St. Clare’s Episcopal Church

 

Our new Episcopal church is named for Clare of Assisi, an early convert to St. Francis’ devotion to Holy Poverty and founder of what would eventually be known as the Order of Poor Clares.  Tomorrow we will be celebrating the Feast of St. Clare and on the eve of our patronal feast day, I am drawn to thoughts about sainthood and saints in general.

 

What is a saint?

 

The Roman Catholics have a tight definition with a well-established procedure for naming new saints.  The Episcopal Church has no such well-defined set of criteria that I know of.  Our General Convention, a meeting of lay and ordained deputies, does recommend various people who have lead exemplary lives for recognition by the wider Church, but those included are not always people who would pass muster with the more specific criteria of other churches – for instance Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

So, what is a saint?

 

For me, saints are people that we all can point to as having lived holy lives.  Lives lived in service to God and God’s people – especially the poor, neglected, dispossessed, and marginalized.  We label them as saints to indicate that we see the holiness in them and we look to them as examples of how we should live our lives.  They are inspiration for us to be better people today than we were yesterday.

 

But saints are not always famous.  They are not always recognized by the wider church.  Sometimes they go about the business of serving God and God’s people in such quiet ways that they are only noticed by their closest friends and relatives.  But the lives they lead are no less holy.

 

What is a saint?

 

A saint is anyone who considers themselves God’s own and strives to lead a life of service to God and God’s people.  In the words of a hymn we will sing tomorrow,

 

            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, or in lanes, or at sea,

in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,

for the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.