“Saints Alive!”
I don’t like rumors, but I recently heard a great one about my cousin Jim Sundholm. It was such a good story that I had to call Jim and ask him if it was true. Some of you may know Jim. For many years Jim Sundholm was a preacher in North Minneapolis. He dresses the part of a blue eyed cowboy, but if you close your eyes when he talks you’d likely think that you were listening to a great black preacher. After years of faithful service to Community Covenant Church and the Northwest Conference Office, Jim took leadership of Covenant World Relief, travelling the world to help the poor and forgotten. All my life I have heard crazy stories about my cousin Jim. Most of these tales are flattering… but not all of them. The funny thing is that the stories usually turn out to be true. Thus was the case with the wild rumor coming out of Seattle this week that my cousin Jim had been canonized as a Saint.
Jim has a special relationship with some Sudanese refugees stranded on the Ethiopian border. They live within spitting distance of their home country, but they don’t dare cross the border. The refugees love my cousin because when they felt totally invisible, Jim came to live with them. When their camps were flooded out, Jim showed up with money strapped to his body. When the refugees were told that they would get no financial assistance to build permanent structures on the Ethiopian border, Jim talked to Sudanese immigrants living in the United States and found the money. When Bibles were finally printed in their native tongue, Jim pulled some strings and “redirected” the new Bibles to his friends in the refugee camp. The Sudanese were so thankful that they wanted to honor Cousin Jim by naming a church in his honor: Saint James Sundholm Church.
Jim has spent the last year arguing with his friends in Ethiopia, insisting that they change the name. “Why not just call it St. James Church in honor of the James of the Bible?” he asked them. “A church really should have a Biblical name.” So they asked Jim, “What is the name of your church?” Jim replied, “First Covenant Church in Seattle.” They parried, “Is Seattle in the Bible?” “Well, no.” Jim answered.” One of them said, “My brother goes to Fridley Covenant Church. Is Fridley in the Bible?” “Well, no.” Jim confessed. They told my cousin that they don’t care what he thinks. They are going to name their church Saint James Sundholm Church whether he likes it or not. They are, however, waiting until he shows up in person to dedicate the church. Jim is appropriately humbled by this honor and is taking consolation in the fact that they are, after all, refugees. As Jim put it, “It won’t be much of a sign!”
Jim is family, so I can say this publicly. In fact, he insisted I say this when he gave me permission to tell his remarkable story: the man is both a sinner and a saint. In fact, there are no saints that weren’t first sinners. Saints don’t conquer sin with their good behavior. Sin is overpowered by the love of God. And that love changes people so they start making some wonderful choices. Because we all still need God’s grace, we are all still sinners; but if we believe that the love of Jesus has us covered, we are also saints.
In today’s scripture, Jesus starts his Sermon on the Mount. It is a tough sermon to live up to. He doesn’t just condemn adultery, Jesus tells us not to look lustfully on each other. He doesn’t just condemn murder, Jesus tells us not to be angry. He doesn’t just tell us to forgive each other, Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. A lot of Christians despair at ever being saints when they read Jesus high expectations, but only when see ourselves as sinners, do we have chance at becoming a saint.
Hear the Good News from Matthew 5:1-12. These are the Beatitudes, the preface to the Sermon on the Mount which helps us understand what Jesus is talking about. You’ll hear the word “Blessed” a lot in the passage but a better translation might be “Fortunate.” Because right when you are needy, hurting, humble, and persecuted, that’s when Jesus has the freedom to change who you into a living Saint.
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
You don’t have to be poor to be a saint, but if you are poor you’re in luck because Jesus is looking for some needy people to transform with his love. You don’t have to be in mourning to experience the comfort of God, but if you are, you’re one of the fortunate ones, because God wants people like you to fill with his love. You don’t have to be meek to be one of God’s friends, but if you are God love you! You’re the type of person that God can really use in his Kingdom! If you’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness, or persecuted for righteousness sake, good for you! God is going to show up in your life! You merciful; you pure in heart; you peacemakers, certainly can’t earn your salvation with good behavior, but keep it up! God is able to use your talents to change the world.
The Beatitudes are not a job description for what it means to be a saint. If it were, they would be just another list of rules that we need to complete in order to make ourselves right with God. In fact, most of them are nothing at all like rules. These are counter-cultural values that share the common denominator of neediness. When you are needy, God can do something miraculous in your life. He can change you from being a sinner to a saint.
We don’t talk about saints a whole lot in the Covenant Church. That’s too bad! My cousin Jim jokes that he’s worried about getting booted out of the Covenant Church because his Sudanese friends are naming a church after him. We get nervous when our Catholic friends talk about venerating saints or praying to saints, but remember this is Biblical language to describe followers of Jesus. It is appropriate to call our friends saints. We are doing just that as we remember Saint Amanda and Saint Marty this morning, as well as all the saints in your life that you can scribble down and bring forward during communion. But we shouldn’t stop with the dearly departed. Everyone who confesses their need for Jesus is already a saint.
What a difference it would make if we started calling each other saint around here. Perhaps this is a lesson we can learn from the saints living on the border of Ethiopia and Sudan. What if started calling each other Saint Evie; Saint Marge; Saint Lowery; Saint Blake; Saint Vanda; Saints Alive! We would be bound to treat each other better in public and to behave ourselves in private if only we had saint in front of our names.
Back in July I was listening to NPR and I heard a story about someone who acted like a saint. I don’t know if he is a Christian, but in this story he behaves like a character straight out of a parable of Jesus. The story has stuck with me, and I wanted to share it with you today. Here is the report as it was produced by Michael Garofalo for Morning Edition
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner. But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.
He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.
"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm." The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"
Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.
"You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help," Diaz says.
Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.
"The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi," Diaz says. "The kid was like, 'You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'" "No, I just eat here a lot," Diaz says he told the teen. "He says, 'But you're even nice to the dishwasher.'" Diaz replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?" "Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way," the teen said.
Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. "He just had almost a sad face," Diaz says. The teen couldn't answer Diaz — or he didn't want to. When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you." The teen "didn't even think about it" and returned the wallet, Diaz says. "I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it'll help him. I don't know.” Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen's knife — "and he gave it to me."
Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch." "I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."[i]
Julio’s mama treated him like a saint and he acted like a saint. Jesus also wants you to be different. You can start by thinking of yourself as both a sinner and a saint. Don’t go halfway and think of yourself as just a sinner! If you are a believer, you are a saint! So act like one! Not out of guilt and certainly not out of shame, but in response to God’s love, be different! Be needy and let God fill you up with his grace.
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