The text for today is a prayer for the church. (See above) The writer is essentially saying, “Hold the hand of a saint.” Find a saint in memory or in the present moment and take his or her hand. 

Who is a saint? There is a story of two brothers who lived in a small town. Both men were rowdy and unpleasant. They had few friends and many enemies. They had become very wealthy by cheating people and cheating in business. Both were members of the Methodist church. It just so happened that the church was in the middle of a capital campaign.  

One day, one of the brothers unexpectedly died. The day before the funeral, the surviving brother came to the Methodist Minister and placed a check in front of him. It was dated for the next day - the day of the funeral. The surviving brother said, “Reverend, you can have this check for the full amount of the rest of the capital campaign if in the funeral tomorrow you will say that my brother was a saint.” 

The minister prayed hard. He certainly wanted the check, but he wasn’t quite sure what to do. Finally, the next day at the funeral he read this statement: “The departed was an evil man. He cheated on his wife and many of you. You know the kind of person he was. But compared to his brother, he was a saint.” 

That afternoon he went to the bank and deposited the check. 

Who is a saint? Frederick Buechner writes:

“On All Saints Day, it is not just the [famous] saints of the church that we should remember …but all the foolish ones and wise ones, the shy ones and the overbearing ones, the broken ones and the whole ones, the despots and the crackpots of our lives, who, one way or another, have been our particular fathers and mothers and saints, and whom we loved with out knowing we loved them, and by whom we were helped to whatever little we may have or ever hope to have of kind of seedy sainthood of our own.” 

What is special about the saints of the faith? I read a story about a woman who sends All Saints cards every year. She sends at least one each year. She sends it to someone who has been a saint in her life. If they happen to be gone from this life then she sends the card to a spouse or to a son or daughter.  

I invite you today to take the hand of a saint. Who might that be? If you were to go to a Halloween party dressed as your favorite saint, what would you wear? Who would you choose and why? What is it about him or her that leaves a lasting impression on you? I suggest some possibilities. I suggest the kind of hand you might take. 

THE HAND OF FAITH 

For one thing you can take the hand of great faith. Have you known someone or someones of incredible faith, someone who lived very close to God? Someone who was or is profoundly close to God? They may not have been easy to live with. They certainly may not have been perfect. But they had great faith. Do you remember someone who put his or her hand into the hand of Jesus and never let go? 

These are not people in the history books, but they are people in your history. These are not powerful people, but they are powerful in your memory. They are ordinary people who grasped the hand of God and did not let go. 

I remember the choir director in my first church. He was retired from the Westinghouse Air Brake Company in Wilmerding, PA. He was not easy to live with or work with. He was temperamental. He was not an easy saint, but he was one I shall not forget. I shall not forget him because he walked with his hand in the hand of the Lord until his very last breath. 

A Clergy colleague called at the bedside of a dying member of his congregation. “Are you afraid to die?” he asked. Then using language he knew the man would understand, he asked, “Are you afraid to cross over the River Jordan?” The man replied, “No way am I afraid.” “Why not?” asked the pastor. “Because” the man said, “My God owns the land on both side of the river.” 

Take the hand of someone like that. One person defined a saint this way: “A person so grasped by a religious vision that it becomes central to his or her life in a way that radically changes the person and leads others to glimpse the value of that vision.”

Take hold of that hand of faith. Whose hand is it for you? 

HAND OF A SERVANT 

Or, you might take hold of the hand of a servant. A saint is always a servant. He or she is someone whom service is a way of life – someone who was convinced that the kingdom issues are the most important. 

My father was a very able man. He was very bright. He had good people skills. But he graduated from college in the midst of the Depression. He took the only job he could find and stayed with it most of his life. He once told me, “Brian, I think I could have been a president of a company or maybe even a large corporation.” The fact is that he chose to be a servant of the kingdom all of his adult life. 

William James once said, “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast you.” Who do you know that spent their life for something that will outlast them? 

Servants choose to give themselves to a local church. Servants choose to give themselves to the connection (our term for the larger United Methodist church). Servants choose to give themselves to mission. They choose to spend a life doing things that add to the quality of life and are responsive to human needs. Servants see God’s clear call in all these choices. 

Somewhere I read this:

“Medical researchers are now finding scientific proof for what Jesus taught so long ago – that giving of self to others is actually a form of receiving…Persons who regularly volunteer their time heighten their overall zest for living and increase their life expectancy…Love remains the only gift that multiplies when you give it away.”[a]

Take the hand of a servant. 

THE HAND OF A GIVER 

For another thing, take hold of the hand of a giver. The saints are people of incredible generosity. In this generosity, they reflect the very nature of our generous God. They put their charitable giving to work for Kingdom issues. They are generous to a fault. They have no desire to accumulate more stuff. 

We Americans have become the world’s greatest accumulators. An illustration of this is in the self-storage industry. This industry is booming. There are now at least 55,000 self-storage facilities throughout the United States. That means that there is 7 square feet of rented storage space for every man, woman and child in America. 

One writer says:

“This insatiable desire for more is the result of an overwhelming sense of incompleteness, which is the result of the insatiable desire for more.”

It’s a vicious circle. 

Take the hand of a saint who lives incredible generosity. Take the hand of a saint who knows what it means to give, to tithe, and to give beyond the tithe. Take the hand of a saint who knows the promise of God which goes something like this “God will generously provide all you need. Then you will have plenty left over to share with others.” (Paul, in the Corinthians letters) 

A retiring Justice from the U. S. Supreme Court was asked, “Of what accomplishment are you most proud?” He answered, “I was proud that I did the best I could with what I had.” 

Erich Fromm once said, “Not those who have much are rich, but those who give much.” 

Winston Churchill was reported to have said, “We make a living by what we earn, but we make a life by what we give.” 

Paul implies this in his letters. He says, “The saints will excel in generosity.” Clearly, Paul is not writing about fundraising, but about faith raising. 

The history of Christ Church is a history of great generosity. I have known so many generous people over these 26 years. It was great generosity that put in this pipe organ 19 years ago. (The 20^th anniversary of the pipe organ will be marked next September.) Then a short time later a generous family in this church placed the grand piano and the electric keyboard into the sanctuary. It was tremendous generosity that built the Christian Life Center 11 years ago. Generosity dreamed and funded a piece of property across Highland Road, which now waits a definition for ministry and mission. Incredible generosity produced an outpouring of resources for the Nydaire United Methodist Mission in Zimbabwe. 

Years ago I preached a sermon under the title “Knowing when to tear up your pledge card.” (The finance committee was not happy with that title) What I said was, “It is probably time to tear up your pledge card when you no longer believe that the church offers what the world needs.” 

Saints are those who have believed that the church offers a place, a purpose, a program, a path and a people. 

I believe that this church offers the assurance of all of these. I hope you do as well. I hope that you will make that known in the coming days. 

THE HAND OF PERSEVERANCE 

Finally, take the hand of a saint who has demonstrated perseverance. Someone who is steady, secure, steadfast and solid.  

When I arrived here many years ago, I received a letter from one of the members. This person wrote, “Christ Church has been through many peaks and many deep valleys. We intend to remain faithful in the days ahead.” I thought then and I believe now that that the words are a demonstration of faith’s perseverance. 

Someone wrote these words from “The Gospel in Jazz.”

You can punch my lips so I can not blow my horn.

But my fingers will find a piano.

You can slam the piano lid on my fingers.

But you can’t stop my toes from tapping.

You can stomp my foot to keep my toes from tapping.

But my heart will keep on swinging at 4/4 time.

You can even stop my heart from ticking.

But the music of the saints will never cease.

Take the hand of someone who has persevered in faith. 

Who is the most immediately remembered saint in your life? Whose hand would you like to hold? I like this comment. “The wonderful thing about saints is that they were human. They lost their tempers, got hungry, and scolded God. They were testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still, they went on doggedly blundering toward heaven.”[b] 

We are not talking here about perfection. We are talking about persons in your life who doggedly demonstrated the great faith, a heart for service to the human family, generous giving, and perseverance in the journey. 

One of our great hymns of the church is familiar to most of you. Two lines go like this:

Like a mighty army, moves the church of God.

Know that we are treading where the saints have trod. (UMH 575) 

My grandmother had a favorite expression of surprise and delight. Whenever we would arrive for a visit, or whenever something especially good happened, she would always exclaim, “Saints preserve us.” I suspect she knew something of the power behind that expression. 

I pray with our New Testament writer of this day. I pray for you and for myself as well:

“I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge…” 

Grab hold of the hand of a saint. Then live joyfully and boldly into God’s future.