Nobody's "All Saint", But We Are All Saints.

Pope Francis and Bishop Munib Younan, president of the Lutheran World Federation, 

embracing at a joint service of prayer yesterday!

"[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see,–Listen and do not hear–the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak … I want you to pray for me–that I let Him have [a] free hand."

Saint Teresa of Calcutta, 1910-1997

Years after Mother Teresa's death, it came to light from some of her private correspondence that she spent nearly fifty years--almost her entire time of ministering with the poor in the slums of Calcutta--deeply troubled in her spirit, unable to feel God's presence in her life. For some who had placed her on a pedestal,  this came as quite a shock. But for many who have had similar struggles, it made this "saint" of the church--officially beatified by the Roman Catholic church just a few months ago, in fact--a much more relatable person. Not perfect, but willing to love and serve anyway.

Our culture has a big problem with gray areas. It's always been hard to accept that those we lift up as paragons had real flaws. But in this election season, with our country more divided than any time in recent memory, we have become even more dualistic. Everything has to be black or white, good or evil, Us or Them, binge or purge, all or nothing, saint or sinner. It seems it can never be both. And one fascinating thing about dualistic thinking is that in a world of "heroes and villains", nobody ever casts him or herself as the "villain." No, the whole point of thinking that way is to boost our own ego, and make "heroes" of ourselves.

Since today is All Saints Day--and yesterday was Reformation Day--I'm thinking about the distinct witness that Lutheran Christians can have in our divided, "all-or-nothing" culture. You see, we don't view "Saints" in quite the same way that some other Christians do. We believe in a doctrine Luther and the reformers called "Simul Justus et Peccator" which means, "at the same time justified, and a sinner." The idea is we never stop being sinners. We can't. We live in a broken world, and every day we do and say broken things, we think broken thoughts,  and we contribute to a broken system. But also, every day, we are justified: we are made righteous by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for us. We are baptized children of God. We are holy.

The New Testament Greek word we translate as "saints" literally means, "holy ones." Paul consistently addresses his letters "to all the saints" in the place where he is writing. Does he mean the "holiest of the holy?" Just the most perfect ones? Nope. He means everybody. All the people in that congregation. All who are made holy, not by their own doing, but by God's doing in their baptism. A saint is a baptized person. You're a saint. I'm a saint. We're all saints. But nobody is "all saint". We're sinners, made holy by God's grace. We're saint and sinner. Every day. 

Yesterday, some saints from the Roman Catholic and Lutheran side of God's family got together for worship and prayer, and to sign a joint statement that will lead to more visible unity in the church. You can find out more here. It needs to be said: This would not be possible for us if we saw things in the black-and-white way the world sees them. That's what got us to where we were. Both Lutherans and Catholics have been responsible for horrific violence toward one another over these last 499 years. Everyone up there leading the prayer service, and everyone signing that statement, was and is a sinner, representing millions of other sinners. Martin Luther was a sinner, and he spent his life saying as much. Yet through the one baptism which unites us, we can recognize one another, even across historic divides, as saints of God.

And today as we celebrate the "saints" who have gone before us--loved ones who have died and are at rest--for many reading this there will be mixed emotions. Sometimes with "All Saints Day" comes a certain pressure to idealize people we've lost. To not "speak ill of the dead." We may feel uncomfortable when we think about troubled relationships we may have had, or ways we may have been hurt or victimized by these "saints". We may remember some of these "saints" with pain. Today, we need to remember that the "saints" who have gone before were sinners, too. And it's okay if we're still working on forgiving them. But by God's grace, we rejoice that we will see them again on the day of resurrection. And when that happens, all of us sinners, all of us saints, will be empowered by God's Spirit to truly accept that we're accepted: to fully take into ourselves God's forgiveness for all we've done wrong, and by doing so, be empowered to fully forgive others. In the meantime, we have the "foretaste of the feast to come", the Communion table, where Christ and ALL the saints--and sinners--join us for a meal. Come eat with us this Sunday. All of us.