You’ll notice in this month’s newsletter a new feature. It is Jim’s idea. A question and an answer. It’s your chance to ask any of those questions you’ve always wondered about, but for whatever reason, have never received an answer. In most cases you probably haven’t received an answer because you have never actually asked the question. But this Sunday after All Saints’ Day brings to mind a question that you may have asked. Yet, even having asked, you might still be unclear on the answer.

I am quite often asked how a person gets to be a saint in the Episcopal Church. I usually respond by launching into a lengthy discussion comparing and contrasting Episcopal theology with Roman Catholic hagiolatry, pointing out that the Episcopal Church has no formal process for beatification or sanctification. Furthermore, it’s important to emphasize that we are "Protestant" in our belief that we do not pray to saints seeking their favor in interceding for us with God. Rather we offer our prayers directly to God. Yet Episcopalians cherish saints. We name our churches after them. But we often distinguish between "capital letter S" saints and "lower case" saints… saints that are mentioned in Holy Scripture versus all those others who have lived exemplary lives as Christians. All upper case and lower case "s" saints are listed in the Book Lesser Feasts and Fasts. But LFF is really just a calendar—there is a process through General Convention by which a name is placed on that calendar—so, in a way, that’s one way to become a saint in the Episcopal Church. But that misses the whole wonderfully inclusive idea of the "communion of saints…"

And that’s when it hits me. All those people who have asked me that question probably still don’t have a clue about an answer… It’s a simple question. Surely there is a simple answer. An answer to hang on to and remember. So how does the Episcopal Church make someone a saint? It doesn’t. The church doesn’t make a person a saint. It is the individual who makes herself or himself a saint. I just recently read the best definition of a saint I have ever seen. A saint is a person who helps God take care of the world. Thus, people make themselves saints.

Saints are people who help God take care of the world. A simple definition, but profound if you think about it. When we use the word "saint" in our daily speech, we tend to use it to mean much too little, or, on the other hand, too much. Remember the definition: a saint is a person who helps God take care of the world. Yet we often use the word more lightly. We say someone is a saint if she is patient. Or we call a man a saint if he is brave. Anyone whom we think is admirable becomes a saint. How often have you heard a woman described as a saint (it seems it’s usually a woman), because she puts up with a challenging spouse? Or on a more serious note, we often refer to those who do difficult work as saints… those who teach, those who care for the mentally ill, those who nurture a parent with Alzheimer’s.

These people may be saints. But to automatically equate bravery, patience, or generosity alone with sainthood is to demean the lives of true saints. It takes more than patience to be a saint. It takes God. God is at the heart of the lives of saints. Saints are those people who, by their bravery, patience, or generosity, help God take care of the world. Not every hero is a saint. Not every philanthropist is a saint. It is not our place to judge whether an individual’s life and work is saintly or not. But it is our responsibility to remember the true meaning of the word. If we casually refer to every good or noble person as a saint, we have robbed true saints of their godliness. And we have robbed ourselves of a world in which godliness exists. To show reverence for the real definition of a saint is to show reverence for God and, at the very least, it is to remind ourselves of God’s presence and care for the world. Saints are those who help God take care of the world.

This definition of a saint also reminds us, though, that saints are not only the famous martyrs of the church. If we, in our minds, confer sainthood only on those individuals who are known throughout history as people who gave their lives for the faith, we miss the meaning of sainthood in the other direction. We ask the word to mean too much. If we think of saints as only those individuals who were larger than life in the history of the church, then we remove the saints from our own not-larger-than-life lives. We exile ourselves to a world where saints do not exist. Saints are all those, in any time and place, who help God take care of the world. Saints are those who honor God’s call to respect the dignity of every human being and therefore speak up in the face of bigotry. Saints are those all of those parents and children who nurture one another in the Lord. Saints are those who stop to help any of the least of God’s children in need. Saints are all those who work to improve human stewardship of God’s creation. Saints are those who teach and heal and care for the bodies, hearts and souls of others.

Saints are more than just good human beings. Yet saints are not superhuman either. Saints are everyone who helps God take care of the world.

When I was a girl, a saint of the church taught me the marvelous hymn, "I sing a song of the saints of God." I don’t remember her face or her name, but she would have been a Sunday school teacher at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Sunday School teachers help God take care of the world. The author of the words for this hymn—a mother of three—has said that they were written "not for publication, but for use in our own nursery, as an expression of the faith we were trying to give the children." That’s the work of a saint. She continues that this hymn was meant for use "on Saints’ days, to impress the fact that sainthood is a living possibility today." As a girl I knew the entire hymn complete with hand symbols. I still pretty much know it, although I sometimes get the order mixed up where it says, "one was a shepherdess, one was a queen, one was a priest…" But the most memorable lines for me come at the end. The author, Mrs. Scott succeeded in her purpose to make real the living possibility of sainthood today. I will always remember the final strain— "the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too."

And I mean to be one, too. And you can be a saint, too. If you want. Nobody’s making you. You don’t have to. But you can. If you want to. You can be a saint, too. All you have to do is help God take care of the world. And remember, you just have to help. You don’t have to save the world all by yourself. (God’s already done that.) And God will be with you to help you see what it is in particular that you can do to help God take care of the world. It may not always be easy, but God will give you whatever it is you need to do your part as a saint. God will give you patience, strength, courage, wisdom, a sense of humor, whatever you need…

You can be a saint if you want to be. It won’t just happen, though. You can’t become a saint by just sitting still and thinking about it. You have to do something. You have to do some sort of work that helps God. And although being a good person, or a brave person, or a patient person is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t really make you a saint. The hymn reminds us that the saints of God "followed the right for Jesus’ sake;" they "toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew." Saints, after all, are saints of God. Saints do not just help the world; they help God take care of the world.

One was a doctor, and one was a queen and one was a shepherdess on the green, says the hymn. One was a soldier, and one was a priest, and one was slain by a fierce wild beast. It’s encouraging to know that one was a priest. Something about the way I hear that line has always seemed to me to imply that not all priests are saints. But one saint was a priest. At least one priest was a saint. So it is possible for a priest, even for me, to be a saint. To help God take care of the world.

How does someone become a saint in the Episcopal church? You can be a saint. If you want to. If you want to help God take care of the world.

Comments are welcome.  Send to krisorr@att.net

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