The Bungee Cord 11-1-21

Hello,

Today, November 1st is All Saints Day. I don’t know how this date was selected, but as for as long as I can remember this has been the day when all those who have died over the past year are remembered in prayer and thanks. This upcoming Sunday we will name those who were part of our lives in prayer and ring a bell in their honor as their names are said.

In the part of the Christian church of which I am a pastor, saints are not people who have seemed to live a holier life than others, or people who seem to have been closer to God, rather we consider all those for whom Jesus died and were “washed in the blood of the lamb” to be saints. In other words, as I look at it, it is not what we do that makes us saints, but what Jesus has done. So, that makes even the likes of me to be numbered among the saints.

It feels good to be counted in this category, Saints. It lifts me up when I am hard on myself for the messes I make of my life. It gives me hope that “goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life”. (Psalm 23). It reassures me that I hold a special place in the heart of God. I am thankful for what Jesus has done that God would name me a saint.

This past couple of years the shadow of death has fallen on millions of people throughout the world due to Covid19. Most of whom we do not know, but some who we have known well and loved. When I have watched the news, some of these unknown people have been made known through stories of their lives, but the vast majority remain unknown and are simply named under the category of “deaths”. We have a habit of placing people in categories, and there may be good reason to do so, but in doing so something unfortunate happens: they become a number, or a statistic. Covid Deaths. Troops. Transgender. Drug addicts. The list is endless.

The problem with being a number or statistic is that it takes away any depth of feeling for the one who is so categorized. Numbers are nameless. Statistics are faceless. They do not elicit compassion. They have about as much value as stacks of paper plates. Who cares if they are clean and ready for carrying food, or dirty and ready to be tossed in the garbage. It may be that the only way that we can deal with the excruciating pain, the mindboggling confusion and the unpredictable messiness in life is to put people in categories, but unfortunately in doing so we diminish the liveliness of each person who has become a number or statistic.

But on this All Saints Day, God reminds us that when he places us in the category of “Saint”, we do not become a number or statistic to him. We become one for whom he has made a dwelling place in his heart and in his heavenly mansion. (John 14) So well does he know us individually that he knows the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10). He knows us by name as a shepherd knows his sheep (John 10). God doesn’t hide from our pain and struggles, God dives into them, and is holding a spot for us when tears will be no more (Revelation 21).

Fellow Saints, when the world puts you in a category in order to diminish you to a lifeless number or statistic, know that there is one, the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, who has created a category for you so that he might fill you with life, now and forever!

Have a great week!

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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