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Exponential Love Keith McFarren November 2, 2025 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 All Saints Sunday is one of those celebrations that is meant to have a two-fold effect on us. On the one hand, it is an in – house event, a celebration of Bethel or what we call our community of faith. It’s a celebration for those who have been a part of it and have now gone on and entered into eternity with God. On All Saints Sunday, we give thanks for their lives and for their witness among us as we remember that each person had a unique gift that they shared with us. One the other hand, All Saints Sunday is an opportunity for us to look outside the doors of this church and be reminded that, in Christ, we are bound up into a much larger fellowship not only with those who are like us, but also with those who aren’t like us…those who don’t look like us, or sound like us or even worship like us. On this day, we are called to widen our vision so that we can see that we are a part of something that is much, much bigger than Bethel Church. On this day, we celebrate the saints from all over the world who have contributed to our spiritual growth, even though we have no idea who they are. On this day, we give thanks for those somewhere out there who, unbeknownst to us, have taught us about discipleship even though they spoke a different language or worshiped in ways different than ours. Today is another opportunity for us to be united with people from all over the world, people who form the worldwide body of Christ, as we remember those who have left behind a spiritual legacy for us to live out. John Wesley wrote in his journal asking, “Why do we neglect giving honor to the saints?” As United Methodist’s we believe in saints, but not in the same manner that Catholic Church does. Wesley believed we have a lot to learn from the saints, but unlike those of the Catholic faith, he never encouraged anyone to worship them. As a church we don’t elect persons to sainthood nor do we pray to saints or believe that they serve as mediators between us and God. In the United Methodist Church, we call people “saints” because they have lived in such a way that it exemplifies the Christian lifestyle, a lifestyle that is meant to be passed on from generation to generation. It is on this day that we are reminded that we stand on the shoulders of all those faithful witnesses who have touched our lives…both the living and the dead. So what might be the answer to Wesley’s question? Why do we neglect giving honor to the saints? It could be that we don’t always notice them or if we do, we quickly forget about them. And then again, there are times that might feel that we are being scandalized or offended by the saints. The word “Saint” is often used as a connotational slur or a derogatory term used to describe someone who acts as though they are high and mighty or even on the level of being overly pious. We use the term “saint” to negatively imply that the person in question thinks they are “holier-than-thou” meaning that even though that person has put themselves up on a pedestal, their behavior by those around them is seen as insincere or motivated by a desire for attention or for approval from others. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those “saintly” people that seem to stand out above the others, people that we seem to be drawn to…people that seem to have a greater knowledge of God or those that seem to have a closer relationship with God than we have. These are the people we are drawn to or perhaps want to emulate. These are the saintly people who seem to be well grounded, those who seem confident, those who seem to be constantly at peace with themselves and with the world around them. But a saint, according to the New Testament, is not someone who is flawless, or a super believer or a super doer or someone who has a certain “glow” about them. A saint is simply a person who has accepted Jesus into their life and then seeks to emulate him and his teachings by the way they live their life. In other words, a saint is us! A saint is all those who come to church on a Sunday morning and all those that wish they could but can’t for some reason or another. A saint is all those who claim faith in Jesus. All those who claim faith in Jesus and struggle and fail…as well as all those who claim faith in Jesus and struggle and succeed. All of us…we are the saints! All those who attend Leadership University, the District sponsored online workshops in January and February. All those who attend the District sponsored Spring Learning Event. Those who take their time to attend Charge Conference every year. Those who attend committee meetings and Ad Board meetings and take part in various church functions. Those who buy a Christmas present for our Salvation Army family or those who buy an extra can of soup for CCS. Saints are those who drop their offering in the offering plate every Sunday. Those in our Sunday school class and those in cookie fellowship…those that do the little things that aren’t always noticed, these are the Saints that are around us…because the Saints are us. In the eyes of many of us, all these people that do all these things are just people that we kind of take for granted. They just do what they do. That’s why we need a Sunday like today to stop and take a good look around. Part of what we see on All Saints Sunday is that many of them are no longer with us. The Wayne Haney’s, the John Friemund’s, the Steve Ten Have’s and the Mary Dalrymple’s. The Juanita Stout’s, the Harry Pletcher’s and the Elly Brenneman’s. The Vereeke’s and Joan Ivy and so many others that not only made a difference in our lives, but they also made a difference in the life of this church. One of the reasons for All Saint’s Sunday is to remind us to pay attention not only to the dead…but to also pay attention to the living as well. None of us are here forever. “Our lives are like the morning fog,” James writes, “it’s here for just a little while, and then it’s gone.” Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to start to pay better attention to the here and now and to all the Saints that are with us today. Pay attention to them because they might have something to teach us. They might be able to help us find our way out of the wilderness that we’ve been lost in for what seems to be forever. Pay attention because the Saints that are around you today just might be able to help you develop a closer relationship with Jesus and add something positive to our lives. Pay attention to what the saints offer you today so that you might go out with a better understanding about the kingdom of God and show others and make this world a much better place than what it is. So, how do we identify as saint…as opposed to other people. Actually, Saints are easy to identify because they are the one’s who follow Jesus. But there is more to it than that and we can break that down a little further by turning to Paul in our scripture reading this morning as he lists for the Thessalonians some of the activities that they and we can use in identifying those who are saints. First, Paul says that “your faith is growing abundantly. That is one mark of a saint…a saint is one who is continually growing in their faith. Saints are those people who want to learn more about God, always pushing the limits of knowledge and experience in a way that breathes new life and sustenance into their very souls. To the saints, Paul writes, “We give thanks to God because your faith is growing abundantly.” Secondly, Paul writes that “Your love for one another is growing.” The saints in Paul’s time just as they do today were acting out their faith in realistic ways. They were caring for one another. They were inviting one another to join in and take part in various church activities. They were including one another. They were tending to one another. They were caring and healing and comforting and lifting one another up as a faith community. They were working together to make up the Body of Christ…a body that continually shows love for others. Wouldn’t that be something? What if we could leave here on a Sunday morning truly convinced that we loved one another. Not just tolerated one another or occupied the same space with one another for a few hours on a Sunday morning but genuinely loved one another. That’s what we want visitors to see. That’s what we want our family members to see when they come to church with us. A saint is someone who is always working to find ways to learn to love more and then find new ways to express their love to others. Always working to find new ways to reach out and connect with someone so that they can make a difference in someone’s life, maybe by bringing someone closer to Jesus. A saint is someone that is a continual work in progress, someone who is continually growing in their faith and continually growing in their love. Someone who remains steadfast in their faith, someone who stays true to the image of Christ that is within them even when things go wrong and the world seems to be working against them. A saint is someone who will never give up knowing that God will make them worthy of the work they have done for him and that God will fulfill every work within them. There are saints all around us…and those saints are us. Some of them have gone on before us. You recognized the names of just a few of the many who have passed through our lives and who have passed through the life of this church. But many are still here among us. And all we have to do to see them is to slow down and take a good look. There they are… some are noticeable and many of them are just under the radar, barely noticed. But they are all saints… all filled with God’s grace, all filled with God’s love, and all standing firm in their faith. |
Bethel United Methodist Church
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