A Sermon from the Church of
Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida
Preached by the Rev. Timothy E. Schenck on November 5, 2023 (All Saints’ Sunday)
We have a stained glass window problem in the church. Oh, they’re fine, physically. This isn’t some sort of fundraising appeal for window restoration. And they’re certainly beautiful. There’s an ethereal quality to the light that glimmers and dances into this sacred space through the ancient art of stained glass. And here at Bethesda, we have some particularly gorgeous windows that only enhance the sense of holiness that pervades this place. Our windows tell wonderful sacred stories, many of which revolve around the theme of water, as is fitting of a place called Bethesda-by-the-Sea. Besides the Te Deum window which evokes the deep blues of the ocean, we have images of Jonah and the Whale, of Jesus walking on water, of the disciples casting their nets into the Sea of Galilee.
The stained glass problem I’m referring to has to do with how we envision the great saints of the church. Again, they’re depicted in magnificent ways here. On the south wall of the nave, we have the twelve apostles — well, not Judas. Nobody wants a window of Judas. But these windows remind us that we are surrounded and uplifted and encouraged by the great saints who have come before us in the faith.
But the problem with putting saints in stained glass is that we sometimes forget that they were real people. Flawed individuals like you and me who simply followed Jesus amid difficult or unusual or heroic circumstances. They had blood flowing through their veins, a fact we can lose sight of when we only see them in stained glass or statuary or oil paintings; when we literally put them on a pedestal and are told to look, but don’t touch. Despite their halos, the saints of the church weren’t perfect — they were all forgiven sinners, just like you and me. But I find that recognizing the humanity of the saints makes them even more approachable, even more authentic, and even more inspiring.
And so I invite you to shatter the stained glass that immortalizes, yes, but also immobilizes the saints who have come before us in the faith. Not literally, please. Because then this will turn into a fundraising appeal. But in a way that allows you to be broken open and inspired anew by their lives of discipleship, by the ways that they followed Jesus in their own day.
One of the ways we can walk the path of these holy women and men is to look at the saintly qualities listed in the Beatitudes. Because when it comes to saintly living, to following the example of the saints, we do well to look at those characteristics that Jesus called blessed: Who does he called “blessed?” The powerful, the self-assured, the vengeful, the privileged? No!
Jesus says, blessed are the meek and the peacemakers and the pure in heart and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Those are the saintly qualities Jesus highlights. Those are the qualities that Jesus encourages us to possess. Not all the time, not in every moment — not even the saints we celebrate could live up to that. But to the very best of our abilities. As the old hymn, ‘I sing a song of the saints of God’ puts it, “And I mean to be one too.” That’s what we should all be striving for in our earthly pilgrimage, to embody these words from the Sermon on the Mount. Of course the song also says, “And one was a soldier and one was a priest and one was slain by a fierce wild beast.” You know that line. And whenever I hear it I think to myself, well, I was a soldier and I am a priest, but I’d sure like to avoid option number three.
But as followers of Jesus Christ, the qualities embodied in the words of the Beatitudes is the life into which we have been baptized. It is the life into which those being baptized this very day, are invited into. And, frankly, these values, these qualities are quite counter-cultural. To follow Jesus is to allow that might doesn’t make right, that winning isn’t everything, that it’s not all about you. And, frankly, those are the values to which our society so often subscribes. Vanity is rewarded, success is applauded, and power and prestige are celebrated. And yet…Jesus says blessed are the meek and the peacemakers and the pure in heart and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. These are the values of God’s kingdom; this is the way of Jesus, this is the way of love.
And so the question held out for all of us as we walk past the statues of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on our way inside this beautiful building, or as we pass by the saints depicted all around us in stained glass, is how are we embodying the saintly qualities that mark us as Christ’s own forever? How are we being peacemakers? In what ways are we hungering and thirsting for righteousness? How are we acting with pure intentions in our hearts? I know I could do a better job at this, and I doubt I’m alone.
Because it’s not enough to listen to the familiar words of the Beatitudes and think that they only really apply to the great saints of the church. That because we don’t have halos, Jesus isn’t actually speaking to us. But here’s the thing, Jesus is speaking these words to you! He wants you to strive always for the kingdom of God, he wants you to be a peacemaker, he wants you to hunger and thirst for righteousness. And he wants you to know that by always striving to embody these saintly qualities, even when you fall short, that you too are blessed.
On All Saints’ Sunday, as we celebrate the real life people who the church recognizes as saints, as we create new saints through the sacrament of baptism, and as we remember those saints that we have known and loved and lost in our own lives, we do well to reflect upon the fact that what makes a saint isn’t perfection, but faithfulness. That’s the path set out for us, that’s the way, that’s the life of faith. And when we take those steps, however haltingly, we can all honestly and authentically say, “And I mean to be one too.”