“…. Being a saint means first and foremost belonging to
God… Once you are baptized, you belong
to God and all that remains to be seen is what you will do about it. Just remember that you do not have to be
famous, or perfect, or dead. You just
have to be you – the one-of-a kind, never-to-be repeated human being whom God created you to be – to
love as you are loved, to throw your arms around the world, to shine like the
sun”
Barbara
Brown Taylor
____________________________
Think what you will about Sacred
There is something in us
Each of us
That participates in something we can only understand as
Mystery
Some call that mystery God
and try their hardest to remove the mystery from Mystery
It doesn’t work
It only gets confusing
Others choose to think of the Mystery differently
As something woven into the earth
Into the sky, the ground
The mountains, the valleys
Into the lakes and rivers and streams
Into the trees, and the animals that live in and under
them
However you think about it
We are part of something that is beyond us
We cannot contain it or grasp it
We can only participate in it
Or accept that it participates in us
As Rumi once said
“you are not a drop in the ocean,
you are the entire
ocean in a drop”
We are not people who believe in Love
We are people who participate in Love
Who are filled with Love
And our lives are to be about one thing
Love
Love God, love others, love yourself
Said Jesus
That’s it! Period
That is the sum of it all
Love, love, love, love
Christians (and everyone else) this is our call
Love your neighbor as yourself
For God loves all
We sing it
We are called to live it
When we don’t, no matter how many Bible verses we know
Or how “correct” our theology
We are simply sinners
Sometimes garden variety sinner
Sometimes a hot mess sinner
But a sinner
Which simply means, there are tears in the fabric of love
We have become rent
And need repair
Our goal is to become saints
Its simple
“You just have to be you –
the one-of-a kind, never-to-be repeated human being
whom God created you to be –
to love as you are loved,
to throw your arms around the world,
to shine like the sun” (Barbara Brown Taylor)
Simple, but not easy
But we all know saints!
And at times, most of us are one.
We all have those people in our lives
We all have those people who
For whatever demented reason, choose to be our “greatest
fans”
And love us with that love that is not calculating
But just is
With that love which welcomes
And affirms
And forgives
Which lifts us up
Each of us has personal experience with saints
Or we have failed to have such a person in our lives
Either way, we know how important they are
The world is full
The church is full
Of saints and sinners
But it is not that there are saints and sinners
As much as we are saints and sinners
Works in progress
Imperfectly reflecting the divine image
But as those who participate in the mystery
We are always a little bit what we have not yet fully
become
Saints
Here is to all the saints
Living and dead
Noble and ignominious
Loving, and not so loving
Here is to all those people seeking to
Be love
Who embrace the world,
And shine like the sun…..
May we be one of them
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