Love, It's What We Should Do!

This was my sermon for All Saints Day.  We remember and celebrate the love of those who have gone before us.

“You’re good” were the words always whispered into my ear when I saw Father John Thomas. Sometimes he would pull me aside real close, and utter them in a really loud fake whisper, “you’re good” and then simply walk away. Sometimes he walked up to me with an angry look across his face, and as I tried to figure out what I had done wrong, he would whisper those same words “you’re good”, and then walk away. You could saying this was sort of his trade mark, but more importantly it was one of his many expressions of God’s love for all people.

Father John was ordained a priest in 1961. During his 50 years as a priest, he was also involved with a Christian camp for kids in Conneaut, Ohio called Sheldon Calvary Camp. The camp is operated by Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, but is a camp for all children. For 18 years he was the director and executive director of the camp, but for over five decades he was involved with the camp in one way or another. He lived and breathed Calvary Camp, and Calvary Camp was another way Father John expressed God’s love for all people.

I knew Father John when he was a retired priest at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, I was merely a middle-schooler starting confirmation class. As a part of the class, every student had to sit with the different members of the clergy, and ask them questions about confirmation. Looking back on it know, I have no idea why I was so nervous to talk to Father John, but after that little chat everything was different. When I ran into him, he was sure to walk up to me and whisper in my ear, “You’re good”. Father John passed away in January of 2012, but to truly give you an idea of how many lives Father John touched, I have to explain his funeral.

St. Paul’s in Pittsburgh is about 5 times the size of Church of the Holy Spirit. At Father John’s viewing, I have never seen the church more packed. A line down the center aisle and out the door of the church was formed by people from past congregations, camp counselors, kids from camp, friends of friends, and of course family.

And there is no doubt in my mind that every single one of those individuals was somehow, someway told by Father John that they were GOOD. Father John didn’t really ever have to SAY those words out loud to make his point. His love for others simply reflected in how he treated everyone, and he never had to say a word to show that you were loved.

Father John is a saint. In the gospel reading today the word saint is written with a lower case s, not a capital S. I can see the question that could possibly be popping into your mind, at least it popped into mine, what is the difference between a saint, with a lower case s, and a Saint with a capital S? Nothing, really. Okay, that’s not totally true, but there is some degree of truth in that statement. In the Episcopal Church, the capital S means that the person has been recognized with a Holy Day that we can celebrate during the year. And the second question that popped into my mind was how does someone become recognized as a saint in the first place?

The process starts at the local level by individuals venerating or recognizing a particular person and that recognition spreads across the country all the way up to the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. But we can find exactly what to do in the gospel this morning. The gospel reading is referred to as the Sermon on the Plain, which is the equivalent to the Sermon on the Mount from the gospel of Matthew, only from Luke’s perspective.

Here is the setting, a large crowd has gathered to listen to Jesus speak and to be healed. And of course, any time Jesus was giving a sermon it was instructing people on how to live out God’s love for all. To understand his sermon, let’s break down into three parts; the blessings, the woes, and then a call to love.

The first part is where Jesus is begins his sermon with the blessings, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Jesus is essentially connecting to the people who have come to listen to him speak. These individuals were poor and they were hungry, but that’s only surface level, let’s go a little deeper.

In order to do so, we have to look at the next part of the sermon the woes. He says, “But woe to you who rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.” When I first read this, I said to myself, wow, isn’t that a little harsh? Woe to people who are rich and who are able to eat? But this is where we have to go beneath the surface.

I interpreted these passages of blessings and woes as Jesus putting things into perspective for the people. What was currently the center of their lives? Was it money, food, or other idols? And if that was so was that what the followers of Jesus should be centering their lives around? Jesus was saying that everyone should be centering our lives on God’s love for all.

This leads us into the final part of the sermon, the call to love, even in the midst of difficulties. These are the instructions on how to be a saint. The final line of the sermon sums it up perfectly, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” We know this, it’s the golden rule.

Easier said than done right, and Jesus recognizes this difficulty. The words prior to that line were, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” And he continues, “and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.” Does this remind anyone of anything? My mind immediately flashed to a scene in a little play called Les Miserables. Quick synopsis, the play is about an ex-convict, Jean Valjean, trying to turn his life around.

In the scene Jean Valjean has been given shelter from the cold, fed, and clothed by the local priest in town. But in the middle of the night, Jean Valjean decides that he must flee and start his new life elsewhere. But before he flees, he steals some silver plates and cups to sell for money. Unfortunately for him, he is caught by the police. But before they take him to jail, the police take him back to the church and present him before the priest. The police try to convict him of the crime by asking the priest if the silver was stolen from the church.

At this point, it isn’t looking good for Jean Valjean, but then priest hands Jean Valjean two more silver candle sticks saying that the silver was a gift and he had forgotten to take these candle sticks. The priest essentially turns the other cheek, and shows God’s love by giving Jean Valjean the candle sticks, even though he stole from the priest. Jean Valjean goes on to turn his life around entirely, and the rest of the play he lives out God’s love in his own way. The priest and Jean Valjean are also saints with a lower case s.

Unlike the priest and Jean Valjean, our actions do not have to be acted out in a play or be super outlandish. All we have to do is live out the words, “do to others as you would have them do to you”, and we are living out God’s instructions on how to be saints.

Any act of love reflects God’s love for all. It’s easy to see in acts like making a batch of cookies, a smile, saying thank you, or perhaps a simple conversation, yes this shows love for others. But what’s more important is to show love in even the difficult situations. Like when we have been hurt, or something has been taken from us. We are challenged to show God’s love anyway.

Today, we celebrate All Saints’ Day in order to remember individuals who lived out God’s love for others, and have gone before us. But let’s not forget the saints that are still living amongst us, each and every one of you. You’re a saint, and in memory of a favorite saint of mine YOU’RE GOOD. Amen.