Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 24:1-6; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44 

The cult movie, Pow Wow Heaven, is the story of two young Aboriginal men who travel south from Montana together to rescue a friend and sister from a new Mexico jail.  One is a handsome, vibrant community organizer ready to conquer the world, advocating political change for his people using whatever means is necessary; the other is the nicest, most easy going person you can imagine, a six foot something hulk of a man, a happy-go-lucky soul without a care in the world.  An unlikelier pair of mates is hard to imagine.  However, the organizer needs a car.  The other has one of sorts--a fifty dollar clunker, his so called “war pony”.  Not surprisingly, their styles clash.  At one point the organizer snarls at his companion, “With everything bad that happens to us, with impoverishment, sickness, and pain, how do you stay so happy?”   

The response is simple but profound.  “No matter what happens, I always remember that I am a Cheyenne.  No one can take that from me.”  It resonates a sense of community that comes about only through living as part of that community, through total commitment. 

All Saintstide is a time when we remember all those Christians who have lived before us.  We celebrate that we are part of a community of believers.  People who have served Christ and who have lived the life of faith that we strive to follow.  It is a time to celebrate all the saints, not just those officially recognized by the church, but all those who did and who continue to contribute to the building of God's reign here on earth.  Even more importantly, it is a celebration of our call to be the saints of God, a call to live in communion with all of God’s people, to live as part of a vast crowd of witnesses who have served God in the past, in the present and in the age to come.  It is to know that in spite of impoverishment, sickness or pain, we are happy, for we are Christians, and no one can take that from us. 

Isaiah’s prophetic word comes to us across the ages speaking of a community whose eyes have been opened.  They see the glory of God which has been hidden from their view.   All of God’s people are reconciled one to another.  All sit together at the heavenly banquet table and share in the riches of God’s bounty. 

The psalm reverberates with the message that the whole of God’s creation is transformed as God welcomes the faithful into the heavenly city. 

The Revelation of St. John the Divine pictures all of God’s people, past, present and future, living in community in the New Jerusalem. 

And in the Gospel, we are called to a kind of seeing by which we understand more clearly than ever before what the purpose of life is.  We are called to faith, to new life in Christ, called to be saints.  That is probably the most difficult thing for any of us to accept.  We do not like to think of ourselves as being holy.  Somehow that is not cool.  Besides, are we not supposed to be humble?  It is probably okay once in a while on a Sunday to be seen actually praying.  But to recognize our call to be a saint!  That is asking too much.  Why, we might have to change the way we live.  We might have to acknowledge that we are Christians.  We might have to admit to our friends that we follow Christ.  We might have to acknowledge our sense of community, our sense of belonging to the body of Christ.  We might have to make a commitment.  We might have to live up to the promises of our baptism. 

What does it mean to be one of God's saints?  If you have been following the news lately you know that the Pope is in the process of beatifying Mother Teresa.  It doesn’t take a genius to know that she was a saintly person.  Her work amongst the poorest of the poor shows a dedication to the gospel that is so rarely seen.  But that puts sanctity, holiness, out of reach of most of us.  Perhaps we need to begin with what it does not mean.  It does not mean that we are perfect.  Our Christian life is a journey towards holiness.  We, like the saints of old, have come through ordeals – through grief, loss, unemployment, sickness, pain, suffering.  Yet we struggle to keep the faith.  We struggle against the indifference of the world.  When we are in the midst of pain and suffering, it is easy to feel as if we are alone.  But the wonder of it all is that we aren’t.  We are part of that great community, the communion of the saints.  Those who have given loyal service to God.  Those who have faithfully witnessed to the Gospel truth.

In George Bernard Shaw's play, St. Joan, there is a scene in which the young Joan of Arc is trying desperately to get the spineless, insipid dauphin, Charles, to take some initiative.  She becomes totally exasperated with him.  Shouting, she says, "Charlie, you have never learned that we are put on this earth not do our own business but to do God's."  That realization is the beginning of being a saint.         

It does not mean that we have made it.  It means that we are on the journey.  It means that we are striving to become.  Striving to become what God is calling us to be.  Striving to be transformed into God's own likeness. 

We are called like those who witnessed the raising of Lazarus, to see the glory of God.  It is a kind of seeing by which we are able to understand more clearly than ever before what the purpose of life is.  It may be coming to an understanding of evil or sin.  Such revelations transform us so that we are never again the same person. 

Since I got my dog Jewel, I walk first thing each morning, rain or shine.  Because I walk quite early in the morning, we are often the only ones in the park.  We walk up through Maple Woods where Jewel loves to play.  Sometimes I just do not feel like being there--it is just too cold, or too wet, or too early.  But somehow Jewel’s exuberance for life takes over.  Together we experience the wonder of God’s creation.  Birds flying overhead; squirrels chattering in the trees; wild flowers filling the air with their fragrance; the smell of new fallen rain, the change of seasons; the quiet and peacefulness of the early morning.  I always return relaxed, refreshed, ready to start my day.

Often, the transformation of our lives happens in strange and unexpected ways.  The stone is rolled back.  Like Lazarus, we step out of the cave into sunlight so bright that the world can barely be recognized for what we thought it was.  We discover God's way of looking at life.  Weeds and flowers become one and the same; our successes and failures, crying babies and crotchety old people, sumptuous banquets and dry bread, all become transformed by God’s grace. 

Like Lazarus, we are brought to new life by the death and resurrection of Christ.  Our membership in the communion of saints unbinds us to do God's work in the world.  We help one another to remove the things that bind us and keep us from living God's life to the fullest.  We accept our place in the communion of the saints of God.  We fulfill in our lives the commitment to our baptismal promises. 

May we know that no matter what happens we are Saints.  And no one can take that away from us.  May we live as the saints we are called to be.  Amen.