No one asks to be
born. We’re all here because of decisions that our parents made. No child is
born because of what he or she did, but because of what someone else did first.
We’re children of God in the very same way. We never asked to be born into
God’s family. God, in the fullness of love and grace, adopted all of us into
his holy family before we could even understand what that meant. Now, we like
to think that we asked to be there. We like to think that we came to God all on
our own! But we didn’t. What actually happened was that we responded to God reaching out to us, and we reached back. Long ago,
when we were tiny babies, before we could respond to much of anything except
cold and hunger and pain, God set us apart to be saints.
That’s what the word
“saint” means. It comes from a Hebrew word that means “set apart.” Now, we
think of saints as being perfect. We think of Mother Teresa, or Martin Luther,
or Martin Luther King; and we imagine them as human beings who never did
anything wrong. But if any of them were here this morning, they would laugh
when they heard that. They would be quick to tell us that they weren’t perfect! They would recite a
whole list of flaws that they lived with every day. Martin Luther would tell us
that his temper frequently got the better of him. Martin Luther King would
confess that he made very bad decisions sometimes. (Don’t we all?) And Mother
Teresa would admit that she didn’t think she had a very strong faith. Can you believe
that? But her letters that were published after her death reveal a deep doubt
about her own faith. Everyone is imperfect, even the Christians who have had
the most impact on our world. They aren’t saints because they were perfect!
They are saints because they are children of God, just like we are!
And God’s children
are at all kinds of places in their growth. Some are little baby Christians,
just beginning to understand who Jesus really is. Some are like teenagers. They
question everything that they have been taught about the faith because they
want to make it their own. Others are mature adults. They know what following
Jesus means, and they do their best to it the very best way they can. And a few
get all the way to seasoned old age. When we look at those folks, we marvel at
the depth of their faith, the extent of their love for others, the joyful
service that they offer to God, and the wisdom that they willingly share. But
whether we’re little baby Christians, somewhere in our middle age, or wise in
the faith, God loves all of us. After all, parents don’t just love their
children after they are grown up and successful. They love them as soon as they
take their very first breath! God loves us like that, too. God sets us apart to
be in his family – to be saints – as soon as we have life and identity. We have
all been saints since our first breath; and we’re all saints right now –
children of the God who loves us, who adopts us, and who has a place prepared
for us when our earthly lives are over.
As we remember the
saints from this congregation who have gone on to glory; as we remember the
saints in our own lives; I hope that you not only give thanks for their lives
that touched ours. I hope that you also give thanks for your own adoption into
God’s family. I hope that you give thanks that you, too, are a saint. Because
you are! Thanks be to God!
