Ephesians 1: 11-end, Luke 6:20-31

If you are anything like me, you think of saints of long ago like our own St James to whom this church is dedicated. Or maybe you think of those whose deaths were more horrible than some like poor St Sebastian who was used as target practice for bowmen or St Catherine of Alexandria  who was condemned to an excruciatingly painful death on a spiked wheel by the Roman Emperor who had lusted after her but according to legend the moment her body touched the wheel the wheel itself broke, and she was beheaded instead which was at least a much quicker and less painful death. . And to these I have to share with you Christina the Astonishing who was assumed to be dead from a cataleptic fit but at her funeral mass sprang from her coffin and took refuge in the rafters of the church. When she was finally persuaded to come down, she explained that she had been offended by the garlicky smell of the congregation and throughout the rest of her life was tormented by her acute sense of smell finding men particularly offensive. That aside throughout the rest of her life many notable people sought   her words of wisdom. She now has a role as patron saint of psychiatrists.   But of course, in the Roman Catholic church who are very keen on their saints, new ones are being named regularly. Pope Francis canonised no less than nine hundred and forty- two during his papal reign, but this number did include the eight hundred and thirteen martyrs of Otranto in Italy who, when the Ottoman army besieged and captured the city in 1480, refused to convert to Islam and were beheaded for such unbreakable obstinacy and indomitable courage,. According to the histories of the time one Turkish officer impressed by such faith immediately converted to Christianity on the spot and just as immediately was impaled by his fellow officers! And Pope Leo who has only been in the job a short while has already canonised seven new saints last month.

So how do you as it were become a saint and the answer is in four steps. First a candidate must be recognised as a s Servant of God. Next there must be evidence of holiness and if this is deemed sufficient, they are named as Venerable. This of course begs the question as to why in the Church of England Archdeacons are entitled Venerable. The answer it appears is not because they are necessarily particularly holy but because they are apparently ‘respected guardians of church order’ so, should our Archdeacon come visiting any time, we must be sure to show diligent respect.

The next step is Beatification which requires evidence of a miracle being performed by them or in their name. and the final step is canonisation which requires yet another miracle so now you know. Incidentally I have no idea if those   eight hundred and thirteen saints of Otranto had individually had two individual miracles credited to them or if they were allowed to have two collective ones

But apart from increasing our knowledge as to how people come to be canonised and being introduces to Christina the Astonishing what else can we take away from this All Saints Day Service? And I think the first thing is that each and every one of us could claim that first step and that we all try each in our own way to be a servant of God. In the early church all those who became baptised Christians were regarded as saints as we heard in St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. and it was only when so many of them came to be martyred for that faith by the Romans  in accordance with the warnings of such suffering  given by Jesus that the idea of saints with a capital ‘S’ took root .I don’t think  for one moment that Sebastian, Catherine, James or even Christina the Astonishing ever aspired to being saints with a capital ‘S’ but I am also sure they did aspire to be little saints. In the same way did Mother Teresa as she washed the dirt of the streets from the poorest of the poor in Calcutta think if I keep this up maybe I can be canonised and get myself a halo? Again  I am quite sure that she didn’t but that said I am also quite sure that in every way possible she tried to lead a life that fully encompassed service and holiness claiming in her words  that ‘If we close ourselves off to service, we will never create the space within ourselves to be filled with the love of God.’  James and his brother may have  had the temerity to ask Jesus for the best seats in heavenHerod Agrippaalive but after his death James  never wavered from his commitment to serve the Lord and bring the good news of Christ’s redeeming love to others and in so doing incurred the wrath of King Herod  Agrippa and was the first of the apostles to be martyred.

Service and holiness are what we like all the little saints down the ages are called upon to show in our Christian pilgrimage and it should always be remembered that the last words of this eucharistic service are ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord in the name of Christ. Amen,

In the same way today’s collect has this beautiful request :’grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those inexpressible joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you:’ So yes today if nothing else we are reminded  to give  our most grateful thanks for all those Saints who down the ages have both taught and  actively lived the gospel message often at the cost of their lives.  And here I would like to give special thanks for all those Saints who brought the gospel message to this island, St Cuthbert who would pray naked winter and summer in the icy waters of the North Sea and afterwards the sea otters would come and snuggle up to him to warm him up..  St Columba whose mission was and here I quote to the savage natives of North Briton, the heathen Picts. So successful was he brought five thousand souls to salvation as well as driving a monster from the River Ness. And never forget all those Cornish saints who are now remembered in the place names of that county.

No I’m not going to start bathing naked in the river Mole and  fortunately I don’t have to face any savage natives but I do  believe I am called, that you are called   to imitate the Saints and do whatever we can to help restore a belief in Christianity which sadly in  this country and indeed in parts of Europe  seems to be lacking in the majority of people. How do we do that and here I turn to Mother Teresa again: ‘Small things done with great love will change the world.’  So simple but oh so effective.   Small things done  with great love shown to all God’s children even those whom we may perceive as our enemies as Jesus instructs us in the gospel reading.  , So,  let us on this All Saints day be truly grateful for all the Saints both those with a capital ‘S’ and those  countless millions down the ages without  an official halo who have in so many ways done just that  and then humbly  ask for that  priceless gift of God’s grace to do the same; to go from here in peace and in holiness  to love and serve the Lord.