All the Saints

Mosaic of St. Francis
El Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico

It's All Saints Day, a day to remember all those who have have gone before us to eternal life.  I'm thinking about the immense cloud of witnesses that surrounds us. I'm thinking about saints named and unnamed, from the past to the present. I'm thinking about St. Francis of Assisi and the Woman at the Well. 


I saw a lot of St. Francis images in New Mexico, mostly at Catholic churches, like the Sanctuary of Chimayo. But I even saw one in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe, the oldest Presbyterian church in New Mexico. Protestants respect the saints recognized by the Catholic Church, but we don't often place figures of those saints in our worship spaces--or in any of our spaces, for that matter. In Protestant theology, anyone who is part of the body of Christ is a saint.


The truth is that many Protestants love St. Francis.  We love the story of his conversion from a rich, wild city youth to a poor country monk. "I have been all things unholy," he said. "If God can work through me God can work through anyone." We love the famous prayer attributed to him, "Instrument of Thy Peace." We love his sense of communion with the natural world, how he called the sun, wind, air and fire his brothers and the moon, stars and water his sisters.  We love the stories of his friendships with all the animals, even the fierce wolf.  


As I reflect on what it is to live a holy life this side of heaven, I am helped by the example of at least one of the well-known saints of history. And I'm happy for St. Francis to be the one. 

Samaritan Woman at the Well, He Qi, China

But I'm also aware of all the saints whose names I'll never know, like the name of the Samaritan woman who gave Jesus a cup of water and received the water of life in return.  This woman was an outcast in her own society, first for being a woman and second for having had five husbands and living with a sixth man without getting married. She was recognized by no one. She had no resources, no credibility, no leverage, even among Jesus' followers. Because of an ancient rivalry, Jews were supposed to despise Samaritans. Yet in Christ's eyes this woman was worthy of an endless river of love.  She was a woman on her way to the city of  God. She was a saint.


The Samaritan woman reminds me to think about all the forgotten people God does not forget. She reminds me that grace, not belief, makes us saints.  So today I'm pausing to remember the homeless man who was murdered in Santa Fe in early October.  And the victims of murder and violence in my own state. And the 25,000 children around the world who die each day from hunger. And those in Haiti whose lives have been claimed by cholera. . .


The list of all the saints goes on and on. God rest their souls.