Daniel 7:1-3,15-18
Ephesians 1:11-23
Luke 6:20-31
Holy Week of 1997, I had been dating my wife-to-be for 9 months (she says 7 months) when her parents first visited and we shared a dinner of fresh West Coast salmon. I found a bone in the fillet and immediately thanked Saint Blaise. Perhaps needless to say (to Lutherans … but a surprise to me, a life-long Catholic), their eyebrows furrowed in a statement of ‘Saint Who?’.
I dutifully explained that every good Catholic school kid got his throat blessed prior to Lent each year with a blessing from Saint Blaise, the patron Saint of throat maladies, by having a pair of candles crossed about their neckline as the appropriate incantations were voiced. Not understanding that they thought the candles were necessarily lit, I was unaware why they found this absurd. I later explained, to nearly as quizzical faces, that the candles were, of course unlit. While it became surprisingly evident that everyone’s registry of best-known Saints did not include the obscure patron saint of throat maladies, what we agreed upon was that the lives of the Saints were often remarkable and outside of our purview to replicate in our own lives.
As Pastor Mohn points out, these were extremely pious individuals, extraordinary disciples, sometimes martyrs … who met excruciating circumstances and ‘came out the other side’. They are ‘other-worldly’ and share some ‘pure sense’ about life. We are not sure, any of us, where we rate in the balance. I loved when Pastor Mohn added, “I’m not even qualified to talk about it … and I’m the Pastor!” (but you CAN obtain your own personalized Saint certificate at www.sainthood.com for a mere $39.95, and for just $10 more, you can add your photo!)
As Pastor Mohn points out, these were extremely pious individuals, extraordinary disciples, sometimes martyrs … who met excruciating circumstances and ‘came out the other side’. They are ‘other-worldly’ and share some ‘pure sense’ about life. We are not sure, any of us, where we rate in the balance. I loved when Pastor Mohn added, “I’m not even qualified to talk about it … and I’m the Pastor!” (but you CAN obtain your own personalized Saint certificate at www.sainthood.com for a mere $39.95, and for just $10 more, you can add your photo!)
She also reminded us of Martin Luther’s interpretation that Saints are people ‘close to God’ and those who spent eternity in God’s presence. As a people who look forward to a life after this life, we find meaning in the example and sacrifice of the Saints.
Pastor Mohn pointed out an interesting notion – that our Baptism is an unearned gift from God, and a covenant that makes the lives of the Saints possible. And this, in part, because of something else Martin Luther kept close by his soul side – that we are sinners ALL. Pastor Mohn points out that, as Lutherans we always have the tension of opposites. As sinners, we are broken and separated from God. We have a vague sense every morning that we should be more, do more, that we are not who God created us to be, we need to ‘get it together’. We are sinners and Saints both – holding the tension together.
What will become clearer in the coming weeks will be that Jesus tasked us to ‘be there’ for one another. What characterizes the Saints, at least in part, is a complete connection with others. The life of a Saint is very hard – it requires us to fight where the attention of the world says to focus. A Saint wakes up everyday and says:
I am addicted … to sin …, but I WILL try … again … to seek help today.
Pastor Mohn summarized her sermon with a notion of Saints as espousing the topsy-turvy nature of Jesus’ calling …
What the Saints know is that power does not come from strength, but rather from vulnerability, receiving comes through giving, life comes out of death.
In her book on Jesus brand of Omega leadership, Laurie Beth Jones illustrated that
“Jesus was always seeing things differently. Sometimes we can only see the underside of the tapestry, with all its nubs and knots and mismatched threads. Jesus could see both sides of the tapestry, and he came to tell us how it would turn out.”
Like Jesus, we are given the lives of the Saints to show us how things could be and should be and how one can work to make them reality.
Pastor Mohn pointed out an interesting notion – that our Baptism is an unearned gift from God, and a covenant that makes the lives of the Saints possible. And this, in part, because of something else Martin Luther kept close by his soul side – that we are sinners ALL. Pastor Mohn points out that, as Lutherans we always have the tension of opposites. As sinners, we are broken and separated from God. We have a vague sense every morning that we should be more, do more, that we are not who God created us to be, we need to ‘get it together’. We are sinners and Saints both – holding the tension together.
What will become clearer in the coming weeks will be that Jesus tasked us to ‘be there’ for one another. What characterizes the Saints, at least in part, is a complete connection with others. The life of a Saint is very hard – it requires us to fight where the attention of the world says to focus. A Saint wakes up everyday and says:
I am addicted … to sin …, but I WILL try … again … to seek help today.
Pastor Mohn summarized her sermon with a notion of Saints as espousing the topsy-turvy nature of Jesus’ calling …
What the Saints know is that power does not come from strength, but rather from vulnerability, receiving comes through giving, life comes out of death.
In her book on Jesus brand of Omega leadership, Laurie Beth Jones illustrated that
“Jesus was always seeing things differently. Sometimes we can only see the underside of the tapestry, with all its nubs and knots and mismatched threads. Jesus could see both sides of the tapestry, and he came to tell us how it would turn out.”
Like Jesus, we are given the lives of the Saints to show us how things could be and should be and how one can work to make them reality.
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