Good Shepherd United Church of Christ

"For All the Saints"                               Ruth 1:1-18
Nov. 1, 2009                                         Mark 12:28-34
Metairie, LA

A colleague of mine, who is a chaplain, called last week so we could noodle around about preaching on All Saints Sunday.  He is providing pulpit supply today.

He has read up on All Saints Day and noted that there seem to be 2 directions for a preacher to take.  One, to remember and feature one capital "S" saint, like St. Paul or St. Augustine or St Theresa of the Poor of India.  And urge ourselves to model on the virtues of that saint.

The other is to remember that all of us, all Christians, are saints, small "s" as illustrated by our two hymns this morning.  In Protestant tradition we are more likely to pick up the theme of every day saints.  And the scriptures of today, featuring the story or Ruth and Naomi, these point us to consider everyday saints.

This kind of small "s" sainthood has us aspire to be everyday saints, saints who are sanctified by the Holy Spirit at their baptism, small "s" saints.  In contrast to Saints, capital "S", who are nominated and voted into Sainthood by the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Small "s" saints have their portraits in our photo albums and on display in our conference room.  These small "s" saints are folks who keep the love commandment, the greatest commandment, alive in their hearts and in community.  These small "s" saints write a card to a bereaved person, drive Meals-on-Wheels truck, teach Sunday School, lead a Scout Troop.

Naomi was a small "s" saint.  She lost her husband, her sons and was returning to her homeland as a poor widow with no prospects beyond picking up leftover grain from the fields after the harvesters came through.  She reminds me of people who are dumpster divers outside restaurants, getting their meals from leftovers.  Indeed there is a national U.S. food program, which supplies food banks, named "Second Harvest" named after Naomi, who teaches Ruth her survivalist gleaning skills.

Naomi, despite her losses and her grim prospects, urges her daughters-in-law to return to their homelands, return to relative who will see for their well being.  Naomi is prepared to go it alone for their sake.  Naomi has a plan and a strategy for her loving daughters-in-law so it may go well with them.

She argues her case repeatedly so it will go well for them and at her own expense.  In the echoes of our gospel today, Naomi loves others as well, perhaps even better, than herself.  Naomi is a small "s" saint, never canonized by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, but remembered alongside Ruth for their love and loyalty in grim circumstances.

If you read the rest of the story, and I hope that you do because its a delightful story with some surprises that your Sunday School teacher never pointed out to you...if you read the story you will find out that despite their poor prospects, their losses, their poverty, that their sacrificial love and determined loyalty do win out over circumstances.  Eventually, they thrive, largely because Naomi is a crafty and cunning saint, wise in the ways of the world.  She coaches Ruth how to survive the ways of the world that do not favor impoverished widows.

Only this week I have had visits from three impoverished women, caring for grandchildren in two cases and caring for a dying mother in the other case.  Each of the three women without a husband in the picture.  Each of the women "gleaning", if you will, from the extras of our generally well off society.

They come to the church, usually after getting turned down by agencies, social workers, hospitals, school officials who cannot help.  Two of the women were about to be evicted.  Each had saved partial rent, but not the full amount.  The other needed gas money to get to Baton Rouge to pick up an official record of her nursing certificate to bring to her new employer.  I was able to help with that.

The women are every day saints with a small "s".  They glean; they care for one another intergenerationally, best as they are able.  Sometimes they "go along to get along".  Sometimes they are cagey and crafty like Naomi; sometimes they are naive like Ruth.

For me, it’s a blessing when they come by our church.  Because of some of the small "s" saints in our congregation we can always offer food from our food pantry.  And then the money can be saved for rent.  For me, I am touched that churches and ministers are still regarded as shelters from the hard times in life, as places where a person in desperate conditions can get something that helps.  Some food, a person who will listen to your story, a person who will pray with you and for you, if this is what you'd like.

I know this is not on Noreen's job description; nevertheless she acts like a small "s" saint when men and women stop by with sad sad stories.

When I speak with these folk, along with service agencies, I always recommend hooking up with a church community.  Last week one woman was Baptist, one was Church of God , one was ex-communicated Catholic because of her divorce.  Of course, I welcome our visitors to our church, if that's what they seek.

And I feel confident that anyone of these wandering impoverished souls could feel welcomed among us because we are a community of small "s" saints.  I trust that one of you will provide a loving word, a loving touch to a stranger in our midst.

So today we celebrate the small "s" saints: those in every time and place who commit their imperfect selves to live out the important commandment: love your neighbor as yourself.  That would be you- saint (name) and saint (name) and saint (name).  Now say quietly to yourself: saint (Ginger) using your name.  Now turn to your neighbor and call them by their small "s" saint name.

You are a saint- small "s".  You are God's saints, small "s"- take that home with you this week and live that out wherever you go because it is small "s" saints who fill the world with God-love, neighbor-love.

We are in stewardship season and we will be thinking about why each of us chooses (or not) to pledge a portion of our wealth to the church.  As for me- I pledge my portion because the church, for all its faults, continues to provide lots of small "s" saints.  A second reason I pledge my portion is because the church doors remain open to receive needy people like Ruth and Naomi as if they are God's beloved children.  I cherish these two functions of the church and I hope you do too.

Let the people say, "Amen"