don’t you?” Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment