All Saints'

On this Sunday when we remember the saints and the Saints of the Church, I'd like to remind you that we are each a saint. The Church Universal recognizes some people through the ages as extraordinary Saints and gives them special honor. Depending on your tradition, this can include a special 'feast day'. These are people like the Apostles, like St. Francis, like Julian of Norwich, like Martin Luther King, Jr. All of them as the hymn says "just folks like me."* Each of us is indeed a saint-a servant of the Living God.
How do we get from just ordinary person to saint... Well, it's the action of God. There is a story that is especially appropriate to this time of year when there are pumpkins all around...

A little girl was asked "What is it like to be a Christian?"
She replied, "It's like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the pumpkin patch, brings you in and washes all the dirt off of you. then he cuts open the top and scoops out all of the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His Light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

Remember this if you feel discouraged about whether or not you are a saint of God-you are indeed. This hymn might help you too:

*I Sing A Song of the Saints of God (by Lesbia Scott)

I sing a song of the saints of God, 

patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green;
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,

and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right for Jesus' sake
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
and there's not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn't be one too.

They lived not only in ages past;

there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
and I mean to be one too.