Me a saint?  You have to be kidding.  God knows all of my faults and failures?  And, if I can't remember them all, my wife can complete the list.  Yet St. Paul can refer to us as those called to be saints.  How can this be?

President Franklin Roosevelt began a speech to the Daughters of the American Revolution with the words “Fellow Immigrants.” Of course, he was correct. Every single one of us is from an immigrant family—some have just been here longer than others. In keeping with truth in sermonizing, I should begin with “Fellow saints,” for today is All Saints’ Day and we all are saints.

The term saint is used in three different ways. For some, the most common usage is to recognize heroes of the faith. Some were early Christian martyrs, who died rather than deny their Lord. Others, primarily in the Catholic church, were people who through the years have made significant contributions to the faith. In the Lutheran church we have primarily confined recognition to New Testament figures like St. Paul and St. Peter. And judging from the names of Lutheran churches, St. Mary and St. Elizabeth are also included in the list. In the old Lutheran hymnal, the only non-Biblical saint listed was St. Lawrence, which is interesting. St. Lawrence was a treasurer in the early Church. Called before the Prefect of Rome, who demanded that Lawrence turn over the treasures of the Church, Lawrence asked from three days to make arrangements. He then disbursed as much of the money of the Church to the poor as he could, and then when he returned to the Prefect he brought with him the destitute and the crippled. “These,” he told the Prefect, “are the treasures of the Church.” The Prefect was not amused and Lawrence was grilled—literally grilled on an iron frame, heated by fire underneath.

The second use of the term “saint” is that in our Scripture from Revelation. In his vision John sees a great multitude, so many that they can’t be counted, from every tribe and nation gathered around the throne of God in heaven. These are the saints who have gone before us and are now with their Lord. There are some interesting things about these saints. There is a tremendous diversity. They are from every tribe and language. Maybe we should say that sotto voice, so that we don’t offend those who think that there will only be Missouri Synod Lutherans in heaven. And, it struck me, they are standing in the presence of God. They are not face down on the pavement, or even kneeling. They belong to be there. Who are these people? They are the ones who have come out of the “Great Tribulation.” In the context of the book of Revelation they would have been those who suffered persecution under Rome. Revelation reminded the people of John’s day that as bad as things were God had not forgotten or abandoned his people.

In John’s vision these people from every tribe and nation are there in the presence of God now, not at some future date. Time is part of the structure of our universe. We think in terms of past and future. But God exists in eternity which is an ever present now. It would seem to me that when we die we leave time behind and are at the point of judgment right then. It would then make sense that these saints have already passed through the judgment and have been welcomed into the presence of God. For this reason I am confident when conducting a funeral service to speak of the person who has died as already in the presence of our Lord.

A much more important question is not a matter of timing, but how did they qualify to be in God’s presence. The passage from Revelation is very specific. These are those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. That’s not a phrase that you hear often in Lutheran churches, but it is most certainly true. The saints that John is referring to are those who are there because Jesus Christ suffered and died on them. They are in the presence of God precisely because Jesus Christ shed his blood on their behalf. The blood washed robes are white to symbolize that all of their sins were washed away. Their guilt is cleansed. Every stain of sin is removed, not because of a perfect life but because our Lord has taken responsibility for their failures upon himself.

There is one other use of the word saint, a use that prompted my beginning by referring to you as fellow saints. Paul opens his letter to the Church in Corinth with the words “To the church of God that is in Corinth…called to be saints.” Again in Second Corinthians he addresses “the Church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia.”   This is a church, by the way, with a lot of internal problems. They had some issues to face, but Paul can refer to them as saints. He begins another letter “To the saints who are in Ephesus…” and another “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi…” “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae…” You get the point. The people who make up these fledgling congregations scattered around the Mediterranean basin, Paul addresses as the saints of God. Were they particularly good people? Not if you take the time to read the letters that he addressed to them. Often he is dealing specifically with problems that arose in these various congregations.

Then how in the world can he address these people as “saints.” For the simple reason that they, like those of whom John speaks in Revelation, have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. These are people for whom Jesus Christ himself has suffered and died. They are saints because God has made them saints. You see where I’m going with this. If St. Paul were to write a letter to us, he would begin “To the Saints in Plantation and South Florida.” Do you feel like a saint? Would you think of yourself as a saint? God knows I’ve got a lot of faults and failures. And if I couldn’t think of all of them, my wife could certainly complete the list. You, and I, are saints not because of the purity of our lives. We are saints because Jesus Christ has made us saints. We too have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. We have been splashed with the blood of the Lord’s suffering and death, and through his sacrifice made holy in God’s sight.

This All Saints’ Day we remember with deepest gratitude and respect those heroes and heroines who have given their lives rather than deny their Lord both in the past and in the present, and those who have contributed significantly to our faith. We remember family and friends—parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, and those with whom we were close who have already passed through death. We remember those of our congregation, as well as family and friends, who died this past year. We give thanks for each and every one of them, and while we mourn their passing, we rejoice in their present in the presence of their Lord. And we give thanks for all who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb from every tribe and nation, from every language, including ourselves that in our very diversity God has made us his own. Thank God for you, my fellow saints.