Reflections on “A Wall of Saints” I Corinthians 1: 1-9

I have been reflecting on this sermon since June when I was in OH for the funeral mentioned in the sermon.  I love the outdoor columbarium that we put into place at the church I served in OH and to be able to inurn the first person in it was a surprise for me.  But, the power of the story comes from the many names in the columbarium in the church I serve currently.  What a testimony to the saints who have come before us!  

I showed photos of the columbarium in my Time with Young Disciples.  the granddaughter of the former minister and his wife who are inurned in the columbarium, recognized it as the place where they are.

We in the Reformed tradition still struggle to articulate or lay claim to who saints are in our tradition. 

 “A Wall of Saints”, November 3, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; I Corinthians 1: 1-9

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, ²To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— ⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— ⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Introduction:   

On my sabbatical, I had a couple of instances where I reverted from sabbatical mode to pastor mode.  

One of those times, I officiated at a funeral service back at the church I served in OH.  The secretary who had served the church for 30+ years, 17 of which when I was serving there died.

We had been through a lot together at the church and in her own life as she had some medical difficulties through the years, including a bone marrow transplant.

her service was much like one here at St. Andrew, and it led to her cremains being inurned at the outside columbarium at the church.  

Although the columbarium had been built about 9 years previously, She was the first person to have her cremains inurned in the columbarium at the church.   Somewhat fitting, since she has been the gatekeeper, if you will fo the church for all those years, and she had been there when the columbarium had been built

the fact that the church there has a columbarium is directly related to St. Andrew having a columbarium.  After my father died and he was inurned here at St. Andrew, I went back ot eh church I served in OH and told people about how great it was to have a columbarium.  For two years or so, no one seemed to be listening, and then a member comes up to me and tells me he has a great idea - the church should have a columbarium!

so they put a committee together, did their research, including getting a copy of the columbarium policy from St. Andrew, and built an outdoor columbarium in a courtyard next to the sanctuary.

Part of the process was selling the niches in the columbarium.  Since no one wanted to pick a niche until they could see the columbarium, we implemented a two-step process.  First, you bought a niche, and then when the columbarium was bylaw people would pick their niches.

so, we carefully documented the day and time people paid for their niches - not turned in the paperwork, but actually paid.

then, when the columbarium was built and people had time to see how this eight-sided columbarium sat in the courtyard outside the sanctuary, they could pick their spots.  They would pick in the order in which they had paid for their niches and each person was given up to a week to make the decision.  the picks were public, so when you picked, you could see who had already chosen what niche.

When the process began, it set off all sorts of funny and fascinating conversations.

A couple of people wanted their niches next to friends, so they asked if they could change their mind if their friend picked after them and the niche next ot them was take.  Yes, we could do that.

someone wanted to make sure they were on the opposite side of someone else, as far away as possible.  I didn’t need to ask about why!

Lots of joking about who was love or below someone else.

the secretary and I learned a lot about relationships in the church and laughed a lot about some fo the comments.

In all those conversations about who was going to be in the columbarium and where, the comment that stuck wiht me was the member who said,   “I hope I live long enough to see the names of all those people on their niches.  Those are the people who have shaped me.”

Frankly, I thought it was kind of silly at the time.

Until, until I arrived here at St. andrew and went into what is now the prayer room where the columbarium is.

I looked around and saw all the names.  

Some of them were People who had shaped and formed me.

some of them I did not know, but others here do

A wall of saints.

Move 1:  How do you become a saint?

a.  IN the Catholic tradition, there is quite a process to become a saint.

1.  Someone has to recommend you because of the extraordinary life of virtue you have lived or some amazing thing you have done.

2. In fact, a person needs to have been part of a miracle of two.

3.  The Pope gets to decide who moves further along the process toward sainthood.

4. It takes a long time and the pope can wave some fo the requirements.  for instance, if you are martyred, you might not need to have been part of a miracle.

b. IN the reformed tradition, we a have a little different approach to saints.

1.  Theologically, the Reformed tradition emphasizes we are saved by grace alone.

2. no one can earn salvation. 

cannot do some incredible work to save yourself.

3. Only christ can save a person.

3. In that context, to lift up those who had done some incredible work as saints does not fit theologically.

4. in the Reformed tradition historically and for currently, all believers in Christ would be considered saints because they have been saved by Christ and called to follow him.

5.  As Nadia Bolz writes in her book Accidental saints: “it has been my experience that what makes us the saints of God is not our ability to be saintly but rather God’s ability to work through sinners. The title ‘saint’ is always conferred, never earned. Or as the good Saint Paul puts it, ‘For it is God who is at work in your, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13)[Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People, Nadia Bolz-Weber, 16)

6.  Like Paul writing to the church in Corinth and telling them “they have been sanctified by Christ and called to be saints.”

c.  IN the Reformed tradition, We also emphasize the communion of saints.

1.  Communion of saints is the spiritual connection we have with those believers in Christ who have gone before us and those who will come after us.

2.  We, of course, acknowledge this when we come to our Lord’s Table and understand that at the Table we are connected with all those who have come before and come after us.

3.  This morning, we point to that when we pray over the names of the saints from the community of faith who have died in the past year and toll the bell.

Move 3:   After the sermon, we will sing the hymn, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.”

a. the lyrics will include a litany of those people who are saints.

1.  a doctor, a queen, a soldier a priest to name a few, 

2.  they meet us in places like church, or shops, or at school, or at tea.

b.  any of us, all of us have been saved by Jesus Christ;

Any of us, all of us, have been called to follow Christ;

any of us, all of us have been bound together in Christ.

the saints of the church.

conclusion:  Go look at the names on the columbarium niches.

A Sunday school teacher;

a youth leader;

professor who shaped students’ lives

a reading teacher 

a builder who built homes and shaped lives

a mother who loved her children and loved all the other children around.

A wall of saints.  

a wall of saints

that by the saving grace of Jesus Christ and his call to follow,  

you are a part.

Reflections on "No Scripted Outcomes" 2 Corinthians 9: 6-12

the third and final stewardship sermon this fall.  I'm not sure that the "wrestling with resources" theme for our steardship series turned into powerful sermons.  I enjoyed the theme and had some fun, but the sermons did not turn out as well as I would have liked.

“No Scripted Outcomes”, October 27, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; 2 Corinthians 9: 6-12

⁶The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. ⁹As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” ¹⁰He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; ¹²for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.

Introduction:    Spoiler alert - if you do not want to hear some of the inside stories of professional wrestling, then tune me out for the next couple of minutes!

Professional wrestling has scripted outcomes.

they map out a wrestling match so that they know how long the match will be - I suspect this is to make sure they have time for commercials to keep the advertisers happy.

And they know who will win the match, at least most of the time!   they had an issue a few years ago where one of the wrestlers missed his cue to make a certain move and in the confusion, the referee did the 1,2,3 countdown and the wrong wrestler won.  the referee was fired!

Not every move in the wrestling match is planned.  There is some improvising taking place, but the climactic sequences are scripted as is the ending.

A few years ago, they had a problem with the scripts for the wrestling matches being leaked to the public. There was quite an uproar as people discovered that the scripts being leaked actually were accurate and that the matches they were seeing were not exactly a sporting event with the next play and the outcome unknown.  https://theweek.com/articles/447375/heres-what-prowrestling-script-looks-like#

(Pause)

When the stewardship committee asks us to wrestle with resources, both our individual giving and our church’s use of resources, there are no scripted outcomes.

Let’s take a few moments to reflect on what it means that our stewardship has no scripted outcomes.

Move 1:  First of all, that means there are no scripted outcomes for your commitment or your pledge.

a.  the stewardship committee does not sit around and go, “Leslie and Richard Culp should give so much in 2025” and then send a letter to my wife and me telling us what commitment they have scripted for us.

1.  I think that is part of what Paul is telling the Corinthians. 

2.  ⁷ Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

3.  no one tells each person what they should give.

4. no one if forcing us to reach a certain goal.

b.  Each of us may have different ways of approaching how we determine our giving.

1. For some of us, determining our pledge is mainly a mathematical question.

1. figure out a % you choose to give.  That’s why the biblical model of a tithe is an easy target.  the giving may be challenging, but the math is pretty simple!

2. Or, you determine how much you want to increase your pledge over last year and plug in the numbers.

3. Or, you look at your income and your expense, so some adding and subtracting, and then you arrive at your giving.

4. for some of us, giving is more of an emotional response.

5. we hear a moment for mission or something from a sermon and it moves us to make a financial commitment.

6.  or, maybe you have another approach.  

c.  Regardless, there is no scripted outcome given to us as we plan our giving, but we are asked to prayerfully consider what God might be calling us to give.

1.  to recognize that the giving of our time, the giving our talents, the giving of our financial resources are all part of our discipleship response.

2.  Paul builds on this by telling the Corinthians, by telling us, that God gives to us in abundance so that we can respond by sharing in that abundance. 

No scripted outcome, but a call to recognize how our giving is a faithful response to the God of abundance who has already given to us.

move 2:  We have no scripted outcomes to our stewardship because we want to stay open to the new possibilities God has for us, both in our own personal giving, but also in the way the congregation uses it resources.

a.  the prophet Isaiah reminded the Israelites in their time of challenge that God was a good full of possibilities.

1.  God was at work creating a new heaven and new earth

2.  what they could see, 

what they could understand as the possibilities they could make happen,

paled in comparison to the vision God had for them and for the world.

b.  We have no scripted outcome in our stewardship because we follow a God of endless possibilities.

1. Today is what we call Reformation  Sunday, a day we remember our heritage and how we are linked the Reformers like martin Luther and John Calvin, who ended up breaking away from the Catholic church.

2. The Reformation had lots of specific theological insights, some of which were mentioned in this week’s newsletter, but there was also a fundamental shift in understanding the church to be “reformed and always reforming.”

3. Always reforming - not because we like change.  

using change and church in the same sentence can sometimes seem oxymoronic!

4. But always reforming because God is always at work, responding to what is happening in our world and calling us to new insights and new ways of living.

5. We are continually being reformed by the God of endless possibilities.

c.  A story that comes out of the Presbyterian church experience in OH, including the church I served.

An adult SS class in FPC, Troy, OH had an elderly member who had grown ill and found herself nearly depleted of funds. The SS class helped her out, but also thought this was a problem they should try and solve for others as well.

Like good Presbyterians, they petioned their presbytery to establish a home for the aged in central Ohio as a better option for those in similar situations.   They even provided some seed money.

Other presbyteries were encouraged to join the effort and eventually approached the Synod of Ohio (synod is the next higher level in the Presbyterian system. in this case, it covered the geographic area of OH.

Two towns up from Troy in Sidney, OH the minister was Rev. W. Blake Love, who took on this cause.

Rev. Love had a young daughter, Dorothy. She was beloved by many in the congregation, but especially by the Russell family. The little girl had enchanted them all, but especially Moses, who was also a ruling elder in the church. Moses Russell was so charmed by Dorothy’s joy and innocence he determined that, when the time was right, he would sell the bulk of his property to fund her education.

When Dorothy Love was fatally struck by a car in May of 1921, the entire congregation was shaken, but none more than the Russell family. Ruth Ann Emmons, who knew Dorothy and the Russell family well, later said, “When Dorothy was killed, it almost killed the Russells too. They loved their farm and church, but they wanted to remember Dorothy, so they gave away everything and moved off the farm.” Moved with grief, the three Russell siblings donated a 294-acre tract of land to the Synod in Dorothy’s honor. They only proposed one caveat to the project Rev. Love had spoken of so passionately: that the Synod build not only a home for the aged on the donated land, but one for homeless children as well.

The proposal was accepted by the Synod, who began to move forward researching the feasibility of the project. 

This research showed little need for a home for children but an increasing need on behalf of seniors, so with the articles of incorporation, the mission returned to its original scope.

They returned to the Russell family with the suggestion that the need in the area was not for an orphanage or children’s home, but for a home for the elderly.

the family agreed to change how their gift could be used, and the Dorothy Love home was established in Sidney, OH.

It now is part of the Ohio Presbyterian Retirement System, which has grown through the years to thirteen facilities serving 90,000 homes. (https://info.ohioliving.org/1922-dorothy-love)

Generous stewardship + a God of new possibilities at work.

c.  As we live into the future to which God calls us, we may find some surprises along the way.

1.  Surprises in what God is calling us to give.

2. Surprise in how God call us to use resources.

Conclusion:  You know why professional wrestling went to scripting its outcomes.

because the matches were becoming too long and familiar.

in other words, long and boring.

Stewardship is not scripted because no script could contain the God we serve, the God who calls us to new places and new ways to give and use our resources.