Ss Peter & Paul, Kettering
Called to be Saints
I have just enjoyed the experience of a very special week. I have been with others on retreat in Yorkshire, where our time together has been guided by Jack Nicholls, Bishop of Sheffield. He is a gifted story-teller and much of what he shared with us throughout the week came through the stories connected with a number of icons he has collected over the years, the people and his experiences he remembers through them. He is a gentle saintly man, a man who radiates both the joy of his faith and his deep love of God, a man of profound common-sense with the grace to see God in the eyes of another. During our few days together, he gave us a number of pearls, but one in particular stayed with me throughout the week and floated in and out of my mind as I was thinking what I might say this morning and it was this:
As he shares in the Eucharist, the words that really hit home for the challenge they pose are the words that begin ‘Therefore….’
Therefore, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven……’ Those words, he said, remind me that I cannot share in the Eucharist without joining with those whom I dislike and with whom I profoundly disagree – now there’s a thought.
This morning, the church of God calls us to remember two of that ‘company of heaven’ – Simon and Jude. So who are they and what do we know about them. Actually, we know very little. Both, it would seem, were among the twelve apostles; Matthew and Mark tell us that Simon was a Canaanite; Luke supplies the further information that he was a Zealot – possibly one of the fervently patriotic Jewish groups vehemently opposed to the Roman occupation.
Jude, who was also known as Thaddaeus, was according to Luke, the son of James. However, according to the shortest book in the New Testament, the Letter of Jude attributed by some (though by no means all) to the man we are thinking about today, he is the brother of James. All we can be certain of is who is was not – he was not Judas Iscariot – but because his name reminded people of his unfortunate namesake, he tended to be pushed to the back of the queue of those saints to whom people would pray; this saint of last resort ultimately became the patron saint of lost causes to whom many people in despair continue to turn asking for his prayerful help, strength and support.
One legend has it that Simon died a natural death in Edessa, others that both were martyred in what used to be known until relatively recently as Persia, and is now known as Iran. A church in Rome, having acquired their relics in the seventh century, was dedicated to them both on the 28th October, since when their festival has been celebrated on this day.
Little more is known about them. And really it matters not a jot that we do not know the details of their lives and ministry. What matters is the effect they obviously had on those around them – their ability to inspire, encourage and lead those around them to a closer and deeper knowledge of God, an ability to change the human heart. That is what matters, and by virtue of our baptism, that is what we as Christians are all called to do with the gifts God has given to us – that is our unique task.
The word saint has not always had the connotation that it has today. They aren’t just the great heroes of our faith. When writing to the people at Philippi, at Colossae, at Ephesus, Paul addresses himself to the ‘saints’, and by that he means all the members, the faithful of the Christian communities in those places ; every baptised person is a saint – God’s holy people, called to holy living. The work of Simon and Jude and all the other saints down the ages was their direct response, a consequence, of having been called to God’s service. All that I do, all that you do should also be a direct response to God’s call to serve him wherever we find ourselves and in whatever way we can.
To be in the service of God is to be involved in the repair of the world, to work towards that time when all God’s creation will live in peace and harmony - true Shalom. This will involve challenging injustice, it will involve speaking out for those who have no voice, it will involve challenging perceptions of power, worth and value – in other words, proclaiming the Kingdom of God, where the values of the world are tipped upside down and inside out. As Jesus makes his listeners starkly aware, this will put us at odds with the world where success is so often measured by the size of home and salary; the type of work one does; achieving targets, output and accumulation of wealth; where power is understood in terms of control – of people, resources and information.
Above all, the repair of the world is the work of prayer, giving thanks for and rejoicing in all that is beautiful, good and true; holding in the tenderness of God the pain of his people and the suffering of his creation. This was the work of Simon and Jude and all the other saints down the ages. It is our work, here today, in this church, our towns and villages, our places of work, the places we play. Saints are called to share the dream of God – that his children may live in communities of peace and of justice - where people are valued for who they are, not what they can produce; where diverse communities can live together, in peaceful harmony rather than fearful suspicion behind ever greater walls of defence.
Saints are called to share the sheer joy of God in his creation, alive to new and unexpected possibilities moment by moment.
Saints are called to see the eyes of God in all whom they meet, even those whom they dislike or with whom they profoundly disagree.
Simon and Jude and the many other heroes of our faith who have travelled this way before us serve to inspire and encourage us through their constant intercession. But so to do all those other saints, the many ordinary men, women and children who have encouraged and inspired us, and enable us to see God a little more clearly and to share his sheer joy in His creation.
Lesley McCormack, October 28th, 2007
Office Address:
The Rectory
Church Walk
Kettering
NN16 0DJ