Happy All Saints Day! What is a saint? A saint is a person who loves the Lord. There are capital-S saints and little-s saints. Capital-S Saints are like the Virgin Mary, Mother Teresa, and St. Mark. They have been canonized by the church. We look to them as role models and ask them to pray for us, like asking a brother or sister here on earth to pray for us. It is no different because they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ. Then there are the lower-class, little saints. Those are like you and me. The church has not canonized us. But we are working on it. We try to love the Lord, and some days are better than others.
Why are we celebrating today? Today, we are rejoicing and giving thanks and praise to the Lord for all that he has done for us, and for others in Christ Jesus. We rejoice because Christ allows us to have a relationship with God.
We rejoice because we are his children. He claims us as his, and in our baptism, he wrote his name on us. We rejoice because Christ rose from the dead. He did not stay dead long; he is alive today, and he is well. He overcame death and the grave, so death is not the end of us. We rejoice because those who are in Christ are also alive in him. Death is not the end. A person does not just live on in our hearts or our memories. It is an actual place. Heaven is real. Jesus said, “I will go and prepare a place for you.” It is a real place.
Today, we have hope. We have hope for ourselves, and we have hope for our loved ones, who have gone before us. We have hope because we will be with God forever. We celebrate that we get to continue to love him, even after our death. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me shall have eternal life.” If we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will have eternal life. One day, we are all going to get to see the face of God and stand in his presence.
We long to see God, more than seeing the people that we miss. It is hard some days because we really miss those people that we love. Our Lord also hurts, and he understands us. He cried for Lazarus, his friend, when he died. One day, we hope to see the face of God and be together in God’s presence. God will come and wipe away every tear from our face. There will be no more pain, no more suffering, and death will be no more. There will be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain, and we will be in the presence of God.
Isaiah was a prophet, and he encountered God’s presence. In Isaiah 6, the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on his throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him, and each had six wings; with two they covered their face, and with two they covered their feet, and with two, they flew. One called to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots of the threshold shook at the voices of those who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
I do not know if it was as much smoke as what we have today. But it was full of smoke. Isaiah said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah was in the presence of God, who was high and lofty, and the tip of his train filled the temple with glory. Isaiah was there with unclean lips. He was a sinner and impure.
Only holy things can be in the presence of God because God is holy. Isaiah says that one of the seraphs flew to him, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched his mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed, and your sin is blotted out.” The coal from the altar touched Isaiah’s lips and made him clean. Usually, it goes the other way around: if something is unclean, the uncleanliness spreads.
I remember when my daughters were in preschool, and they loved glitter. I hate glitter. That is why they went to preschool, so I would not have to deal with glitter. At home, we would have glitter in the kitchen, and the next thing you know, it was all over the kitchen table. Then it was all over the kitchen floor. Next, it was all over the bathroom, the faucets, and the toilet seat. Then, it traveled upstairs to their bedroom. It was all over the floor and the carpet, in the beds, in your hair, you in your eye, in the car. It was everywhere! Sin is like glitter; it is uncleanliness, and it spreads without even noticing. Unclean spreads and does not clean itself.
God comes to Isaiah and makes him clean. God takes away his guilt. It is amazing, and God did this so Isaiah could be in the presence of God almighty. The coal came from the altar. God made Isaiah worthy to stand in his presence. It was not something that Isaiah did. Isaiah did not prove himself worthy before this happened. He did not earn it. He did nothing to deserve it. He didn’t even ask for it. He knew he was not holy, and he was in deep trouble because he was in the presence of God. He knew he was lost and a man of unclean lips.
God does the same for us. God comes to us and provides us with Jesus to restore and make us whole. Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension make this possible. We are made clean and holy because of what Jesus has done for you and for me.
Today is a special day. We have special flowers and special music. We have incense today, and special prayers for those we love, who are nearer to the Lord. We are going to pray for them to rest in peace and for them to have light perpetual shine upon them. Yes, we miss them, and we still love them, and their love for us does not stop. They do not forget about us; they still love us, and they pray for us.
It is okay to miss them. It is okay to cry and be sad. Those that are with the Lord are part of the great cloud of witnesses. They worship God, they pray for us. They do not have to worry about what to fix for dinner or being on time for a vestry meeting. They do not have to worry about anything. They can pray for us and get to worship God. They have no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering; they are in the hands of God, and nothing torments them. They’re in good hands in a few minutes; we are going to have Eucharist, and we will join with heaven. Earth and heaven will join in worshiping God. We will join all the company of heaven and earth and praise God. We join with all the angels and all the archangels in worshiping God.
Jesus said, “Love the Lord with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, with all of your strength.” We know that saints are those who love the Lord with all their heart, and with all their soul, with all their mind, and all their strength. Jesus did not say, “Love the Lord only when you feel like it.” He did not say, “Do it when it’s convenient for you.” He did not say, “Do it when everything’s perfect,” because that time will never come. He said to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength, and to do it 24/7, 100 percent, all the time. Make God number one in your life. Make God the Lord, the king of your life.
This is a daunting task! There is no way we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make this happen! We cannot do it without God’s help. God comes to us, and he helps us! In a few minutes, in the Eucharist, he comes to us with his body and blood, to give us strength, comfort us, forgive our sins, and strengthen us. He makes us holy by his presence. The angel who came with the coal for Isaiah’s mouth came from the altar; God comes to us from the altar, as well, with his very own flesh and blood, to make us whole.
How can we not love the Lord in return for all he has done for us? We celebrate the big S and the little s, the S/saints in heaven and on earth. We celebrate what God has done for us. We ask the Lord to help us to become saints because he has called all of us to be saints.
We ask the Lord to help us to love and trust him more. We ask him to help us to love, serve, and go wherever he leads us, even if we are afraid. Even if that place is a surprise, or if it is someplace that we do not want to go. Today, we give thanks to God for all the S/saints, and for all the people who love the Lord. We give thanks and praise to God for helping us to be saints on this journey.
