Looking Ahead to November 6, 2011 -- All Saints' Day Celebration

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Revelation 7:9-17
• Psalm 78: 1-7 (VU p.792 Part 1)
• Matthew 5:1-12

The Sermon title is Saints of Peace

Early Thoughts: What is a saint? Who are the saints in your life and history?

From Dictionary.com we get:

saint [seynt]
noun
1. any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life, formally recognized as such by the Christian Church, especially by canonization.
2. a person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence.
3. a founder, sponsor, or patron, as of a movement or organization.
4. (in certain religious groups) a designation applied by the members to themselves.

And further down the page it notes that the word comes the same roots as sancitfy, or to make holy.

SO who are the saints in your life, in your history?

In the Revelation passage for this week we see some of the saints.  They are those who have stood firm in what they believe is right, even at the cost of their own death.  In the Matthew passage we are given a potential description of what the saints might be like.  Traditionally the word Saint has been used (within some strains of Christian thought) to refer to specific people who have been recognized by the church for their gifts.  On the other hand the idea of the communion of saints (small s) has also been used in Christian tradition to refer to all those who have gone before us, the cloud of witnesses who have formed and reformed our communities.

So who are the saints in the life and history of your commmunities?

This Sunday is also the SUnday before Remembrance Day.  The point of Remembrance Day is not so much to remember teh dead, but to pledge Never Again.  Through the eyes of faith I see peace as being something distinct from what happens when the guns fall silent.  Peace in that form could simply be because the strongest crushed the weakest.  But with the eyes of faith peace means a win-win solution.  Faith calls for true peace, peace through justice, peace where all get what they need for life (and that in abundance).  How do the saints in our lives help lead us to peace?
--Gord