All Saints Musings

I could not help but watch as B16 canonized John Henry Newman.  It is fascinating to me what machinery is at work in this long process.  The Church, under the aegis of the Pope, recognizes certain steps in the beatification process until finally it is complete and the person declared a saint of God.  I have no particular issue with Newman, per se.  I simply find it very strange -- this whole canonization methodology.  I guess if that is the way Rome wishes to define it and to accomplish it, well, okay.  It is their choice.  But I cannot help but think that something is obscured in this process which should be central to it all.

Saints may be declared by the Church but saints are made by God.  Here on earth a hierarchy of saints may be evident and there are those who stand out from the crowd, so to speak.  Even Lutherans acknowledge the Biblical saints as something set apart if not set above others whom God would call His own and declare righteous in Christ.  Certainly the Church and Christians need heros, heroic figures in whom the grace of God was clearly at work and who faithfully endured struggle beyond measure.  I do not argue that point and in fact believe that the Church suffers today from a lack of knowledge of the stories of the saints of old and so we are weaker and more prone to question ourselves and God because of this lack.  It is just that this process of canonization means that the focus seems to be more on the individual than on God.

We have a practice in the All Saints liturgy (this year Nov. 7) in which we stop for silence and then allow the people in the parish to name before the Lord those "saints" whom they hold dearest and through whom they learned the faith.  It is by nature a very emotional moment.  I speak aloud those who have received Christian burial since the last All Saints and then come the often halting, emotion filled names from the congregation.  For some it is the first time they have spoken aloud within the Church the names of loved ones whose recent death is still an open wound of grief.  For others the years have passed but the loss remains deep and painful.  For others the wounds have given way to a joyful thanksgiving for God having given to them these individual to know and love and who now rest from their labors in the peace of Christ.

When I think of saints, I first recall those individuals who served as mirrors of Christ's love and beacons of His light to teach me of Him.  I think of those extraordinary individuals who were largely anonymous yet whose faithfulness to Christ and loving service to His Church continue to humble me to this very day.  This year I will add one more name to the list.  Bob Knapp.  He died October 20 after a long life of more than 90 years.  Bob was a quiet man whose faithfulness and dedication made a huge impact on this young Pastor when he arrived as his first parish more than 30 years ago.  As far as I know there was no obituary but the impact of his life is measured in more than words.  Two days before his death I spoke with him for about 15 minutes when he was a patient in the critical care unit of the local hospital.  He was the same man I met so long ago.  His conversation was about my family, our favorite but now sainted Mary Schellhorn, and the Church.  And so it was for his life... family, friends in Christ, and the Church.  His life begun in baptism came to its completion and he was received into the arms of His blessed Redeemer.  This is what it means to be a saint, called by God, marked as His own in baptism, nurtured at the Table of the Lord, instructed by His Word, and declared His own for now and for all eternity...

So, I am glad that Lutherans never invented any mechanism to make or declare saints.  Better to let that to God, I think.  We each recognize those saints whose own lives intersected with ours and in whom we saw the light and felt the love of Christ.  At the All Saints liturgy this year, I will join those who speak out loud the names of the saints through whom God worked in our own lives... with faltering voice and emotional heart... Bob Knapp... For such a great cloud of witnesses, what can we say but Te Deum Laudamus!!