The example of the saints

Sermon for All Saints Day 2019

God of holiness,

your glory is proclaimed in every age:

as we rejoice in the faith of your saints,

inspire us to follow their example

with boldness and joy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Inspire us to follow their example. In the traditional collect that idea is extended – we ask to be inspired to follow the saints so that we may join them in the joy of being in heaven.

Do you have a favourite saint?

The first saint I gave much thought to was St Barnabus, the disciple of Jesus and cousin of Peter who became one of the first church leaders and evangelists. Barnabus was a generous giver to the church, whose name was a nickname – his given name was Joseph – and means ‘son of encouragement’. Barnabus was an encourager. He took Saul under his wing and helped him to be accepted by the rest of the church and to develop the powerful ministry we remember him for. Barnabus travelled widely, showing Paul how to be an evangelist, but it is Paul that we remember – Barnabus was willing to fade into the background for the sake of the gospel. Barnabus famously fell out with Paul over his encouragement of his nephew John Mark, who had previously let him and Paul down. Paul later saw that Barnabus had been right to persevere with Mark, and wrote to Timothy about how much he had come to depend on Mark.

I was given the nickname Barnabus too, by the choirmaster at the church where I grew up, and when I learned the story of the saint of that name, I wanted to follow his example. I wanted to be a leader whose particular delight was to encourage and enable other people to become all that God has in mind for them to be, and perhaps to fade and be forgotten as I walk away and leave a church being led by the leaders I’ve had the privilege of helping. That has meant learning, as Barnabus did, that once they are confident leaders, those people will sometimes hit back at you, criticise and reject you. It isn’t an easy calling, but I aspire to follow his example still.

One of my other favourite saints is Therese of Lisieux. I learned about her when visiting Lisieux on holiday and found myself drawn to her, and reading her works. Called to religious life very young, Therese led a life of beautiful prayer and wrote down what she learned of God’s love. She had a particular desire to pray for priests, and I’ve come to believe that her prayers are ecumenical and extend well beyond Roman Catholic priests. Not long after I learned about Therese, I was called into a particular strand of ministry – training curates – that meant I had a special focus on supporting priests. Although I don’t train curates any more, my duties as a Rural Dean mean that I have a particular care for priests in this area, and so the example of Therese remains an influential one for me.

One of the newest official saints in the church is Cardinal John Henry Newman, the Anglican priest who was at the heart of the Oxford movement, bringing revival and renewal into the Church of England during the Victorian period, before joining the Roman Catholic church and being part of the change in approach that enabled the Roman Catholic Church in England to be more positively accepted within wider society. St John Henry Newman wrote down a lot of his beliefs and ideas as prayers and poems, some of which have become popular hymns. Three in particular are likely to be familiar:

·       Praise to the Holiest in the height – a remarkable theology of Christ in poem form

·       Firmly I believe and truly – a sung creed

·       Lead kindly light (direct my steps/keep thou my feet – I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me)

My mother-in-law is very interested in St John Henry Newman because he spent so much of his life and ministry in her home area in the West Midlands. Very often there is some sort of personal connection, however spurious, with a saint. The nickname I was given that drew me to St Barnabus was unconnected to the saint, but the coincidence was enough for me to find someone whose example I wanted to follow. 

Throughout history people have sought such examples. They’ve tried to follow saints connected with their trade, for example: Agatha, patron saint of bakers and nurses; Blaise, the saint of vets; Charles Borromeo – catechists, which today might be interpreted as home group leaders or children's leaders; John the Baptist for farriers; Lawrence for librarians; Matthew for accountants; Patrick, for engineers; Stephen for bricklayers or Vincent de Paul for volunteers.

Every one of us who is baptised is called to the life of a saint, a life that is about carrying the light of Christ and shining it so that others can see the hope, the joy, the life, the grace of God that is theirs too if they are willing to join us. Every one of us is called to carry that light in the world. We offer those who are baptised a tangible symbol of their baptism, a candle that is a reminder to them to ‘shine as a light in the world, to the glory of God the Father’.

All Saints Day is a reminder not just of the privilege of that calling which we all share, but of the saints who have gone before us. The famous, and sometimes less well known, ones who have been recognised by the church and given the title ‘saint’, with perhaps a special day, and a patronage of a place or a profession or a group of people. And also the ones known to us. The saints who have been part of our lives, our churches, our families or communities; the saints who were the ones who shone that light into our lives, and perhaps passed on the task to us. So, for example, for me there is Walter, the one who gave me that nickname, and showed me how to find God in music, to pray with hymns like ‘praise to the holiest in the height’, and to see them as something much more than musical entertainment. Walter who first enabled me to see that I could follow the example of Barnabus and do something much bigger with my life than I had imagined as a child.

In a moment of quiet, I’d like to invite you first to think about your favourite saint. What is it about that saint that you admire? Have you followed that example in your life – and if the answer is not yet, how might you do that?

And then, who are the saints who shone the light of Christ for you to know? Perhaps a parent or other relative, or a teacher, or someone from a church? Take a moment to thank God for the witness of that person to you.

Finally, as you live out your baptismal calling to shine as a light in the world, how can you follow the example of the saints? What can you do to shine out the message of the gospel to others?

Father God, help us always to be willing to shine your light, never being tempted to cover it up. By the power of your spirit, give us the boldness and the strength to shine, as others shone for us, and the wisdom and ability to follow the example of the saints who have gone before us. In Jesus name.